[Linux-aus] In the news today (second life & Linux/FOSS)

[Marco Ostini]

Hi James, et al,

> On Tue, 2007-01-30 at 14:33 +1000, Marco Ostini wrote:
>> Would it just be a 'knee jerk' reaction to set up an LA / linux.conf.au 
>> presence, or are we missing an important opportunity to evangelise and 
>> provide a counter argument to the Vista hype?
>>
>> Granted the Linux Second Life client is in early development, but it's 
>> certainly usable in my experience.
>>
>> Given that it need not cost us any significant funds, but some time and 
>> skill of our community, should we make an effort to be heard in Second 
>> Life, and soon?

> Well if Sweden can set up a virtual embassy, I don't see why we couldn't
> do something. I haven't played with Second Life myself, but it would
> seem to be becoming quite popular.

Here are some sobering numbers to consider regarding the rapid growth of 
Second Life, and I'm sure it's a motive for many corporations and 
organisations getting involved.

At this moment, there are in Second Life;

Total Residents:  	3,068,521
Logged In Last 60 Days: 	1,014,117
Online Now: 	19,535
US$ Spent Last 24h: 	$1,024,708
LindeX Activity Last 24h: 	$182,375

The scary part is that in August 2006 there were 493,563 Total Residents.

Growth predictions suggest that by April this year there could be about 
7,294,107 Total Residents with corresponding increases in the other metrics.

http://tnl.net/blog/2007/01/05/running-the-numbers-on-second-life/

For those who don't know SL allows real to virtual currency conversions, 
and back, which means that there is the opportunity to make real money and 
this among other things seems to attract people into the game. Some 
significant SL profits made by players were published earlier this month.

Joe Miller, the VP of of platform and technology development at Linden 
Lab’s (the people who make & own SL) was happy for it to be described as a 
new OS, even though a lot of the infrastructure it runs on uses FOSS;

"InfoWorld: Some have called Second Life a new OS. What do you think about 
that?

Joe Miller: This notion of translating your presence into a space not 
bounded by geopolitical or other physical limitations is something ... that 
more and more of our customers realize can be a part of how they spend 
their time for work and for play. The point is we have created a true 
platform for all kinds of activities, and that’s what an OS is about."

http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/01/29/05NMmain_1.html

I'm seriously suggestion that the Linux/FOSS community should consider a 
short and long term plan relative to a presence in Second Life, so as to 
get our message out to people.

How about we start by making a 'Linux Australia' group in SL that people 
can choose to freely join, and from there get more things organised.

I've got some virtual Tux T-shirts that I wanted to give out in the Roma 
district at the launch of Vista ...

Suggestions, Comments, Flames?

Cheers,
Marco
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