Second Life +is+ an OS

I think Second Life is pretty cool and it may really take off. The funny thing is, we already have the Second Life and second life runs inside of it. It’s the internet where you can develop games, visit things people have built, blog inside of it, you can visit just about anywhere and you can pretend to be someone else. So just because you can fly around this place and sell things why is that going to change anything? It’s like internet virtualization. I don’t know, maybe if it’s done right, the 3-Dness of the whole thing will make a difference.

Aaron: actually the Web works inside Second Life too. So, how you really have second life inside of Second Life. Heheh!

I think Second Life and the web are slowing conspiring to collide and I cannot wait until it happens. When we stick nanotechnology in the mix, then things get really interesting. You start to *feel* your media, your networks and your peers. Kosso and I spend New Year’s eve in SL on Eric Rice’s island listening to his podcast. Best NY in years!

It’s hard to prove it’s not an OS.

So what do you do in Windows, OSX, any *ix platform? Well you collect files that are organized in directory structure — ISL(in Second Life) see Inventory. These files are data that provides information in visual and textual ways ok still don’t see a schism between SL and OS. All right on an OS you can write code and create programs; yes you can do this in SL. On an OS you can install and run these programs, ever animate an avatar, drive a car or do you have a big screen TV in your house ISL that play’s movies, can you say media player. Ok so I am still searching for how SL is not an OS. OK think …. Oh I have it, the task bar and start button or dashboard… no you have one of those in SL. Um I can chat, e-mail, and collaborate as well as cruse the web. Well I can chat, e-mail, collaborate and.. wait I can not browse the web yes that’s it does not have a browser so it CAN not be an OS. Oh but wait boys and girls have you seen Ubrowser.com a browser that can be applied as a texture to 3D models. Hum ok it’s not an OS until Linden releases the Ubrowser but once they do what can’t it do? Oh and buy the way I was in Second Life awhile back and did not grok it until Eric set me down and showed my just how powerful it truly was. So I signed back up and am now blogging my SL existence at thoughtplasma.com yea that’s me ISL Thought Plasma look me up and tell me how I am wrong.

Some time ago now, I posted some replies to musings by Jerry Paffendorf on his popular Second Life Future Salon blog (and here is my comment).

This was at the time when Google Earth was just launched as Google Earth, and the virtual worlds people were getting quite excited about a new era of data visualization and interaction.

My opinion of the future of Second Life is pretty much the same now as it was then: Second Life imitates real life, and for most of the tasks we do every day on line (communicating, finding information), real life it is hopelesly inefficient.

Examples like imbedding a browser into second life are just pointless, as it demonstrates that the 3d interface, and particularly the avatar metaphor, are just getting in the way of what we really want to do. (why bother imbedding a browser into second life? why not just put up full screen 2d browser.)

You may be able to do a great deal with the SL API, but why would you want to? The existing methods are more efficient by design, because SL has a flaw in its very basic design metaphor: the idea that imitating the way we interact in Real Life will be a productive way to navigate in online communities.

Second Life seems to be a precusor to what an open system like Croquet will be.

Robert,

We’ve been through the exact same thing with the 2nd world back in 96, or blaxxun, or cryo, or or or or…

So it’s a 3d world that can be extended, scripted and taken over. Fabulous. How is that making it an OS? The fact that i can write an application to run using their 3d environment is no different from having one running on .net or java, and neither of them are an OS as far as I know?

As for the addictive and creative nature of it, once again, yes, fabulous, but we’ve been there already. There’s absolutely nothing new with this concept. My first company was in the online world business circa 98.

I fail to see the market. Or the thrill. Or what is new in it.

Please enlighten me.

I agree with Mark. Croquet ( http://www.croquetproject.org ) will have what Second Life doesn’t. Peer to peer network (so no tax to play or work, any two or more computers will do), a real OS, a real programming language (Smalltalk, by which anyone can evolve the syntax or the IDE w/o waiting for standards, and distant pair programming with any number of people), business proficient communication with the rest of the online world, including business quality security, and a direct link into the academic community for research. Seems like all the things that made the original internet essential. Plus ad hoc group collaboration like Second Life, and mash-ups at the in-memory class/object level (no zillion of different, non-standard file formats) and immediate live environment change with each method change so no compile/link/test cycle.

Oh, and Croquet has its own built in parser so Domain Specific Languages work seamlessly in the same environment & IDE, naturally. Programming in the debugger is a natural as well. Just fix the error and keep running the same routine with out missing a single step next.

Darius,

what problem does it solve? What does it bring?

I understand the social implication of such worlds. I fail to see how this technology, OS, APIs, languages and what not, brings anything to the table? What are you trying to build that you can’t do with today tools?

Collaboration in a 3d world? IM solve this problem. Physical presence has no impact whatsoever, except for specialized industries like CAD and architecture.

As I said, I understand why a teen wants something more powerful to create than what myspace offer. And I can see where a blog application inside it can be a decisive word of mouth advantage.
Marketing platform? Absolutely. Commerce platform? Maybe, although all the others failed, while having nearly the same business model. (Also note that virtual currencies that are exchanged against real currencies can end up causing conflicts with tax laws in such countries as france… Others faced that issue in the past).

That said, I fail to see the revolution. And throwing smalltalk and p2p technologies into an application doesn’t make it more revolutionary. As I said and others have mentionned, 2nd world in 96, activeworlds and nexit in 97, blaxxun in 98, even vworlds from microsoft many years back.

So this is The Sims meets Lamda MOO?

World of Warcraft has a lot of this too.

Does it really matter if it’s an OS or not? If that abstraction helps then that’s great. It’s an environment that you immerse yourself in; so much more that just an OS. Would you even seriously compare it to XP or OS X?

Hmmm. Maybe it’s time to re-read Neal Stephenson’s Snow Crash.

Will Second Life become the next OS? I’d have to say “No”, as I can’t see any non-open source OS making significant inroads.

Does Second Life provide a window into what the OS of the future might be like? I’d have to say “certainly” as we’re moving into an era where our “drive” is as big as the internet and our peripherals are beyond counting.

Mark/Darius: Thanks so much for the info on Croquet. Looks like a fascinating project.

Silly rabbits. Tricks are for kids.

The tipping point for 3D is here because you have a generation of 3D savvy game players coming of age. An operating system? I doubt that but 3D is coming back. Pick any technology that was a ‘loser’ ten years ago but worked and has a loyal following, and it comes back as ‘new and different’ with all the usual pundits crowing.XML is SGML. HTML is GenCode and so it goes. See “The Magic Christian”.

Yes, I’ve built them too and still do for a hobby; it’s like painting in the Z and time, it is great fun and composing non-linear music and events is a new art form and challenging. VRML97 and X3D work just fine because I don’t need it to be that easy, just hackable.

Otherwise, there is a well known lifecycle for 3D worlds if you are still of the ‘killer app’ mentality:

1. WOW!
2. Wow. Wanta see this?
3. Let’s go play in 3D.
4. Whisper chat please.
5. Ummm… I don’t have time for that these days.
6. Where are all the people?

1B. WOW!
….

On the other hand, if you need real time simulators for training, persistent 3D worlds are very effective.

I’ve been in SL for about a year now, actively and I really think SL is like anywhere else in this world .. and it is what you make of it.

Obviously if you can only be there once in a while for short amounts of time and have no desire to create content or be involved, you’re not going to get as much out of it as a person putting in a lot of time creating things or spending more time there.

I’m no scripter, but I have become a pretty decent builder in SL and have been paid decent amounts for projects. So not only is SL a way to meet new and interesting people, it’s an open arena for creativity and I think that’s the biggest draw for me.

If you’re checking it out, look me up. I’m Micala Lumiere there.

I love the comments, they are almost identical to the comments I used to see when windows was first finding it’s feet in a DOS world…I mean really, who needs a graphical interface to run wordperfect?

Someone asked, ‘why do I need a browser in a 3D world?’ In turn I ask, ‘why do you need a projector in a boardroom?’

Find the answer, see the future.