The new Offline version of SL is almost perfect...

So if i get on there and charge up a sim to tinker with I can pratice terraforming?

LL doesn't have anything to worry about. Grids will all be accessible from anywhere to anywhere. That's the theory, at least.
News: http://www.realxtend.com/
Some pics: over in gallery forum.
/53/81/241720/1.html#post1875866

IMHO, SL needs to go in this direction. LL can't keep being the only one setting up and selling SIMS. Things need to go more open source and SIMS should be able to be run by anyone just as web servers can be run by anyone on the internet.

Many won't like that I'm sure. I wonder how fast the Internet would have grown had only one company hosted all the servers and set the rules.

Even if it were just an offline practice SIM it would have lots of benefits. Avoid paying thousands of real $ as well as tier until a person has developed what they want and are ready to go.

I started another thread about the 2-sim standalone sim my RL agent had got working, with an avatar called Test User. They also managed to get me there too, looking more or less like I do in SL, but I'm definitely a minor player there, overshadowed by a workaholic Ruth who can't stop building!

Let's face it, our standalone's never going to be Damania or Apollo but it's looking not-at-all bad so far.

But the main thing I think is that Linden Lab need to get in on this market, like, quick!
For a relatively small price, stand alone sims could be offered. For an additional fee, there could be online grid link-in plus avatar and inventory transfer. This ought to be a whole lot cheaper than private islands as they wouldn' t need to buy the server hardware.

I don't see myself as a traitor as I've always been a strong supporter of Second Life and Linden Lab. Being extrovert and a bit show-offy, I love the social side of SL, which is absent in standalone. Anyway, like I say, someone else does most of the work on the standalone, I just have a small island in the corner of one sim to play with!

there is a huge issue with these stand-alones that will stop LL from integrating with it - the asset servers that keep our inventories while we cross sims are key to making SL what it is, with an economy, etc.

SL is more than just a grid of sims and none of the opensim stuff that I have heard of comes close to it.

It would be "perfect" if you were abvle to cleanly and eaily rtansfer assets to the SL grid. THen it would make a GREAT off line building tool.

As it its it IS handy for testing/creating skins which can take up to 50 uploads to get perfect, or testing animations which frequently can take 10 uploads per. Something some people use the beta grid for now

SO it has some uitility but, it's still nt really a usable offline building tool as transferring objects is unweildy to unworkable and the scripting isn't there yet and in the end will probably not even be the same language so you can't do offline script work with it now (or probabyl ever).

SL will become a quaint museum artifact just like ENIAC.

People were complaining during the early days of SL that they could not sell RL stuff from within SL.

With new startup like OpenSim, they will.

Just like putting up a website, except in 3D.

This should solve the inventory transfer issue for your own creations:

http://www.secondinventory.com/files/details.php

i'v seen adds for second invintory on slexchange, are you saying that perhaps u can use this program to move your SL invintory (or at least the items second invintory lets you) onto an open sim server? and then even back again?

i know this will happen eventually, but it would be nicer sooner than later

-Crunch

Wow...that's an interesting bit of software.

I have been able to connect to the OpenLife grid, but I'm not seeing how to run the standalone region on my local machine. Can you point me in the right direction?

Thanx!

OpenlifeGrid (OLG for short) is still considered alpha software (i.e. it is still missing some core functionality), and is only one of several new start-ups based on the OpenSim (open source SL) initiative. Also, separate from OLG, OpenSim has just released a server and viewer called realXtend, which allows you to upload mesh objects and create objects with dimensions up to 100m per side. Many other features, too many to go into here.

The current OpenSim projects, all alpha or pre-alpha (i.e. not even beta yet) are OpenlifeGrid, OS Grid, DeepGrid, Central Grid, VirtualWorldGrid, and a couple of others whose names I forget at the moment. There is a brand-new subforum on SLUniverse devoted to the rise of the alternative grids, and it's a good way for people to get their feet wet on all the new developments and goodies. URL is:



Keep in mind that this is really two developments taking place simultaneously: setting up your own private standalone server, and setting up alternative grids where you have a new, different service provider who hosts your sim(s) for you. Here's an example cost comparison for you:

Owning a Second Life sim:
Startup cost (Purchase price): US$1,500-5,500
Monthly cost/tier: US$195-295
First year costs*: US$3840-9040

*not including cost of a premium membership.


Owning an OpenlifeGrid sim:
Startup cost: US$15
Monthly cost: US$75
First year costs: US$915

In other words, if you're willing to be patient while OLG sorts the bugs out, you can own your own sim for roughly one-quarter the cost of an SL sim. OLG's pioneer land sale started on Friday and is still on-goiing, approximately half the sims have either been sold or been set aside as community regions (e.g. a French-language region, a goth region, etc.) the current sold/for sale map is here, if you're interested:

There are two elements to running a standalone sim on your PC (assuming it's powerful enough - modern ones should be).

1- You download the opensim - the OpenLife ready-to-run one is relatively user friendly. When the file is unzipped and opened it includes a 'read-me' instruction page. When you are ready to start the sim, right-click OpenSimLAUNCH and run it.
You should get a new panel with stop and start buttons at the top. Start the sim ans it will be running - but you won't see anything until you do the next bit....

2- You make a COPY your SL viewer - A WindLight one works fine. Right click the desktop shortcut and select 'properties' - then change the login URL as instructed.
Rename the shortcut to avoid confusion with your regular SL client viewer!
Then you log in, just like in SL, using the default avatar (first name Test, second name User, Password - Password) and you should get in.

Whenever you want to use the standalone, you need to start the sim first, then get up the converted SL login to access it.

OpenSims, disconnected from the main grid, will be great for corporations. They can use them to host secure meetings without relying on LL, team collaboration, or for showcase applications. They will have full control of the environment, with no pollution from the rest of the grid. They have no need for asset servers and currency-based transactions.

This is exactly how corporations are used to handling their websites and intranets. There will definitely be a market for that.

The OpenLifeGrid, I have more doubts. The idea is to replicate the social and creative part of SL, which means there will have to be some way of sharing content, so that means central asset servers and some sort of system for allocating land and sim resources, based on money I guess.

Either they create their own asset servers and transaction system, or they pay big money to LL to connect to SL main grid, in which case OLG becomes just a new continent in SL ala Anshe Chung.

There are many questions up in the air before any kind of connection to the SL main grid can even be envisioned
- Will there be economic aspects ? Transactions ? L$ or US$ ?
- What kind of permissions systems will be implemented ?
- What security will be implemented to protect copyright ? Accounts ? If you copy stuff that you sell in SL to OLG, can someone else copy it and get it back to SL ?
- Will the avatars, accounts, passwords be shared with SL ? How secure will their login server be ?

At the moment, it looks like anything that you create in the OLG will have to be considered opensource, because there is no guarantee that the data on the OLG servers is secure. This is ok as long as content creators know where they are going with this. Consider stuff you put there as freebie.

What makes SL great is the people and the content. People come to consume the content that other people create because there is an incentive. I think the biggest problem OLG will have to overcome, without an economy, is to create the incentive to create content to make people want to come.

Hosting your own sim connected to SL opens a whole new can of worms. Once you start bringing your inventory, your L$, or your avatar to a sim hosted on somebody's home computer in russia or brazil, who knows what's going on in the open source code that they are running ? What stops them from copying all your attachments, stealing your inventory, messing with permissions, taking your L$, getting credit card info from your account, logging your IMs ?

It's funny I haven't seen any discussion of these issues. Instead you have the typical "open source can only be good" on one side and the "OMG the sky is falling" on the other.

The grid in question, which I think was created by a disgruntled former SL banker, is called Central Grid. They have a full rate sheet up for hosted sims, and the last time I checked, it's more expensive than the alternatives while cheaper than SL itself.

There's been some discussions about Central Grid and its founder in the SLU forums, and the consensus appears to be: Caveat emptor. There are many choices out there, pick carefully.

btw...

As far as I understand it, OS Grid, OpenlifeGrid and DeepGrid all alow you to download the standalone server software for free to install on your own PC. Keep in mind that the software is still in alpha stage; this is not an option for you if you're short on geek skills.

DeepGrid allows standalone servers to connect to each other in a network. In fact, that's primarily what it is right now. I understand that they are just getting started on providing hosting services for sims.

OpenlifeGrid, on the other hand, currently focuses on hosting for sims, at approxinately one-fourth the cost of SL. Again, keep in mind, this is alpha software, and much patience is required as OLG sorts out the bugs and fixes them. While it is possible for you to download and install the standalone server software, it is currently not possible for you to connect to OLG's grid or to other standalone sims.

And the standalone server software is identical for all alternative grid providers; it comes from the OpenSim project. realXtend offers a souped-up sim-server experience with many new bells and whistles. realXtend also offers a new viewer for SL and the alternative grids.

May you live in interesting times, as the ancient Chinese curse goes

http://wiki.magrathean.ca/index.php?title=DGiG



Indeed