Which 3D Virtual World

I predict the virtual 'wars' to come will be like the browser wars. Walled gardens will whither under the same pressures that browsers felt. That's my (somewhat safe and obvious) prediction.

Some interesting discussion today on the merits of SecondLife versus Croquet. Certainly, it's a big space, and each may fill a different niche. I'd say at this point there is no safe money, so look at all the options.

Here's an interesting bit from Slashdot that friend sent me..

"Having already taken the timid steps of open-sourcing the code for its client software, Linden Lab has confirmed that they'll be going the whole way, and will soon be opening up the server code for Second Life. This furthers Second Life's ambitions to be a fully distributed 3D network — built on interoperability and not owned by one company — a bit like the Internet itself. ZDNet's The Social Web asks: 'who will be the first to offer Second Life hosting or use the server code for their own internal purposes? IBM would be an obvious candidate, perhaps offering corporate Second Life services. And for the rest of us? GoogleLife, free virtual land — ad supported of course. It's certainly a possibility.'"

SLForge

SLForge is...

a place to search for Open Source goodies (osbies) in Second Life®. These items are not the same as freebies because you can see how they work and even enhance them.

You can also become an author and reference your own Open Source creations in SLforge. The purpose of SLforge is to develop an Open Source model of creation which will cohabit peacefully and respectfully with the merchant model.

Gonna go tonite and check out one of their terminals. There are also several ideas I'm thinking about, mostly around taking the web2.0 mash-up mentality to SecondLife. More on those later. This isn't a blog about Second Life, per se, but just happens to be on the radar in several respects. I'm working on some cool ideas, so check back, maybe this weekend I can show some screen shots and map some things out!

VT Memorial on the UNC Virtual Campus

Some folks at UNC who work in Second Life have placed this memorial on the UNC Second Life Campus.

As I understand it, this memorial is appearing in other places as well. A sad thing.