Transumanar

Open Second Life client

The Second Life client source code has been released yesterday 8 January under the GPL free software license. The announcement on the official Linden blog is titled Embracing the Inevitable: “Releasing the source now is our next invitation to the world to help build this global space for communication, business, and entertainment. We are eager to work with the community and businesses to further our vision of our space”.

Inevitable in the sense that this was the only survival strategy for Second Life. It enjoys market leadership at this moment, but there are competitors on the horizon completing the development of more open systems e.g. Open Croquet and Multiverse that will eventually permit users developing and running their own virtual worlds on their servers, which is, I think, what most serious operators (game developers, large companies and organizations wishing to host virtual intranets for employees and virtual extranets for partners and clients, media groups) really want.

The open-sourcing of the Second Life client is of course discussed everywhere in the blogosphere. Cory Doctorow says: “This is HUGE… by opening up the source code for Second Life, Linden is inviting a competitive marketplace for Second Life hosters. Indeed, they describe a “Second Life grid” of multiple Second Life hosters who interconnect—the way that today’s Web consists of a single Web with millions of servers that are all linked together by their users”.

Only the client (for Windows, Linux and Mac) has been released as open source software at this moment, and Linden retain the ownership of the server software. This means that users can study the client source code and propose modifications and improvements, but cannot run their own private virtual world on their own servers. But CNN Money reports that the company’s eventual intention is to release an open source version of that software as well, once it has improved security and other core functions.

The Second Life Open Source developer website has all information on how to participate in the further development of the platform and a wiki editable by registered users.

As an avid Second Life user, consultant and “serious” application developer I have made a significant investment of money and time in Second Life, and in the last few months I have often been afraid of losing (part of) my investment. In fact, I was persuaded that if Linden did not start opening the platform very soon, Second Life would fade out with the arrival on the scene of open platforms more suitable for business applications, but I did not think they would start opening the platform so soon. If, as we hope, opening the client software is the first step towards opening the entire platform (or at least licensing the server code under suitable conditions including the right to modify it), then I think serious operators will be much more willing to invest in Second Life: they will know that they will be able to run their own modified versions of the server if they need to do so. If I could run a Second Life server, the first two changes I would do are: permitting users choosing freely their own SL name, and in particular using their real name; and integrating a real-time voice system.

So now I think the push of serious operators in Second Life will continue. The most ambitious large company in Second Life that I am aware of at the moment is IBM. One of the things they will do on their megasim (12 islands arranged on a 2x6 grid) is to facilitate connections between current and former IBM people in the “Greater IBM Connection”. My understanding is that they also want to explore ways for Second Life (and Virtual Reality in general I believe) to add value to real business. Evidently they are using SL themselves as internal workspace (social networking, meetings, presentations etc.) and my understanding is that they want to find out how it can be used effectively in different industries. MIT Technology Review reports that “IBM, with its worldwide operations, needs a chat medium with which employees can confer with one another. While instant-messaging programs and video conferencing have been available for many years, the creative freedom offered by Second Life has not. Software programmers often go into the Second Life world and outline their projects in a three-dimensional format. Some of the programmers’ work is done in their private Second Life facilities, but much of it is open to the public. Ultimately, IBM hopes to lower programmers’ travel expenses by conducting meetings and training sessions at the Second Life islands”.

On a less ambitious scale, the Second Life chapter of the World Transhumanist Association has just passed 100 members. In 2006 the WTA was among the pioneers to start using Second Life for major educational events and conferences, including the mixed-reality Transvision 2006 conference on uvvy island. So far Second Life has been a very useful workspace and outreach tool for transhumanists. With the beginning of the open sourcing process, we are now more confident in continuing our investment in Second Life and plan more ambitious activities for 2007, including, of course, a mixed-reality event for our conference Transvision 2007 in Chicago.