An Open Letter To Linden Lab

I don't know what country you live in, but I think in this instance the United States... created in part as a testbed for the invisible hand of the market... is a worthwhile reference for how respect for intellectual property should be seen.

What does the US Constitution say about IP and Copyright? Does it say that they are a natural right of the individual? Does it even describe them as property? No, it says that they are to be established as a temporary monopoly to promote the development of the arts and sciences. IP is a useful tool, a prop for the market in a place where laissez-faire doesn't work as well as it does elsewhere. That's all.

More Pie!

Heh, I just did that and the person I was buying from decided she wanted cash, and the person next to the land I'd bought ended up expanding from 512 to 1536 and I made a new friend... and came out even on the deal.

Basically, you're in the same position as honest Usenet sites after the spammers and "bullet proof" news hosters came online. Almost all the small Usenet sites anded up dropping larger and larger parts of Usenet and went offline, and it turned from a collaborative effort distributed over hundreds of thousands of computers into a small network where a few large servers dominate by selling access to porn and pirated software and music.

The well was poisoned by the unethical. Linden Labs was having to support the business models of ALL the land scanners, not just you but the scammers as well, and I'm sure it was costing them too much money on customer support. I've been there, on all sides - as a customer, as a vendor, and as the network operator... and any resource that's abused badly enough eventually gets choked off.

I'm sorry you got caught in the wheels, but you're by no means the first and you're by no means the worst loser. It's tough, but it's done, it's in the past, and you have to move on.

You are right, kinda feels like owning a Mom n Pop shop for years, only to have Wal-Mart move in next door. Forget value-add or quality products, now everyone has access to shoddy goods.

Dude is it not a business, it is a free for all. Back before all the assholes started using land scanners regular people bought public land. I used to buy public land in 2004 when I had a day off, build something, and then release it again. Ahh, the good old days. Also once when snow land was still cool I bought extra land from my neighbors who released it after breaking up. Basically all the people snatching up public land and reselling it at high prices, just contributed t fucking everyone else in SL, just as much as Anshe's and Blue's price fixing of auctions and land grabbing and telehub monopolies. So, this isn't some great SL business that got fucked over by the man. These are just people are on the take, trying to make a quick buck who are seeing their opportunity to fuck everyone else over, go away. Good Riddance.


Also, comparing this to GOM is bullshit. GOM provided a useful service to many people in SL. These people have done more harm than good.

OMG why are you freaking people still arguing with Weedy? Get a life. Weedy is arguing from an emotional position.

What saddens me is seeing "friends" of Weedys rubbing her nose in this.
So much for loyalty, eh?

If you mean me, I was using someone else's words in that post above yours.

Not at all Nolan, I was agreeing with your sentiment.

Ahhh, I'll shush then.

Shut up Nolan. We are arguing with Coconut.

You don't get it do you?

You made that statement, and then immediately went on to argue with Weedy yourself. Coco agrees with her, so now you're arguing with Weedy by proxy. Just pointing out the glaring irony there, as is my right, despite your control issues.

Not that I care a whole heap, I just call 'em like I see 'em. See my sig line for more on this.

And no, I wont shut up for someone who is out to try and convince everyone she is oh so hard-ass. Actually, I won't shut up for anyone without "Linden" for a last name. kthxbai

While we're at it, I think they should remove P2P for everyone since it "GOM'ed" ROAM.

But Eboni, as I pointed out earlier, "regular" people could use land scanners, too.

coco

More like being the last mom-n-pop left in a neighorhood of crack houses, titty bars, and xxx-video emporiums... that just got razed.

Wait a second, I thiought this was "getting hit on the head".

Bah, humbug, PvP vs P2P.

I think you mean PvP?

I mean Point to Point Teleporting. Which effectively killed off the ROAM auto-flight system, which was widely agreed to be an excellent and elegant alternative for SL's shortcomings in getting around the grid. I was just wondering aloud how come it's ok to nerf some residents businesses by adding or changing functionality and features without so much as a peep from the community yet its so abhorrant and causes outrage when the self same thing is done to others.

Maybe I should have bitched more when they introduced custom anims, too, since suddenly no one wanted to chicken dance with my dance machine any more...

Yes, the P2P roam thing does have me thinking. But so far I haven't figured out how to accomodate this apparent exception to my thinking in my thinking.

coco

I'm not trying to get it excepted, really. Whilst I loved ROAM and love Francis more, I'd much rather have P2P. I'm quite sure even Francis and Rathe would rather have P2P even though it effectively killed off the very need for ROAM. Like many things in Second Life, it filled a need while a need existed.

ROAM is not an exceptional circumstance by any means.

What if LL announced that 1.10 included a new function to swim when you're in water? Should they not do it because Siggy fulfilled peoples wants in that area by creating his excellent Swimmer?

There is a simple choice, really, and that is to adapt and diversify and roll with the changes... or shout loudly about them then roll over and die.

I guess since Francis and Rathe are talented and adaptable, they didn't feel the need to shout about it. I somehow doubt Siggy would shout very loud if they did add swimming. I wonder how many other people would be loudly opposed? Assuming they're not hypocrites, that is.

Bingo!

If that convinced Siggy to implement an API so landowners could effectively and selectively control swimming on their land, I'd be all for it... *and* I'd buy a Swimmer.

I don't think one would see very much support for Siggy at all from certain quarters, were that to happen Kris. Well unless of course those same said quarters were first told how they should feel about that hypothetical by other quasi-banned individuals.


Upside is I think I finally found a sig line.

Actually I was just entertaining myself while my server in WoW was down. I don't need to impress people on the internet, I was popular in High School.