Rod’s Original Goal

When Rod came to SL and started using it he soon set a goal for the Lab. Not a disruptive one. The goal was that by December 2011 he wanted any SL user to be able to send an invitation to any reasonably intelligent computer user and have them be able to open an account, get into SL, get around, find things, and be glad they found Second Life. Rod says they are about halfway through that project.

In-World Keynote Audience

Usability

This is a big part of Rod’s 2011 goal. (TM: 11:00) The Basic Mode Viewer came from this goal. The splitting of the viewer into Basic and Advanced viewers was to allow faster development of the new user experience without disturbing existing users. Eventually, the modes will blend back to a single viewer. This does not necessarily mean modes will go away. But, having to change mode, close the viewer, and restart it is on the way out. \o/

Lag

A few things causing lag have been addressed. More fixes are in the pipeline and we’ll start to see them after the mesh roll out completes. Mesh is such a large change it will shift many of the dynamics of SL performance. Until it is in use it will probably be fuzzy where the bottle necks are. One of the changes already made is the larger cache. There are a number of other fixes put up in a list that the oblivious camera man never panned to. The last half of this year will see fewer features and more polish and fix.

(TM 28:45) Rod was asked about avatar-clothes-rez lag. He did not know about it. I’ve seen a lot of it lately in SLV 3.0.1. Rod is assuming it is being handled with the other lag problems.

Features

Rod says there are a few significant features to come. He does not say what features.

Service

In the first half of this year they have gotten ticket time down. I suppose the amount of time to response and to fix. In the last half of the year they want to improve the quality of Support Services. Also, he plans to provide more customer service for issues like griefing. If I understood correctly, they are building a dungeon or something for the inhuman care of griefers.

Linden World

I’ve heard mention of this from other Lindens. This is the Linden made mesh world… region. It is being built and it is being built by Lindens. This region is to help Lindens understand the building problems in SL. I’ve heard so many exclaim the Lindens are clueless when it comes to certain issues. I too think in some areas and with some Lindens that it true. But, don’t try to paint all the Lindens with the same brush.

There will be activities or ways for residents to participate and interact in this new region. One of the aspects of the region is to figure out some new possibilities. Consider being able to play in an RPG area and not needing HUD’s… O.O …well, that is a reach. But, that is what he suggested. I would love to get past DCS2. It changes so fast I can no longer keep my fingers trained or remember what key or mouse combinations I need for combat. In my favorite RPG I am a level 14 and like a noob I can’t fight because I won’t keep up with the meter/HUD.

Premium Membership Change

(TM: 16:30) At no additional cost the Lab will be adding new features to the Premium Accounts. Will more people want the accounts? I’m clueless. We’ll see what they offer us. But, this statement told us new features are coming.

Second Life PR

Rod sees the Lab’s roll as bringing customers into SL for the content creators. The usability changes are expected to bring in more customers as the go into place. We should see a spike in user numbers after the end of the year when the usability stuff in is place.

Also, Rod is planning a significant marketing campaign for SL toward the end of the year. Plus he will be contacting the press and getting more media coverage. I think Rod may prove to be an excellent spokes person with is understanding of his not understanding SL… that sounds weird. But, I think he creates curiosity and touches the creative side of those that will enjoy being SL residents. We’ll see.

Q&A

Question and Answers starts at about TM: 18:00.  There is no order to the questions and some I’ll skip as I’ve added the answers into the dialog above. Those that have no place above, I’ll include here. I’ve also shortened the questions in several instances.

TM: 19:00 Pricing… Rod would not speak specifically about pricing. But, there are some related questions he did answer.

TM:19:10 – How will the Lab balance Open Source and Proprietary development? Rod likes it as it is and values it. So, don’t expect any big changes here. He hopes Third Party Viewer Devs will integrate the Destination Guide into the TPV’s as quickly as possible.

TM: 20:25 – How will the Lab protect IP (Intellectual Property)? Rob would not go into details but there is more IP protection coming. Of the things he hopes to improve, IP Protection is a key issue for him. Both piracy and griefing are being considered.

TM: 20:45 – How will the Lab deal with hardware to increase the number of avatars that can be in a region? They are looking at getting more avatar capacity into the regions. On another front the rise of tablet and smart phone computing is a concern for SL developers. The Lab does not currently participate in that area. But, it will be addressed for SL. Also, they are planning a new product for tablets. We’ll have to wait to see what it is.

TM: 23:30 – What electronic tools are ahead, Wii interface, User Interface for facial expression, etc? Apparently this is Kinect related. It is hard to hear the question. The Lab has engineers looking at user interface controls like Kinect. Rod would like to hear how users would like it implemented and how they would expect to use it.

TM: 24:23 – Will SL be the killer app for education, architecture, distant learning? Rob prefers to support all content creation rather than target specific groups. I’ll forgo speculating what this may mean.
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