Whatever happened to SL GO?

[JPG0809]

I remember it being a big thing and I wasn’t really interested in it since I don’t have a tablet.
 

However, I heard the tech the client used allowed users to run SL at smooth frame rates. What tech allowed it to do that and can LL also bring that tech to the desktop client. 
 

Also, where did it go?

[Madelaine McMasters]

SL Go and BrightCanopy were hourly-rate services based on cloud arrays of computers running SL viewers. You could rent time on one of those computers, which would run the viewer and stream the resulting video to your device. Because the heavy lifting was done by the cloud computer, virtually any device capable of streaming video (tablets, phones, etc.) was able to act as a display device.

There was nothing special about the computers in the cloud farm. They ran standard SL viewer code and needed the same kind of hardware as any other computer intended for high FPS rendering of SL. The difference was that you didn't have to buy a computer, just rent time on one.

Both services ultimately failed because, for anything more than infrequent use, they were more expensive than owning a capable computer of your own. They never achieved the usage necessary to attain profitability.

Edited March 1, 2020 by Madelaine McMasters

[Chic Aeon]

Someone in Sansar recommended SHADOW which sounds very much the same except that I believe it is for low end computers -- not phones or tablets.   So you might look that up. She used it a lot before she got a new powerful computer.  

[Coffee Pancake]

SL GO was run by Onlive. The business failed and was bought by Sony, who promptly switched all the services off. One can only presume the price was low and the coffee machine attractive for all that Sony have done with it (Sadly this is very typical of acquisitions).

The SL client used was the stock Linden viewer with a minor UI mod that for the most part added thumb sized on screen touch controls (modded from existing move & view). They did nothing special to make the client run faster.

Because they never distributed an actual binary, they were able to sidestep the GPL and not release any code publicly (LL might have a copy, they might not).

Current cloud rendering services provided by Google (Stadia) and Nvidia only allow a limited selection of applications to run. If SL is ever added to Steam then rendering via Nvidia's service is potentially possible.

Cloud rendering has been tried several times, touted as the savoir of several platforms, and in all cases, failed to gain traction. There is no magic super computing at play, games (or SL client) running in the cloud has all the same bottlenecks as the desktop client.

If you have a gaming PC, you can add your SL viewer of choice to steam as a external application and then run that on any supported device via steam in home sharing.

[Lyssa Greymoon]

It turns out selling gaming services to people who don't spend money for gaming isn't as profitable as it sounds.

[Amanda Crisp]

Our SLGO just got up and went....

[Jackson Redstar]

they went

[Vanity Fair]

BrightCanopy shut down late last year, I believe.

More info on SHADOW can be found at https://shadow.tech/int/ It's only available in certain countries.

Edited March 2, 2020 by Vanity Fair

[ItHadToComeToThis]

What I will say about streaming services is that unless you happen to live within miles of the server. Expect at least a very small delay in your action in RL to your action in SL. I had that exact issue with Bright Canopy and SL GO and I tried a cloud computing service recently and the server was only 100 miles away from me and even though the delay was only very very slight it was noticeable enough to just be purely annoying. I have a 100MB connection so there shouldn’t have been too much of a issue speed wise in theory.

I read an article recently where some...computery big wig...was saying that we are still years away from seamless cloud game/computer streaming.

if you can deal with the latency issue though then by all means have at it.

[Bree Giffen]

I just googled it and it looks like Sony bought them to acquire a few streaming patents. Sony does have it's Playstation Now streaming service so they probably used a few bits of patented technology from SL Go.

You can try suggesting SL for Nvidia's new streaming platform Nvidia Now because I'm sure Sony won't ever support SL.