What interested me about this were these three SL-relevant paragraphs:
"One of the questions asked most frequently throughout the event was whether an overriding metaverse of 2016 will be commercially owned or open source. There was little agreement about that, but it was clear that the companies seen as most likely to provide the tools for a single metaverse upon which many 3D, social applications could be built are Microsoft and Google.
In part, Google was seen as more likely because of its development of Google Earth and its recent purchase of the maker of the 3D modeling software, Sketchup.
But some felt that Microsoft could make a major play to become the metaverse provider and that it may well seek to buy something like the open-ended virtual world "Second Life" as a precursor to a larger play in the field."
In part, Google was seen as more likely because of its development of Google Earth and its recent purchase of the maker of the 3D modeling software, Sketchup.
But some felt that Microsoft could make a major play to become the metaverse provider and that it may well seek to buy something like the open-ended virtual world "Second Life" as a precursor to a larger play in the field."
With Second Life finally coming to the attention of a wider investor community with the help of BusinessWeek, it's easy to see that something along these lines is bound to happen sooner or later.
The question is, what kind of investments or mergers or takeovers (or simply unrelated competition) is likely to be positive and helpful and well received and progressive for LL, for the SL community, and for the larger metaverse community to come? I doubt if there is any easy answer to this.
However, one thing is certain: SL as it stands doesn't scale for events at all, so any incoming megacorp will finally give LL the push it needs to leave behind the old static resource allocation methods and "do it right".
After all, an implementation that supports no more than a few dozen people (or maybe soon a few hundred) at any one spot is really just a toy or proof of concept, compared to the thousands or dozens of thousands who will be wanting to attend online community events, sports, world conferences, etc.
So in that sense, it will be a very good thing despite the unheavals that are coming our way. Smalltown was fun, but the big world awaits.
