Simulators and there cost

Recently I've been talking with friends of mine, About the pricing of you're simulators.

Frankly, I'm shocked. At first, (When i saw how much money they cost) I figured you'd send a server box to the resident. I mean, Good lord.. But i find out that, Even though you seem to have good service, The resident gets absolutely nothing physical. I would NEVER spend that much money on something that i won't even see completely, And everyone i know agrees.

My thought, is that, Maybe, JUST MAYBE, if you actually SENT out the server to the resident buying a simulator, that people would be more encouraged to buy them.

I ask everyone i know, Real life and second life, if they would pay 1/10 of what they make yearly for something like a large virtual space, When they get nothing in return and they never get any assurance that something won't happen, Like a natural disaster, Now someone 15,000 miles away has wasted all there money. Linden labs, What are you THINKING?! If you gave/sent these servers to the resident, There would never be any kind of loss problem, And if there was, the resident would be responsible.

Studying to be a lawyer, I can already see all the junk and legal problems that, in the future, could be coming you're way. I'm not insulting you guys, I love the game, I'm just concerned. To me it looks like a huge legal blitzkrieg just waiting to happen.

Once again I'll convey my point: Someone pays the amount of money that a performance computer costs - They don't even get that computer, and they're paying these phenomenal fee's just to keep it going.

My questions are, WHY? Why not let them use there own bandwidth, Which would actually take stress off of yours. Are your policies and based on avarice? And how can you be sure something won't happen that could ruin you guys all together?

I'd hate to see any of these things happen, if there's any kind of sense to this, please tell me, Because so far i don't see any sense to it.


Add on:

A few more things have come to my attention: I've been told that you don't do this because they need to be updated, plus there being some kind of security issue.

Fixes:
Long term, you can create an operating system for the server so that it cannot be moved to other operating systems.

Updates? Uh, Isn't this the Internet? Things can be updated remotely no matter where they are.

My previous questions remain.

What you describe, Davey, is a powerful and compelling vision of a more open future. The whole "run your own grid" paradigm that's been discussed many times on the forums--perhaps you've seen past threads. If not, I'd warmly encourage searching for them.

The cost, of course, isn't just for hardware: it's for maintenance and continued value-added features. Private Islands offer a level of control which isn't available on the mainland. One of numerous Linden posts on the topic is Lee's one here.

So, keep track of your own thoughts: if this ever comes true, hopefully you'll be happy. Linden Lab is a pioneer in this arena, and a major challenge is not having prior direct precedents to be based on--we are the first in a wide swath at the areas. At the same time, we can draw inspiration from what's happened before, but at the same time, add many enriching layers. For example, while the "meat" is that of being a "hosting company", we have a wonderful community--human connections, including personal help from Linden staff, that can't be supplanted by technology.

On that tip, I'd recommend contacting Cyn or Jack Linden, who run the Concierge service, about further specifics in this area.

Have a good one!