[sldev] Linden Lab Navigations and Landmark Project

[William F. Zachmann]

I'd meant to send my original reply to the list.  I am trying to correct this by forwarding my latest reply to Callum to the list.

I think this is an important issue not simply in terms of the specific point here, but more broadly in that there does not seem to me to be sufficient awareness and concern among developers working on the software of the perspective of ordinary residents in Second Life (and many more who do not ever become active residents because they find it too difficult to learn their way around).  My concern is that technically proficient programmers do not typically find it very easy to put themselves in the shoes of a non-technical user (SL resident) or to appreciate how difficult it is for ordinary people to learn their way around SL.

While replacing the current Picks structure with external web site links may seem like a good idea to a programmer, it is an absolutely dreadful idea from the perspective of an ordinary, non-technical, SL resident.

All the best,

Arifi/Will

Arifi Saeed, Research Director, SL
Canopus Research Inc.
Arifi.saeed at canopusresearch.com
http://arifisaeed.wordpress.com

William F. Zachmann, President, Canopus Research Inc.
Columnist:  Redmond Developer News
wfz at canopusresearch.com
http://www.canopusresearch.com
http://reddevnews.com/columns/columnist.aspx?columnistsid=47




-----Original Message-----
From: William F. Zachmann 
Sent: Saturday, April 19, 2008 3:49 PM
To: 'Callum Lerwick'
Subject: RE: [sldev] Linden Lab Navigations and Landmark Project

Callum,

I don't agree.  Aside from the likely performance hit going out to another web site, the bigger issue I see with this is that it requires a resident to have a web site somewhere, rather than being able to just create a Pick simply in-world as they can now.  Again, that's no big deal for technically proficient programmer types.  But it is quite daunting for many ordinary residents.  SL is already a very difficult environment for normal people.  That's why the retention rate is pathetically low (VERY low digits according to Mitch Kapor - only 1-2%).  The change you advocate would make it even more difficult for non-technical residents.  For Second Life to grow and to achieve its potential it needs to be simpler, not more complex or requiring even more technical skills.


All the best,

will

William F. Zachmann
     President, Canopus Research Inc.
     Contributing Editor, Redmond Developer News

RRwfz at canopusresearch.com

  +1-781-934-9800 (office)
  +1-617-851-0773 (mobile)
  Skype:  william.f.zachmann
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-----Original Message-----
From: Callum Lerwick [mailto:seg at haxxed.com] 
Sent: Saturday, April 19, 2008 2:22 PM
To: William F. Zachmann
Subject: RE: [sldev] Linden Lab Navigations and Landmark Project

On Sat, 2008-04-19 at 04:36 -0700, William F. Zachmann wrote:
> One of the best things about the in-world experience for a user is the 
> ability to find new and interesting people/places/etc. by looking at 
> the Picks in someone's profile whom one casually encounters (or 
> perhaps merely sees in a crowd).  The ease with which a resident can 
> do that would be totally lost if it required going out to the web.  
> Same goes for profiles generally.  Nuking profiles might appeal to 
> programmers, but it is a totally dreadful idea as far as any 
> reasonably social non-geek-hiding-out-behind-a-computer SL resident 
> goes!

No you're missing the point. No functionality would be lost. You would still click on a person and bring up their profile. It would just happen using the in-game browser or perhaps an external one, whatever the user prefers. User picks would remain, using some protocol such as slurls to link back in to SL and keep everything seamlessly integrated. The idea is to not limit ourselves to a single implementation. Make it a web page, and you can easily change, tweak, add and remove features, with NO viewer changes needed. This is a Good Thing.