[sldev] Linden Lab Navigations and Landmark Project

[Anna Gulaev]

On 4/21/08, Jason Giglio wrote:

> Yeah so every competitor can do it, but SL can't, because of a tiny
> concerned minority?


If by "competitor" you mean the alternate grids, I don't consider them
competitors. I think they are unprofessional and their stand on IP and
privacy are signs of their unprofessionalism, not some great opportunity.
They'll be subject to the same infighting and divided focus and sloppy work
as most other unprofessional projects. As long as they have the
we're-smarter-than-you technodude attitude they'll always be the GIMP
(infinitely flexible for the techno elite, your information wants to be my
free information, yadda yadda, but mediocre) to someone else's Photoshop
(and that probably won't be LL, who are more like GIMP in professionalism,
but show signs of growing up).

Linden Lab hosting every byte of content is not a viable plan for the
> future.


They don't have to. There's already a web tab on the profile, HTML on a
prim, which will increase in functionality, and there will be more and more
web links in the future, some of them provided by the residents themselves.
Those offered by LL will be more carefully considered. Less interesting for
the techno elite, perhaps, but better-behaved and ultimately more
successful.

The "metaverse" that reaches the masses and becomes successful is likely to
be less flexible, not more flexible. Technical merit will not rule the
future any more than it's ruled the past. The "metaverse" that is successful
will be one that adults can take seriously, not one that is most pleasing to
the technically adept few. It will be the one that has a good interface and
provides an experience that isn't so easy for dorks and trouble makers to
screw up. It doesn't *have* to be less technically capable; it's just easier
to provide an adult experience with fewer opportunities for "expression". LL
seems to be trying to find a balance. They may be pushed to be more like
their perceived competitors, and that's made more likely by their being more
like them than not like them.
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