Open Spaces Announcement & Talk with M and Jack Linden

Here is the FAQ copied over to here: I didn't copy the table.


Openspaces FAQ
I own an Openspace today, what are my choices?

If you are using your Openspace for very low impact usage (park, ocean, occasional sailing events, etc) you can keep your Openspace in its current form, or you may convert it to a full Region. Four Openspaces equate to one full Region. If you do not have enough Openspaces to convert to a full Region, you may make up the difference with a one-time cost equivalent to USD$250 per Openspace. To maintain your Openspace status, you must comply with the usage limits for Openspaces.

If you are using your Openspace as a rental or other unapproved use, such as habitation, you are really using what we call a Homestead. You may keep your Region in its current form, but Homesteads will have specific limits. In January 2009, your billing rate will change to $95/month. In July 2009, it will move to $125/month. Alternately, you can also convert your Openspaces to full Regions before the January 5th, 2009 deadline by creating a support ticket.

I have many Openspaces that I rent, what are my choices?

Your choices are the same as above. You are welcome to continue to use Homesteads as rental Regions but the price will change in January 2009.

How are Homestead Regions and Openspaces different?

Openspaces are intended for very low-impact use only. They share 4 CPUs per server, and support a limited number of objects. When the new changes go into place, they will support 750 prims and only 10 avatars, and will likely place limits on scripts running in the Region, as well as being unable to use event postings and classifieds.

Homestead regions are for quiet residential or light commercial use. They are not intended for events, malls, or other high-impact uses. When new changes go into place, they will support 3750 prims and 20 avatars, and will likely also have script limits.

What is the policy around migrating from Openspaces to a Full Region?

You may convert your Openspaces to a full Region. Four Openspaces equate to one Region, and we are not charging a conversion fee, at least until the pricing change comes into effect in January 09. If you own less than four Openspaces, you can make up the difference at a cost of USD$250 per Openspace.

For example: If you own 2 Openspaces, you can covert to a full Region at the cost of the two Openspaces + USD$500. The current monthly fee for a Full Region will then apply.

What if I own 7 Openspaces, can I trade up to 2 regions with my 7 Openspaces + $250?

Yes, you may.

On January 5th, what action do I have to take to determine if my Openspace becomes a homestead Region or remains an Openspace?

Before January 5th, your Openspace will become a Homestead and be billed at that rate unless you take the following steps:

Remove any renters from the region.
Reduce prims to 750 or less.
File a ticket with the concierge team to request the change:
Visit http://secondlife.com/support
Click the Ticket Submission button
Enter a short, descriptive summary in the Summary field
Under Ticket Type, choose Land and Region Issues
Under Region Request, choose Region Change
Under Region Change, choose Homestead opt-out
Under Details, tell us the name of your Openspace, and let us know that it has under 750 prims on it.
What is the price point for the new Homestead product?

Homesteads will enter the market on January 5th at USD$95 per month each, with a setup fee of USD$375. The monthly charge will move to $125 in July 2009. Regular Region and Openspace setup fees remain the same.

Are there discounts for educators?

Qualified Educators already receive a discount for regular Private Regions. We will not be offering a discount on Openspaces, but we will offer a discount for Homesteads. Educational Homesteads setup is $262.00, $66.50/month for January 09 onwards and then $87.50 per month from July 09.

When will the limits take effect?

Limits around avatars and prim counts will take effect January 5th, with the price increase. Script and other limitations not ready by the January 5th date will take effect as completed, but will be announced as soon as possible.

When will the price changes take effect?

Pricing changes for Homesteads January 5th, 2009 to a US $375 setup fee and US$95/month, and again on July15th, 2009 to US$125/month.

What things have not changed about Openspaces, Homesteads and Private regions?

You still need to own a Private region to buy an Openspace or Homestead.
Setup fees for Openspaces and Private Regions remain the same.
Monthly fees for Openspaces and Private Regions remain the same.
What are the policies around land rental on Homestead Regions?

Homesteads are approved for rental use within the Region limitations we have set.

What are the policies around land rental on Openspaces?

Openspaces are not approved for residential or commercial rental, or for habitation. They are only for open areas of scenery and parkland.

This is exactly the same nothing will change.

They are basically forcing it.

We pay 75$ for 750 Prims??

The Opensims have been given a new name "Homesteads" but will be still be going up in price with exactly same prim amounts, why not more?

I was expecting something much better than this. Do I look like I am stupid??

You undermine all your residents.

But prim attachments don't count against the sim limits.

Anyone tried using OpenSpaces with huge houses worn by bots that always stay logged in?

This is a very good compromise indeed. The Homesteads will prove to be very popular and I am pleased that you have listened to feedback and acted accordingly.

I for one will be keeping my Openspace sim - or should I say Homestead. I know that some will still not be happy with this - those who were running a big business or club from an Openspace sim for example but (and I know this may sound harsh) that's tough luck for them.

We now have clear ranks of sims....

1) Openspace - pure scenic
2) Homestead - quiet residential or light commercial (not malls)
3) Full sims - just about anything you care to mention
4) Mainland - err yes well, OK if you can find a nice spot with decent neighbors and keep them from setting up a club or sex shop

Well done - but a shame you did not suggest this first of all.

Try focus groups next time?

A more interesting point: there are avatars with thousands of prims, I wonder if they'll bounce from OpenSpaces, or if attachments will continue to be treated as overhead as they are now.

Agreed.

Linden labs has very bad PR and killed off a lot of good sims in the process. A lot of people were kicked of their sims, great non profit sims like Naughty Auties lost their land for no reason. Linden Labs is hell unreliable, the new CEO is of the same greedy, non customer service friendly kind as the previous.

Even no profit sims for the disabled are beeing ripped off for some money.

There's nothing for anyone here, except more money for LL.

Does yout TOS protect you from your "Bait and Switch" BS you pulled on us?????

Yeah, but LL has already said that prims weren't the issue here. I suspect the reason they are limiting prims so severely is as a knock-on effect to limiting other uses of the regions.

Basically, they use the prim limits to make them less viable for "abuse", at least in their eyes.

From the KB on the topic:



LL, Please clearly and unambiguously define what "Light commercial use" constitutes.
I may have to give up the photo garden and drop to one of this given the direction the SL economy is taking because of this debacle.

actually, I feel a little better today with 12.288 m2 on a private sim with about the same monthly tier of 75$ and 2811 prims. regards, panta

Read that for more information before we have 6K posts asking questions that have been answered.

Most of the details are there except the number of scripts and restrictions, which to me, is the biggest factor.
I see this as a possible set up to get us locked in, and then make the limits sooo low, it wasnt worth the chance AT ALL!

Please provide some numbers LL!

After seeing this fiasco and yet more corporate smoke screening, I'm going out on a limb here and making a prediction:

Withing one year, Linden Lab will either have been forced by competition to wake up and totally restructure the method in which their company does business... or Second Life will be out of business / or a virtual ghost town. Most likely the latter.

I'm also predicting at this point the strong possibility of a major, class-action lawsuit the likes of which have been LL's worst nightmare.

Yes, Linden Lab, those are "Wayfinder predictions". You know the historical accuracy of such predictions.

No further comments. Leaving the company to its consequences.

So in other words you're scaling back to lower than the original openspace at the same price as the current openspaces and then repackaging the current openspaces as "homesteads" with a $50 a month price hike come July.

I'm sorry to say but this really doesn't seem like a viable solution. You're still offering the same original product with the same limitations that most of us have imposed ourselves (I capped my sim at 15 concurrent avatars).

Sorry, but it still doesn't work for me. $125 a month is way too pricey for a server space rental, especially when I can get more bang for my buck if I go off on my own with a private server rental and just install OpenSimulator. I may not have access to all the wonderful content thats on your asset servers, but it should be fun none the less recreating it all from scratch.

Thanks and good try, but no dice.

Most computer equipment does not work optimally if completely used to its 100% full capacity.

You should be LOWERING prices, not raising them.

Land costs in SL are extortionate, always have been, and it's what puts people off building something they truly want to build, instead mostly being stuck with some kind of commercial/moneymaking activity to help make ends meet.

There are some truly wonderful builders out there, but not all have endless pockets - and thus their skills are not utilised to their potential in order to help YOU market YOUR product - after all, without the residents, you'd just have Linden land, which frankly leaves a lot to be desired in the majority of cases.

You need to recognise that not everyone here is into capitalism, and give some thought to the residents that aren't as well off as you may be.

In the end, you lose out. If I could get a decent bit of land for $50 a month, then I would get one in a heartbeat. But as I'd end up sharing some crappy plot next to a laggy club, something abandoned and full of lost prims, and someone whose idea of beauty is a neon pink full bright wall, there's no way I am going to bother. So you end up getting nothing from me - and I'm sure I'm not alone in that.

I'd love to build a park or something just for me, and friends to visit, but without an island, it's all wasted because you have no control over your neighbours who wouldn't want to co-operate.

You need to do three things.

1) Abandon 'premium accounts' and let everyone be free, just paying for the land.

2) Halve all land prices.

3) Allow people to buy 'low prim sims' of whatever name you want to call them individually without having to own a full island first.

Then, and only then, you might see a return to the Second Life of old, full of beauty, imagination and creativity, pushing the boundaries of the platform and allowing you to truly showcase what it is capable of. Either that, or stick with the stagnant, abandoned, commercial cesspit that you call the 'mainland' and watch your only source of income shrivel up before your eyes.

M, you are a businessman. For your suitability in that role, in leading a business to make money, I have no doubt. Unfortunately, Second Life is unlike anything you have ever grasped before, and unless you very quickly learn that maximising profit at the expense of customer happiness and creative ability, then you will be the last CEO of that small San Francisco based company that people vaguely remembered before it crashed spectacularly. You know the old saying about not putting all your eggs in one basket... SL is LL's only product to date, and you have nothing else to fall back on when all your valued members who contribute a great deal to your success have finally had enough and stop logging on - and all will be left are bots, land swoopers, clueless noobs that give up after 5 minutes, and a desolate wasteland with the odd plywood box scattered around.

There's so much crap going on in the real world right now, why not help those who come here to escape those pressures to enjoy it a bit more?

I love SL, I love its potential. But I have to say, the company, its policies, its pricing, and many of its senior staff, does not impress me. I am not alone in this.

Prims attatched to an AV are phantom. Wouldn't work very well for a housesince you'd be falling though the floor or what not.

Thank you Linden Lab for listening and coming back with a proposal to better meet the needs of your customers. Very much appreciated.

But - and this is a big but - what specifically are you putting on the table ? What are the specific limitations that the Homestead product will have ? Similar to when Openspace Sims were introduced the conditions are not clear (yet).

What is very clear however is the price !!! Fair enough you are giving people more time to convert which is great. But whatever the limitations are the Homestead product is going to end up costing more than Openspace.

On the other hand side there is no movement on the Private Island product. Its still too high priced for 'private' usage.

Please listen Linden Lab - amongst your users you have a lot of people who enjoy the idea of creating a beautiful place to 'live'. These users turned to Openspace because Private Islands are just too expensive.

These people you offer the Homestead product which is ending up much higher priced than the widely Openspace product with limitations unknown.

I hope the limitations of the Homestead product compare favorably to those of the current Openspace product.

Otherwise we will end up paying a lot more for a lot less.

Needless to say that this would be a kick in the face of all those passionate people that enjoy SL and which currently feel so misunderstood by your original announcement.

Time is ticking Linden Lab - please clarify !!!



of

/nods

huge one ))

So basically M just put on some makeup and a skirt (a la the old Bugs Bunny Routine) and said "Hey we're still jacking up prices!! ANNNNDDD we're gonna have a crapload of new technical limitations too!!"? Awesome.


So, the question is kids...how are you going to enforce these technical limitations when you can't even figure out how to fix 60% of the bugs that have been prevalent in SL for months?

Total speculation zone below...

I'd guess that openspace will continue to be 4 sims/core and that the new homestead sims will also be 4 sims/core.

Instead of keeping servers all openspace sims or all full sims, I'd also guess that they'll be mixing openspace and homstead sims. Maybe even 2 openspace + 2 homestead per core.

The pricepoint they're talking about for homestead sims seems just too good to be 2 sims/core. I think it's more likely that they'll take some horsepower from the openspace sims on a core and and use it for homestead sims on that same core.

Going from 3750 to 750 is a slap in the face. A 4096 has more prims than that. If they are not going to punish those using the openspace as intended, what do they call this? A reward?

So to summarize: the existing OS product still gets its price hike, it's only renamed and it gets additional restrictions put on top of it. Even though M does not say it, I suspect they plan to run 4 of these on a single CPU, so unless they reinvent the simulator software in the meanwhile, the performance problems are still going to stay. Now if they were to run two of these Homestead sims per CPU, that could give some justification for the price hike, but I doubt that this is going to be the case.

The new OS product is much worse deal that the original, with only half as many prims allowed.

M, I have to give it to you, nicely written letter, making it sound like there is an improvement over the previous policy announcement, while in fact you're giving us the worse deal than the one that has caused all the uproar and which has significantly undermined the confidence your customers have in your company.

QFT

Some people just can't see the wood for the trees. Applauds LL for an excellent spin job