A Conversation with Linden Lab CEO Ebbe Altberg

[Oz Linden]

On 4/13/2018 at 4:47 PM, Pussycat Catnap said:

6. Currently an object scripted as a 'vehicle' has it's scripts shut off and essentially 'breaks' when it hits a ban line - but will bounce off of a prim harmlessly. Can we get this "fixed" so that it will just bounce off of a banline as if that banline was a prim?

We'd like to fix that. We've got some simulator changes in the development pipeline now that might help, but they're not quite ready for testing. In any event, they probably are not a complete solution, but we'll try to keep at it.

[Oz Linden]

On 4/13/2018 at 7:24 PM, Callum Meriman said:

Can we have a spin dial in the region-control tab that allows us to set the minimum number of days an avatar needs to be, they getting a simple "You cannot access this region" message rather than the current hack -- TP in, be age orbed out, cry and drama in IM to the orbs owner.

That would make a good Feature Request jira (and one we could probably do without too much trouble).

[Oz Linden]

On 4/13/2018 at 7:30 PM, Hintswen Guardian said:

Are there any plans to allow a group owner to set a group members list as private, hiding it from all users without any permissions which require it like what happens when a group has over 5000 members?

There are not at the moment, but it's a Feature Request we might do - please submit it.

[Oz Linden]

On 4/13/2018 at 9:54 PM, CoffeeDujour said:

What is the future of the Lab's commitment to open source development ? Will we ever see a broader commitment that we currently do ?

What is the possibility of porting Sansar technology back to Second Life ? (Avatar dressing and clothing adjustment for example)

How do you plan to reconcile the high hardware demands Second Life presents with the majority of users on mid range hardware & integrated graphics ?

Is it said that some people dance, and some do not. Do you ?

What content are you surprised hasn't been created in Second Life ?

Open Source... we continue to solicit features and fixes from open source developers, and don't plan to stop.

Sansar tech back to SL... the way the two are built are pretty different, so bringing improvements from one to the other is usually more a case of reimplementing than just copying. We did recently poach an ex-SL Sansar developer to come back, and he brought some pretty cool rendering ideas back with him... 

High hardware demands vs user hardware... well, we're just trying to be really clever about it. We're committed to supporting as wide a range of hardware as we can, but getting a good video card and a lot of memory are certainly good ideas.

What SL content are we surprised hasn't been created ... I expect that if I named any, someone would point out that we've had it for years (I know - it's happened many times).

[Oz Linden]

On 4/19/2018 at 9:12 AM, Palisade Coronet said:

11. Feature request: Many accounts have been hijacked via social engineering of support, compromised security questions, easy to guess passwords and brute forcing logins. Are there any plans to release two-factor authentication support for those of us who want peace of mind?

I would personally love to do two-factor authentication. At the moment we've got some architectural challenges that we've got to work through to make that possible, but we're working on them. I hope that when we do it that most people will use it.

[Oz Linden]

On 4/16/2018 at 7:14 PM, CB Axel said:

Is there any way to block sounds coming from other parcels? I keep hearing media coming from other mainland parcels, and even when I find the source, I can't always block it. I have my rolloff distances set to where I shouldn't be hearing it, but I still do.

That is usually the result of one of a couple of bugs in media handling, but a request that any sounds at all from outside the parcel would make a good Feature Request.

[Oz Linden]

On 4/17/2018 at 10:26 AM, Kool Mekanic said:

Any plan to boost LSL scripting possibilities, please ?

It would be a real benefit for the whole SL if scripters could code bigger and smarter projects. Right now there are many limits (like 64K maximum per script, no permanent data storage...) or cumbersome ways to do what could be done with a single new LSL function (llNameToKey() for instance...).

Yes, we'll continue to add to LSL. 

llName2Key is being tested now on parts of the Beta grid.

Permanent storage is already available for scripts that are part of an Experience.

Most likely, really powerful new additions (anything that imposes a significant cost to provide or that has high griefing potential) will also require an Experience.

Bigger scripts are a personal favorite feature of mine... but I can't be sure when we'll be able to get them on the roadmap.

[Oz Linden]

On 4/17/2018 at 7:42 PM, TheLebowski said:

- is there a roadmap to continue doing improvements of the experience when sailing or flying, e.g. over simcrossings?

Improved region crossings is one of our active projects right now; it may take a little time to get out to most of the grid, but we've got some promising-looking changes coming.

[Oz Linden]

On 4/19/2018 at 5:47 AM, Niko7513 said:

Are there any plans to support Multicore CPU's besides the rezzing only?

We're always on the lookout for ways to do that. There are a couple of project proposals in our backlog to look at some possibilities, but I can't offer anything like a timeline.

[Grumpity Linden]

On 4/13/2018 at 11:24 AM, lucagrabacr said:

Linden Lab have stated that they discontinued support for VR implementation on SL because of the relatively implausible technical requirements for SL to be run smoothly enough on VR, however as hardware get relatively cheaper and exponentially more powerful, is there a possibility that LL would reconsider their stance on this matter in the future? Since pretty much all the current "smooth enough" VR platforms are isolated, tailored experiences, unlike SL's free and open virtual world, won't it worth the investment to continue supporting VR for Second Life and wait until the hardware catch up to get it "smooth enough"?

Our early implementation suffered from being too early adopter.  Every time the SDK changed, we had to start over.  Our own problems were compounded by the growing pains of the VR technology - so we got burned and now are more focused on improving rendering and performance for all.  However, now that the tech is more mature, it's something we may consider focusing on again in the future.  Unfortunately, only a small % of current SL residents can take advantage of a VR implementation, and so we have to balance the difficulty of implementation with the measurable impact.

[Grumpity Linden]

On 4/13/2018 at 12:46 PM, JaneS Crystal said:

Hello! Ever accidentally buy something in Second Life? In fairs and events we can make a mistake and click buy instead of click cancel. Would it be possible to add a new feature in the official viewer so that the resident has to confirm their purchase before their lindens are automatically deducted from the account? I think this would be a way to protect the resident / customer from any mistakes when buying. Thank you.

Oh how I dream of a world where such a feature would be meaningful!  Unfortunately, all our experience (and industry wisdom overall) says that no one reads warnings.  Even in bold, brightly colored letters.  Even with Scary Consequences.  Anything short of the world shaking is unlikely to get people's attention, and if we overuse the shaking, that will start to go unnoticed too :).

[Grumpity Linden]

On 4/13/2018 at 3:03 PM, Spezcer said:

Hello forums and ty to Linden Lab & Residents for making SL more than a platform.

 

General

• Will a town hall video or transcript be available?
• When can residents host Glytches?

 

You bet! Kudos to Brett for putting this together on the weekend. 

 

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Land

• Any plans to upgrade regions beyond 65,536 m²?
• Mainland homestead and openspace regions, possible?
• Premium members received tier discounts how about estate owners?
• Can premium members be charged USD 30 per month and request a mainland region land impact upgrade from 22,500 to 30,000?

 

 

We're quite committed to lowering land prices across the board.  Carefully  To be fair - we did run the buy-down program a couple of years ago, and that was quite popular.  Stay tuned for more changes.  We do not expect to introduce even more land products though - the current scheme is confusing enough!

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Commerce

• Are there any upcoming features/functions geared towards the SL business community?
• What financial benefits can be offered to real world businesses to invest in SL?
• Besides supporting the economy and paying tier, are there other methods for residents to invest in SL including real world?

All of them, hopefully! A better SL experience is a healthier market for all.  The best way to support SL is with a premium membership and, of course, land!  It seems you're asking whether it's possible to buy shares - but we are not a publicly traded company. 

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Fandom

• When can residents buy SL t-shirts/merchandise for the real world? (subject to review and trademark permission, I could arrange a small resident team to develop and implement under a real world business)

Nothing useful to say here right now, but we're looking into it.  

[Grumpity Linden]

On 4/13/2018 at 3:20 PM, Coby Foden said:

Are there any plans to upgrade the extremely bad ancient system avatar's shape mesh to present day standards? If not, why not?

Updating the system avatar is on the roadmap.  It's competing for resources with several other avatar projects, so there's no active development on it right now. 

[Brett Linden]

I'd like to also call attention to this great blog post/recap and transcript of the Town Hall sessions from Inara Pey:

https://modemworld.me/april-20th-2018-town-hall-with-ebbe-altberg-transcript-with-audio/

Inara has written a fantastic summary of both Town Hall events and assembled together a text summary of highlights and noteworthy comments including some audio at the above link.

Thank you, Inara!

[Grumpity Linden]

 

On 4/13/2018 at 9:16 PM, Kurshie Muromachi said:

When will there be proper tools for in-world main grid testing of all types of created content without having to pay "trial and error" fees or use the beta grid? So far, I've only seen temp upload capability for some content type, but not all types. Previews of uploaded stuff just doesn't cut it. It helps to test creations in-world in relation to other things you own or around you that is on the main grid. Beta grid really should just be for development/new feature testing, not for testing whether your design works well on some mesh body.

We do not currently have plans to work on temp upload capabilities.  While we understand that using the beta grid may not be ideal in all cases, the complexities of demands of a temp upload project make it unlikely to win over other important undertakings already on the roadmap.  

[Grumpity Linden]

On 4/13/2018 at 11:21 PM, Thermalpulse said:

Is there any chance of a new third-person mouselook control scheme?

Perhaps allowing us to enter third-person mouselook by clicking the back of our avatar heads and holding for 5 seconds to lock it in place so we don't have to hold the left mouse button at all times to use this feature.

Of course, switching to and from TPS mouselook with a key would be great as well. As would being able to control the right-click menu and activate objects by left-clicking what is under a crosshair.

Of course, these requests are secondary to the actual control scheme change and are really more of just icing on the cake than anything.

There's no such work currently planned, but this would make a _great_ feature request.  Stranger things have happened  

[Grumpity Linden]

On 4/14/2018 at 5:06 AM, Panster Moonshadow said:

With the new "premium" benefit of having a 1024 lot instead of 512, are there any plans to release or put for sale the vast amount of "abandoned" land?  

Why yes! The Land team has been selling previously abandoned land left and right, staying late and working overtime.  We've seen a fantastic response from the community since the Mainland price reduction was first announced (we called it project Tiericide internally ;), and the requirements for getting a parcel of "abandoned" land have been relaxed.  If you find a parcel you like, file a support ticket with details (and a screenshot of the map might help if it's an oddly shaped one) - and you might find it set for sale to you in just a day or two  .