Three Cheers for Linden Labs!

Filed under: Virtual Worlds — mike @ 12:16 pm

Linden Labs has opened the source code of their viewer application (or client/browser), and announced intentions to work with the public to develop white papers for their protocols. LL plans to focus development on a Second Life Grid with “clients and servers published and managed by different groups.”

Since many of the components that will make up this network are not yet done, we are not publishing long white papers or RFCs at this time — instead, we are giving everyone what we have along with a goal of producing those open standards with the input and assistance of the community that has brought Second Life to where it is now.

This is a huge win for the virtual worlds community, and for Linden Labs.

By opening their client code, LL hopes that it will benefit from additional contributions made by open source developers, such as security patches, bug fixes and enhancements. Ultimately, it should yield better software for everyone. I hope that their awkward UI will be improved in this process.

You may have noticed that Linden has said nothing about open sourcing their server software, the code which powers the Second Life Grid. I suspect that they will keep this code under wraps, and eventually start selling commercial licenses for companies looking to setup their own servers. To a certain degree, LL is following in Netscape’s 2D footsteps: use open protocols, make the client free and sell the server. Only LL is starting out as an ISP in that their revenue comes mostly from hosting. It will be interesting to see if they have a similar fate, after Microsoft decides to release their own Second Life software and embed it within IE or the next version of Windows.

This move also has interesting implications on intellectual property rights and protections within Second Life. Content creators were already upset about CopyBot duplicating their works without permission, and with LL’s response to this problem. LL seems to be taking an even bolder stance now, comparing Second Life content to website images and asking creators to rely on the legal protections of the DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) rather than on technology. Personally, I applaud LL for their candor on this subject, since history has proven than any DRM can and will be broken.

The most important thing to come from this decision is that by opening the client software, LL has also opened the protocol. It is only a matter of time before an open source server is built (from scratch) and alternative worlds are established. From their blog posting, LL appears to support this sort of evolution, so it would be great to see them help tie everything together into a unified Grid.

It will be fun to see how this plays out. If clients that ignore the “copyable” flag start to gain popularity in Second Life, will it erode the economy for digital goods? If anyone can put up their own server, how will this effect land scarcity - LL’s main source of revenue? Will other platforms and protocols emerge that challenge those of Second Life and dilute their goals of standardization? One thing is certain, the next few years will be interesting.