Second Life Layoff Echoes

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Today the rumor is Mark Kingdon, M. Linden, is out and Philip Rosedale, SL’s founder, is back. New World Notes is chasing the facts of the rumor. See: Breaking News: Sources Say Linden Lab Executive Changes Involving Mark Kingdon and Philip Rosedale Coming Soon

My thinking and writing in Linden Lab Layoffs, Are the Linden Lab Layoffs a Good Sign?, Second Life Layoffs Update, and Layoffs – Update? More Info is mostly based on top management remaining the same. The speculation in Second Life Leaks – Meshes (Update) is also predicated on that premise.

Kingdon is a management type and there is no doubt he understands business in general and what is needed. How to implement that knowledge in SL is a whole other thing. The thinking in Leaping the Chasm is about what parts of good business thinking Kingdon might be implementing next and why.

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Layoffs – Update? More Info

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Here and there I am finding interesting bits of the layoff story. One article that I think touches on relevant background motivating Linden Lab (LL) is found in Grace’s writing on a blog named Phasing Grace | Social Architecture and Virtual Worlds. Back in March 2010 she wrote Linden Lab Leaping the Chasm?

Everett Rogers' Technology Curve

Her article explains some of the LL challenges in moving Second Life (SL) toward mainstream adoption, which I see as a prime mover in LL management circles. A Harvard case study provides the background framework for her article. Both the study and Grace’s article refer back to Geoffrey Moore’s 1991 paper Crossing the Chasm, which is about technology adoption.

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Kirsten Viewer Build 26

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Second Life Viewer
KirstenLee Viewer 26

Sunday Kirsten released a new build. I was the 226th to download a copy… Kirsten’s viewer is about as bleeding edge as one can get. Her site has a warning to that affect. So, don’t jump on this viewer if you want perfection. It has been known to crash and have problems. However… problems seem to be quickly repaired.

Kirsten says this is a massive rebuild because of some foundation type problem. This version is described as a versions 2.1.0 beta viewer. This means it has voice morphing. If you have not heard about voice morphing see: Second Life Viewer 2.1 Alpha.

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Second Life Leaks – Meshes (Update)

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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GeSu_4Taupk]

Linden Lab (LL) has said this quarter we would see the release of the new meshes. (Second Life Meshes Update) May be for Second Life’s 7th birthday we may see the new meshes. Those working with them have been under NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement) and not talking. The rumor is LL released them from their NDA and then re-imposed it. During the time they were released quite a bit of information made it out.

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Emerald Viewer Build 2165

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Update: June 25 – New version 1.4.0.2270

Emerald Viewer version 1.4.0.2165 is the actual version number on the Modular blog.

The web site, forum, and blog at Modular have changed. The new alpha and beta versions are available via the blog. See: http://blog.modularsystems.sl/

To access the rest of the Emerald information start at the web site. From there you can reach Help and the Forum. See: http://modularsystems.sl/

I suspect the intended new home page is: http://emerald.modularsystems.sl/index.shtml  But, one can’t find the blog and beta versions from there.

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Second Life Layoffs Update

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OpenSim
OpenSim Regions – from Hypergrid Business

Updated 2010-06-14 – 2 Added

Tateru Nino at Massively wrote an article on why she thinks the layoffs are an indication of a cash crunch at Linden Lab (LL). See: The Virtual Whirl: The bottom line

The Second Life cash supply is very much like the real world cash supplies of nations. They all print money as they think it is needed… or to serve their various agendas. But cash supplies are not absolute control. One can print lots of money, but if no one buys/takes it then nothing happens. Citizens have a say… or at least an effect on cash supply.

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