What will happen to our stuff once the new SL becomes active?

[Ariel Vuissent]

*sigh*

People have been asking this since LL first announced a new platform. Here's what we know at the moment:

There is no "new SL." LL is coming out with a new virtual world, but it is NOT, thus far, intended to replace SL. It's called Sansar (not SL 2, as so many say), and it'll go live eventually, but SL will stay up and running and no one will be "forced" to move, at least not for a while. There may come a time when keeping SL up is no longer worth it for LL, but as far as we know right now, SL will remain. 

Eventually - someday in the probably more distant future - SL will close. All good things must come to an end, after all. But you've got plenty of time, still! 

[Ariel Vuissent]

*sigh*

People have been asking this since LL first announced a new platform. Here's what we know at the moment:

There is no "new SL." LL is coming out with a new virtual world, but it is NOT, thus far, intended to replace SL. It's called Sansar (not SL 2, as so many say), and it'll go live eventually, but SL will stay up and running and no one will be "forced" to move, at least not for a while. There may come a time when keeping SL up is no longer worth it for LL, but as far as we know right now, SL will remain. 

Eventually - someday in the probably more distant future - SL will close. All good things must come to an end, after all. But you've got plenty of time, still! 

[Syo Emerald]

And to add to the already provied answer:

You can not take your stuff with you. But see it from this perspective: Imagine you buy a puppy today. You buy it, because you want it. It brings fun, joy and loyal companionship in your life. But, the moment you buy the puppy, you can almost be sure, that this animal will die one day and that you will be left behind.

Investing in online worlds and games is no different. Any sane person knows that SL won't stay around until they die of old age. Its not a life-long investment. But do you step back from buying a puppy, just because you know its going to die someday? No, you don't, because the time you have with it is worth it. If you had and have fun with your things in SL, now and in the past, they fullfill their purpose.

And as already said: That dog isn't going to go anytime soon.

[Nalates Urriah]

The answers given so far are accurate but incomplete.

If you want to know what Ebbe Altberg, the Linden Lab CEO, has said about Project Sansar and SL, I have most of that information on my blog. 

http://blog.nalates.net/tag/sansar/

http://blog.nalates.net/tag/sl-2-0/

Originally everyone was calling the new project SL 2.0. The Lindens didn;t really like that idea as they DO NOT want a strong connection between the name Second Life and whatever they eventually name the new virtual world. They want a fresh start. So, for a time the Lindens referred to it as The Next Generation Platform, NGP. Then they came out with a code name for it: Project Sansar, which is supposedly a Sanskrit word meaning life...

The Lab has no intention of closing SL. Oz Linden the current project manager of SL actually worked hard to get that job and avoided going with Sansar. Oz says most of his team chose to stay with SL as they think they can do good things with it. So, a good portion of the Lab's staff is expecting SL be around for some time.

There are plenty of people that do not like the Lab and will say whatever they think will detract from the Lab and SL. Make sure you check out anything you are told about SL or the Lab. And there are fanboys that will say whatever they think will keep people in SL... so, check out the pro and con statements.

As to stuff transferring from SL to Sansar... lots of stuff is not going to transfer. The avatars are going to be better and different. So, clothes and attachments are not going to work. Animations are not going to work. We are almost certain of both of those things. 

However... Photoshop, Blender, 3DS Max, Maya, and other creatives tools will be able to be used to create content for Sansar. So, things created for SL can be tweaked and moved into Sansar. So, to some extent we will will be able to upload some things uploaded to SL to Sansar. But, exactly what we can do is pretty fuzzy.

[Lindal Kidd]

To add to Syo's great answer...

When she says SL will be around "for a long time," think years.  Sansar will not be open for even open beta testing until some time late next year (even if the schedule doesn't slip.)  Once Sansar IS open for business, LL is hoping that Second Life residents will try it out, of course, and even hoping that a lot of us will establish a presence in both SL and Sansar.  They aren't about to turn off the lights and close the doors as long as SL is turning a profit for them!

Many people do this already, and have accounts and avatars in other virtual worlds, such as IMVU or InWorldz as well as SL.

But no, your stuff won't transfer.  For one thing, most creators do not license their SL creations for use outside of SL.  For another, Sansar will use new technology for creating and texturing objects, and the avatars will, no doubt, be more realistic, and incompatible with Second Life clothing.

That's not altogether a Bad Thing.  Over the years, the whole subject of Second Life appearance and fashion has become really muddled and complex, as new object types like Mesh have been added on top of the older clothing systems.  A lot of us will welcome a fresh start.