html on a prim / uBrowser

The educational establishment I'm working for is eager to know when we can expect to see the much anticipated html on a prim. I understand that Callum Linden is in charge of this but that he doesn't speak much about it.

I'm sure that you're aware of the potential uses this sort of thing has and how much more interest it will generate in SL.

Roughly, when can we expect to see it in beta?

Edit: If you wish to see this feature sooner, please vote for it at the following:

https://jira.secondlife.com/browse/VWR-2493

Lindens don't tend to respond (or even read for the most part) to the forums. You'd be better off leaving Callum an IM, a notecard, or emailing.

As for HTML-on-a-prim I hope it'll either be implemented server-side or not at all. Bringing the whole range of browser exploits into the SL viewer isn't a particularly smart move, nor is the inevitable "I paid loads for this item but the creator closed down the web backend of it and now it's worthless", along with a few other scenarios.

People will find a way to exploit anything. The number of applications this sort of thing has in the educational sector are beyond massive.

Scams are always going to be around, people need to become more aware of the risks so they can better take care of themselves. By all means, I hope they do as much as they can to make it safe, but don't abandon it for pity's sake.

Text entry on forms is a major issue. I suspect that as long as we're able to click buttons and navigate sites that this much functionality would allow for some interesting development(s).

I spoke to Torley, in world, yesterday and the gist was that Callum is the guy to speak to about it. I've sent a message, I know that he's busy etc etc..., hoping for an update.

*crosses fingers*

Anyone know if he has in-world office hours?
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Update:

Steve Linden told me, in world, that they expect to have a solution that will enable one HTML page at a time per parcel in Q1. This will use the current parcel media URL except that HTML will be supported in addition to movies.

What is it that the educational establishment thinks it will be able to do with HTML on a prim that it can't do with the not-on-a-prim HTML browser that we have today?

It can't be used for the demonstrations or interactive elements that we have in mind.

You can use Quicktime for that just as easily.

LL may be dead-set on giving the educational community everything it wants (sims at half price and half tier, voice, the inevitable merging of the teen and adult grid due to educational lobbying) but that doesn't mean it's actually necessary or desired.

I can think of many better uses for the thousands of subsidized $150/month sims that would benefit a much greater audience than to house some university's utterly deserted virtual campus.

Who said they're deserted?Plus LL gets taxbreaks for those subsidized sims I bet.

Quicktime has severe limitations in SL, for teaching it's not very effective. The reason why most university campuses have low traffic is because no one has figured out how to use them effectively. There is no standardisation insofar as teaching is concerned in the virtual world. It's one area in which competition is of no use for improving standards, there needs to be collaboration. The html on a prim stuff could potentially be used to create all sorts of learning tools.

You sound bitter about it, what better uses do you envisage?

Tao Takashi has great information on his site here about the state of web on a prim
http://taotakashi.wordpress.com/2007/10/02/html-on-a-prim-is-getting-ready-for-prime-time/

and here is a wikipage for it:

http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Media_on_a_parcel

cheers

NCI, The Shelter, The Ivory Tower of Prims, the Particle Lab, people who want to have a go at creating their own OI, artists, social hangouts, non-profit builders, etc, etc.

All things that would actually benefit the residents of Second Life, who are paying to subsidize those sims in the first place.

The $295/month (or even the initial $1675) are a stumbling block for projects that aren't commercial. $850/sim and $150/month might still be a lot, but it lowers the barrier to entry significantly.

Instead the money gets wasted on pampering educational institutions that have no wide interest and who can easily afford to pay full price.

There's no reason why an educational establishment can't create something artistic or make an attempt to engage with the wider community to create social areas. The thing is, as I've said, not many of them are aware of how to go about it. It's unfamiliar territory to most of them and not all are willing to invest large sums of time money. It's usually one or two depts within the establishment that make an attempt to reach out and they're usually on a strict budget. Blended learning units are looking at all sorts of technology, not just Second Life and sometimes it passes them by completely unnoticed. In my case it's the comp sci division who are making an attempt to get other depts interested and to come up with interesting ideas (as well as funding).

Things aren't always so simple.

I'm curious as to what your definition of subsity is. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary states: subsidy "b: to aid or promote (as a private enterprise) with public money"

I highly doubt Linden Labs is actually paying money, or taking a hit with its price for educational sims. IF they were to lose money, on an educational sim, i dont think they would be in the position they currently are, as market leaders...

If they weren't actually covering costs with the sale of sims to educations, how could they afford to support them? Sure, it's a lower price they give, but let me ask you this, of all the creations in Second Life, what would you have them support?

As you mention, arts is a good one, but would u choose casinos or porn over education? If subsity has to go somewhere, I favor education and the arts non profits etc

I really am surprised anyone is disfavoring favor put towards education.

Education is the heart of progress of any form.

So cudos to Linden labs for supporting it. - and as a company, from a business standpoint, supporting education actually benefits their public relations, gets them more media support, and support of the public in general, thus, more users sign up because its seen as a socially acceptable platform.

Imagine if they did NOT support education... what kind of media spin would this give? My guess is - a negative one - so instead of one complainer, they now would have thousands, and at the same time, lost the support of the entire education community, which, in turn closes the door to the students who go to universities etc...

by supporting education, Linden labs effectivly attracts more users, and therefore, a larger revenue stream... which it can use to further its technology....

from this standpoint, they can only gain by subsidizing education in SL. And the entire community benefits in the long run.

So, im sorry, but, Ill have to disagree with you.



no wide interest???? I think you would benefit from joining the SLED mailing list in SL... it is the most active mailing list in SL to date...

it would be interesting to view the responses you would get from the educational community with this remark

.... can also you clarify your belief on this? Do you seriously beleive that there is absolutely and has been no benefit from educational sims in SL?

I don't mind debating this further, but I doubt it's on-topic for the beta grid forum . And I don't think we'd ever get anywhere anyway .

I did want to address one point with a quote:
http://blog.secondlife.com/2006/11/01/we-heard-you-private-island-pricing-increase-delayed-until-november-15th/#comment-13578
"the first and easiest to identify is the education segment. We are committed to providing them significant discounts – at this point below our costs."

I've heard nothing that would indicate that has changed, I've only seen it confirmed again and again since then.

The question asked above about what the school wants to do with html on a prim that it can't do with the existing inclient browswer wasn't answered in much detail.

What is about having the browser displayed on an object inworld, distorted by perspective, that makes it more educational or interactive than the regular browser?

A floating window seems tacky and rather than immersing people inside the virtual environment is a constant reminder that Second Life is still making compromises on the path to seamless integration with the web.

Let's use something really simple as an example. I've made a virtual piano and it uses a seperate prim for each key. People can learn to read music and play a few tunes from it. The alternative would be, in this case, to have a flash based app that loads up in the browser window which people would use to practice with seperately from one another. If I could put that flash app on a single prim I get the effect of having a real 3D piano, in world, whilst saving on objects. I wouldn't have to rely completely on the LL servers to stream the sounds to everyone, we'd be using the web servers we have at our own disposal and users would be able to see and hear what each is doing. This is provided that LL goes down the route of simulating mouse events for the other clients.

It's not practical to have staff, who are interested in the project, start learning LSL either. We already have learning tools which would be more useful provided that we're able to place them in the appropriate contextual environment.