Say It Ain't So! (Second Life The Future of Online Shopping?)

I love the idea.

Hope it happens.

Me too.
Lots of places will need building so a whole new industry will develop around that too.

Given those requirements, I honestly think it is more than a couple of years away.

They have been telling us for more than 5 years that we all needed to get our tv sets upgraded for digital signal, that it was coming -- and they have now delayed the "mandated" switch over date at least twice.

Interesting but it don't work with a linux machine. In the beginning, Lenovo were going to do only linux. How money talks.

Bah, the Internet is just a passing fad. 3D headsets

Next thing, you're going to tell me we'll have phones that we can use as cameras.

I have to agree with that. Real-world zoning is not something they appear to take very seriously, which, I have to admit, did make for an amusing juxtaposition of residences, businesses, and activities that generally have strong NIMBY effects in the States, all on top of one another as if trying in earnest to prove wrong the fundamental Law of Physics that two objects cannot occupy the same space at the same time. However, this attidude also tends to reflect on their web design standards, and I have seen some truly horrible site navigation designs on Japanese sites.

At any rate, I can't see VR shopping as being anything more than a gimmick, because it really does not improve upon existing methods. I mean, sure, it saves you from walking from aisle to aisle, dodging bratty children, and reaching over some else's cart for that last can of spinach, but what is it really improving? Nothing. All it does is simulate what is generally a tedious, boring experience.

In my opinion, it will fail, for much the same reason so-called metaphoric navigation designs on websites fail - the sort of sites that, when it loads, gives you a pseudo-3D view of a room with doors, signs, and other objects, and you're supposed to click on various (often badly-labeled) objects to navigate your way through this website. If you're not sure what I'm talking about, http://www.websitesthatsuck.com is full of examples of metaphorical navigation. Anyway, these fail because, instead of taking advantage of the technology in use to improve a process or experience, it instead simulates an existing non-technical experience.

I guess the hard core computer types will latch onto it, the ones who can't step away from the games to order a pizza, and for those with issues that preclude them getting out it will be a benefit, but fot me, Meh.

Don't even get me started on that! Digital TV! Oh, yeah, it's great! IF you happen to live close enough to all the transmitters that are supposed to serve your area!

I live in an area that is classified as a "fringe area". We can get analog reception fairly well, although it often requires tweaking the antenna to get certain channels. But, with the same antenna (which IS "digital-ready", by the way), only one of these stations can be reliably received digitally (and, even then, a bird flying by is enough to disrupt the signal). Yes, we have cable, but they are a monopoly here, and we are not allowed satellite dishes in my apartment complex.

DTV is a wonderful idea, but so poorly executed, that the Federal Government may well have just mandated that all computers must run Microsoft Windows and use Internet Exploder - or else!

That's coming in the next stimulus package.

It will be okay Conifer because we will have to peddle our exercise bikes to make power for the computers. Could make cyber more difficult tho....

Exactly! Between this, and not being able to try stuff on first, has bitten me in the ass many times when clothes-shopping in SL.

Even better! We'll have cell phones that we'll use for written communication, and these newfangled electronic typewriters we'll use for verbal communication!