Business

Hi Osprey !

I left SL - the only kind of VR i was using - mainly because I had no more time to "play" there, after I realized there was no way to expand my business in that environment. It needs a lot of time and effort to obtain very poor (business) results and if I use the same time and effort in RL I can have greater satisfaction.

But I still have some very nice memories of SL and mainly of you, I think you are the most interesting person I met there and like to look at your work every now and then.

Have a good RL and SL , Osprey!


Reply: Yes, SL isn't very useful for business right now except for things like architecture (building scale models you can walk in), and has limited uses for education. It's just such a lot of bother and expense for people to get in at all that it isn't worth it in most cases.

If, in the future, technology makes it easier and places SL within the grasp of every person with an ordinary computer, things could possibly be different. I'm not sure how different, but certainly, if things like cloud computing and fibre optic cables become ubiquitous, the generations who have grown up with cyberspace may choose to interact with businesses in 3d rather than 2d. I can see each person having a virtual body double of their real body, and a virtual double of their real living space, then going to, say, a 3d web Ikea, and trying out a nightstand or bookcase to see if it fits and looks right. If that would be fast and easy it would be useful.

On the other hand governments and businesses are seeking to tame the anarchy of the web and bring it into line with their own goals. In that event there won't be as much of interest - well, I hope people would not find it as interesting. Better we should turn away from computers and grow real seeds in the real world.

Update 15Ap2010: Apparently SL already runs with server-side rendering but only for sequestered business clients (makes sense).

Also: (Disclaimer: I am FOS as I know nothing) It seems to me that instead of either/or there might eventually be integration of cloud computing in regions that the owners would like to have remain static, at the least, and at best a two- or three-tier system where there is an underlying static layer (all land/builds that form the base), then a changeable layer (group rez), and possibly a temporary layer (visitors can rez temporarily). I have no clue if this is possible or even desirable, but it sounds useful to me.