[sldev] Re: [META] Exciting reuter's post about OpenSim

[Argent Stonecutter]

From: "Tim Shephard" <tshephard at gmail.com>
> Well, if OpenSim moves to a model where all inventory is open, like
> images on a web page,  but not transferable (enforced by DMCA), then
> this whole concept of central inventory servers becomes irrelevant.

They don't even have the ability to keep inventory across sims on the  
same server!

Not to mention that inventory includes your whole avatar. Without  
permanent inventory, every time you log on you're Ruth again, and  
your inventory is *at most* whatever someone using the same account  
name happened to have the last time they were in that sim. If someone  
sets up a grid (and if they're IBM or Coke they'll have to) they'll  
need an inventory server for that grid.

Whether your inventory is stored on your computer by your client, or  
a central inventory server, or CAP links back to the sim you acquired  
the content in, you have to be able to retain inventory across sims  
within a given grid. Otherwise this isn't like the web, it's like the  
bulletin board systems of the '70s and '80s. The ability to see the  
same content from anywhere no matter where you started is what MAKES  
the web the web instead of a bunch of disconnected servers.

And it's what makes the grid the grid.

A grid without inventory, no matter who's running it, isn't a grid at  
all. It's like a thin client when the network's down.

They'll get an inventory mechanism of some kind working. They'll have  
to.