Category Archives: SANSAR

Sansar: Lindens Can Be Slow Learners

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Warning – Things are changing quickly as this story unfolds. Some blog articles have changed since I started writing… So, if something is different from you expect from reading this… please remember time and change are factors.

We just witnessed a community backlash against the Lab’s heavy handed Intellectual Property Rights protection when Strawberry Singh was order to take down a Second Life tutorial for new users. Now the Lab has ordered Ryan Schultz, the author of Sansar NewsBlog, to take down pictures of the Intel-Linden build in Sansar, Aech’s Garage. See UPDATED: First Pictures from Aech’s Garage, the Ready Player One Movie Experience in Sansar.

Please take it off

Please take it off

It has apparently taken a couple of days for Ryan to reach a boil. See: I’m Taking A Break (1/10). That cuts off my primary source of Sansar news. 🙁 I’m not a daily reader, but more than once a week… Have you tried to find another dedicated to Sansar source?

So, what is going on? Is there a new employee at the Lab trying to make their bones? Someone that doesn’t like Ryan? Some new emphasis on a legal policy?

The Lab has already stated they need to rethink and reword some of their IP protection policy. One would think information about respecting helping those helping the Lab would make it through the company without regard to which project people were working on. It would seem to be a corporate culture thing to cultivate. But, I guess not.

Many of us have over a decade of experience with SL and LL and the engineers and managers. And some a bit with the Lab’s legal and marketing people. We have seen their blind spots and dumb mistakes. The last few years I’ve seen a change in those running SL, which I attribute to experience. The development of mesh was shaky, in not listening as well as they might to user feedback. Material, Fitted Mesh, Bento, and now Animesh are examples of good communication, better than mesh. I didn’t say ‘perfect’. And in that time how bloggers and other fans are treated has matured. At least this last go-around with Strawberry had me thinking so.

But, it looks like the Sansar team is going to have to go through the same learning curve. But, I had hopped the SL experience of the Linden support people, like accounting, legal, marketing…, would carry over. I suppose not, now that I see this second ‘take down’ call.

I think I’ve met Ryan in Sansar. Based on my biases and prejudices I am way cautious trusting him. But, what he has said so far is very basic. Paraphrasing, they asked me to take down these pictures, I took them down, and I’m pissed. Excuse me while I go cool off. So, there is not much room for drama or spin in what he has said. A bit rare for this community.

I do agree with him something isn’t right, or fair if you are still into ‘fair’. Other sites are posting similar images. So, what’s up?

#SansarCensor

UPDATE: Ryan has commented below. Seems the Lab has changed its mind. Images are back up. This is a good thing. My confidence in LL is increasing.

UPDATE 2: Seems problems are not over. More of the story is coming out. See Ryans new(er) post: I’m Taking A Break, which I think is an edit of the original.

Second Life Bits and Pieces 2018 w01

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Crap. I’m coming down with a cold… sniffle, sniffle, hack, hack… need more chocolate. So, I’m browsing through the Second Life™ related blogs finding things I think are neat.

Strawberry

Strawberry Singh has a nice article up titled 10 Years of Second Life Fashion. Damn. She has always looked good.

10 Years of Second Life Fashion

10 Years of Second Life Fashion

Click the image and jump over to Flickr. Read the comments. Check out her albums.

…and you do know she does videos from Sansar? HMSS Videos

Torley

Sansar News Blog has the article, Special Torley-Inspired Scavenger Hunt Edition of Atlas Hopping with Berry and Drax, Saturday, January 6th at 11 a.m. PST. Yeah, that whole thing is the title.

Seems Torley is connecting with Drax and Strawberry to pursue a hunt in Sansar. I suspect they will be streaming it to YouTube. Continue reading →

Who is Winning – High Fidelity or Sansar?

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Second Life™ people are interested in Sansar™ and High Fidelity. We just can’t tell how many and how intently. The VR hype is dying down. The realization that Sansar is NOT going to be the social app that Second Life is has started to set in. I’m realizing just how far Sansar has to go to get to a comparable fun state as Second Life. But, High Fidelity? I’ve found it… less than I expected.

So, while many of us are sort of keeping an eye on Sansar it isn’t a daily thing. But, every so often I look beyond just the headlines appearing here and there. I pay less attention to High Fidelity (HF).

Bad Hair Day - KEF

Bad Hair Day – KEF

Drax has an interesting podcast on the War of the Social Worlds… sounds familiar. This podcast contains a comparison between High Fidelity and Sansar. I find that interesting. I used to run an OpenSim server. That has left me with a sense of dread when I think of High Fidelity. But, how are things stacking up between the two big VR-Virtual Worlds?

Fortunately, Sansar News has summarized the highlights of the podcast: Galen Compares High Fidelity and Sansar.

My summary of the summary is now High Fidelity is ahead. One can do more in HF than in Sansar. But, Galen doubts both can survive in the future. He is putting his money on Sansar. He explains why and I’ll come back to that. I think Sansar and HF will be like Second Life and OpenSim (OS).  Continue reading →

Sansar and Blockchain? – Ebbe Altberg

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The site The Next Web has an article about how blockchain currency is democratizing the virtual world, VR, and real life. The Sansar Project gets into it because Ebbe Altberg is quoted. Not because Sansar will use a cryptocurrency.

First, do you know what a blockchain currency is? I barely do. Quoting:

A blockchain is a digitized, decentralized public ledger of cryptocurrency transactions. Essentially each ‘block’ is like an individual bank statement. Completed ‘blocks’ (the most recent transactions) are added in chronological order allowing market participants to keep track of the transactions without the need for central record keeping. Just as Bitcoin eliminates the need for a third party to process or store payments, and isn’t regulated by a central authority, users in any blockchain structure are responsible for validating transactions whenever one party pays another for goods or services.

That explanation isn’t all that helpful. If you think of a cryptocurrency as a paper dollar that you print but yet cannot be forged and shows who paid for it and printed it… you sort of get an idea. This is extreme free market stuff and requires a good grounding in free-market economics to make sense.

Dollars

Dollars

Blockchain currencies and other cryptocurrencies depend on complex encryption processes requiring huge amounts of computer time.  No one seems to think about how quantum computing may change the game. So, for now, these new currencies are the hot thing. Hot as in one currency project raised US$25 million in less than a minute.

I suppose it is the freedom from the control of centralized governments where politicians try to control us that makes them so valuable. Continue reading →

GearVR & LEAP Motion

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Here is a tutorial from Riftcat for using LEAP to simulate a Vive Controller.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hgBNBvxytM

Obviously, you must have Riftcat. I’ll have to unpack my LEAP and see how this works. As it is hooking into the Steam software, this may well work with Sansar. But, that is another experiment.

Sansar Did What?

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They published the general development roadmap (sort of): Coming Soon to Sansar – Upcoming Releases.

A development roadmap lists those things that the developers actually plan to develop. The ‘map’ part denotes the order in which they will develop them. The Lindens did include that information. But, there isn’t much.

Sansar 2017 – Time & Space

Development Road Maps generally extend beyond the next two updates. I don’t really see that in this ‘map’. So, it is a short highway. One doesn’t go far before hitting the ‘under construction’ signs and finds the road closed.

The ‘Discovery’ update will include;

  • A searchable Atlas
  • Improved desktop-mode features, like being able to pick things up

Following Discovery will be a ‘Friends’ update, sounds like a cross between SL’s What’s Hot, Events, better Help, and people search.

Then they say… ‘more to come’. Well Duh!  Continue reading →

Sansar Meetings

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This week’s Product Meetups will be held on Friday 09/22/2017 at 9:30 – 10:30 am (PT) and 4:00 to 5:00 pm (PT) Location: Zen Garden

The Casual Meetups are at oYo Galaxy Time Gate – 2pm – 3 pm (PT) Monday thru Friday!

These meetings are hard to get into. Be early. Also, pre-cache the Experiences before the meeting you plan to attend. Program updates and Experience load times can cause you to arrive late and be bounced to an empty instance.