[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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