[sldev] [POLICY] OpenSL considered harmful?

Tateru Nino tateru.nino at gmail.com
Wed Dec 12 07:34:28 PST 2007


There's certainly some equipment existing with text-based virtual world
servers in them - telemetry units and the like. I had my hands on a few
in the 90's. Fujitsu made them.

Joshy Squashy wrote:
> Thank you for your responses, Kelly Linden.  Always nice to hear right
> from the source. :)
>
> Q: "What you mean by 'when the SL server should also be some other
> type of server' etc"
> A:  Arbitrary server -- web, file, or other type of server.  But a
> better answer might be to give a (albeit somewhat contrived) specific
> workflow I envision.  I guess imagine a virtual file server.  Using
> the open-source viewer and open-source viewer code, you could create a
> prims to represent viewer-uploaded files like personal videos,
> documents, and such.  For example, I could create a prim shaped like a
> video cassette, texture with a label like a wedding dress, and upload
> a file "My Wedding Video.mov".  When someone else sees the virtual
> video cassette, they could click it, and the custom server code would
> know to check the location where it stored the uploaded video and send
> it to the user.
>
> Or one could envision a virtual library where users create "book"
> prims, texture the prims like their corresponding books, upload the
> e-book to their custom OpenSim server via an interface in their custom
> Second Life viewer, and then we would host a virtual library of
> e-books.  User's could login to the virtual library server and click
> the book they want to read, and the server would send the e-book, and
> perhaps then the custom client would have a built-in reader for
> opening the e-book.
>
> Again, it's a bit contrived, but I think you can begin to see some of
> the potential that comes along with having the Second Life server and
> another type of server be on the same box.
>
> ~Squash Otoro
>
>
>
>     ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>     Date: Tue, 11 Dec 2007 09:07:57 -0800
>     From: kelly at lindenlab.com
>     To: sly_squash at hotmail.com
>     CC: sldev at lists.secondlife.com
>     Subject: Re: [sldev] [POLICY] OpenSL considered harmful?
>
>     Joshy Squashy wrote:
>
>         OpenSL (http://opensimulator.org/wiki/Main_Page) is an open
>         source alpha Second Life server framework.  It is extremely
>         crippled, with limited scripting options and a large number of
>         missing features; however, it is functional.
>
>         The laboratory at my college has been doing research using
>         synthetic worlds in education software projects and software
>         engineering projects for some time.  We have been following
>         development of OpenSL for some time, as we are very excited
>         with the possibilities of having access to the source code for
>         both the client and server (particularly in situations when
>         the SL server should also be some other type of server).
>
>         Though OpenSL isn't much at the moment, we are approaching the
>         point where we plan to try OpenSL servers for some very simple
>         projects.  However, some colleagues disagree that we should
>         consider OpenSL, claiming they are reverse-engineering Second
>         Life's message protocols and that having the potential for
>         hosting "free" Second Life servers is a threat to Linden Labs
>         so Linden Labs will either shut down OpenSL or release client
>         versions that render OpenSL unusable.
>
>         While I don't know Linden Labs opinion on the subject, I would
>         think that such claims don't amount to much.  Releasing a
>         client version that renders OpenSL unusable can't really
>         happen because the client is open source so it's a trivial
>         matter to remove the code that prevents interoperability. 
>         However, shutting down OpenSL I see as conceivable but
>         unlikely; the OpenSL server is so crippled that one would need
>         very specific reasons as to why it would be desirable to use
>         it, and Linden Labs hasn't taken action yet.  I simply don't
>         see Linden Labs as considering this to be a threat,
>         particularly considering their substantial existing userbase
>         and that my understanding is that they've been toying with the
>         idea of releasing the server code outright themselves for some
>         time already.
>
>         Still, my colleagues and I would be very interested in hearing
>         Linden Labs direction in dealing with those involved in
>         developing 3rd party Second Life server frameworks.
>
>         ~Squash Otoro
>
>     As others have pointed out, we are working with OpenSim (along
>     with other people) in the AWG groups on standards of
>     interoperability.   >From the wiki page:
>     "AWG's mission is to develop the protocols that will open up the
>     Second Life Grid from something operated solely by Linden Lab to
>     where others can run parts of the grid."
>     I think someone linked it already, but more info on AWG here:
>     https://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Architecture_Working_Group
>
>     I am sure the AWG group, and myself personally, would be
>     interested in any reasoning for using OpenSim over SL - what you
>     mean by "when the SL server should also be some other type of
>     server" etc.  Your requirements probably aren't entirely unique
>     and I'm sure the group could benefit from hearing them.
>
>     As for OpenSim specifically, we don't have the means to block
>     access to them (due to the open source client as mentioned), nor
>     do I think we have the desire to.  I can't offer any official
>     statement about OpenSim or our future interactions with them, but
>     I think our work with AWG speaks clearly towards our intent.
>
>      - Kelly
>
>
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-- 
Tateru Nino
http://dwellonit.blogspot.com/



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