Some comments on the organizational value of SL’s new business model

07/04/2011 @ 11:05am by William Prensky

 

We have gotten a number of questions about the changes to the Linden Lab / Second Life business model and how that affects large organizational use of the platform and environment.  So many inquiries have come our way, in fact, that a Blog Post seems to be in order.  So here is our take on the future of SL and VR worlds.

The changes announced and those which are actually taking place, (which is not always the same thing) would not in any way negatively impact corporate and global organizational use of the SL platform for any use-case that we can imagine.  If the goal is to create a public or by invitation only area where any type of always-on or controlled access interactive experience can be visualized, we believe that the new model increases the utility and value of the SL environment.  The changes to the business model are intended primarily to improve the overall customer and user experience of SL and to add to the features available which would help to make any venture more useful and user friendly, as well as to make LL and SL more stable in the long run.

In fact, the only change to the business model which would potentially negatively impact a small number of corporate activities as far as we can see is the suspension of the private SLE server-in-a-box model.  That model would not, however, have been the most useful or appropriate one for most corporate and business groups, and was more focused on “behind the firewall” solutions for highly confidential activities.  All activity on the main grid, however, can be kept totally confidential and private using the existing security and privacy settings currently in place for private regions and estates.

The “new” SL business model focus is designed to do a number of things of great positive importance to almost any proposed business project.

• The new model focuses heavily on creating a more user-friendly interface viewer with a dual-point-of-entry model – “basic” and “advanced”.  All new users are offered the “basic” mode which allows for browsing but limited interactivity and building as a learning tool while the “advanced” setting returns the user to full functionality of all SL tools and navigation.  This new viewer is already the default SL download viewer in the 2.x series.  The new viewer is also based on a more familiar browser interface which makes it much more comfortable for the new user.
• The new model includes a host of new multi-media and interactive content tools, allowing us as builders to include highly sophisticated multimedia objects and events in the SL environment.  These include (but are not limited to)
  • Much more sophisticated multimedia streaming tools, including
    • Synchronous and asynchronous video
    • Proximity based video and slide show presentations
    • Enhanced two way web interactive and internet interactive communication
    • Web dashboards that are fully operational and interactive in SL
    • Two way communication is possible with any internet ready database
    • Customization of simulations and models using running executables on distant websites and servers is a reality
    • Two way data communication allowing SL objects to change distant real life objects and distant RL objects to change SL objects in real time is already in place
    • Viewer – Asset Server communication models which allow for better control of avatar inventory and less lag-time in rendering inventory and environment objects improve overall performance
  • More user controls over viewer communication settings allow more fine-tuning of viewer functions to network speeds and bandwidth and individual client machine capabilities
  • More viewer ability to function with reduced client graphics opens use to more basic corporate individual computers
  • The ongoing mesh project will roll out true Collada digital 3D modeling of objects in SL allowing for much more detailed and realistic building of environments with less polygon load
  • Improved server architecture and infrastructure allow for increases in the number of simultaneous logins on a given simulator with less lag and overhead
  • The open-source viewer project and the increased inter-communicability with Open SIM allows for moving of investments and builds from one platform to another and allows for warehousing of creations on separate asset servers
  • LL’s  dedication to focus on core business to ensure long-term stability of the platform and of LL and SL itself increases the comfort level of making investments in using the platform

Taken all together these changes and dedications to improvement of the user experience have led to an increased user friendliness and functionality of SL without sacrificing any of the complex richness of the environment.  They lead to an increase in the depth of immersion for individual user experience and to increased confidence in the long-term viability of LL and SL.

LL moved to implement their new model in order to focus on user experience rather than multiple siloed solution options, allowing us as applications developers to have a broader and more varied and complex canvas on which to work.  This had led to a real increase in the interests of major organization in the use of the environment, as is evidenced by our own experience with inquiries and ongoing projects as well as the reports of other solution and applications developers working with global Fortune 500 companies.

This is our take on the new approach and model.  We would love to hear your comments.

For more on this subject we have been conversing with our good friend – James Neville – also known as  Sitearm Madonna of SL – who posted a short conversation he and I had about corporate use and interest.  Sitearm’s blog conversation with me is found here:  http://sitearm.wordpress.com/2011/04/02/uptick-in-corporate-interest-in-use-of-second-life/ and is worth a look.