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LINDEN RESEARCH, INC. TO BE ACQUIRED


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For many years I worked for a well-run private company, a leader in its field with tens of thousands of employees, that eventually accepted a buy-out offer. The promise was that all the additional investment would further improve the company's products and services. The buyer appeared to be from a similar industry, but to our surprise turned out to be on a buying spree and we were one of many companies purchased. There was inevitable job function overlap, and thousands of talented people were laid off. That purging of knowledge and experience led to an immediate collapse of product quality, and within months the company lost most of its customer base. The few of us deemed essential who were left behind then spent traumatic years dealing with extremely dissatisfied customers, apologizing profusely for mishaps we had no control over, and trying desperately to fix myriad quality and service problems using ineffective but money-saving tools the new profit-focused owner had provided. And we all did this while scared to death that our own jobs were going to be the next ones cut. I don't wish that hellish experience on anybody, and I hope that the dedicated employees and customers of Linden Lab will benefit from additional investment - rather than suffer from purely financial decisions (it's just business, nothing personal!). Very skeptical fingers crossed. 

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3 hours ago, Love Zhaoying said:

Now, if only new owners create a cryptocurrency (to go with Tilia)..so we can finally have BLOCKCHAIN IN SECOND LIFE!!!1!!1!

Blockchain is a fabulous way to store data of any kind in a secure, distributed fashion.  So, eventually, I'm sure blockchain will be coming to SL.

5 hours ago, FairreLilette said:

Tilia to be like Paypal.

Well, that would be amazing, but it's fantastically unlikely.  Paypal is immense, has longstanding relationships with finance companies, and incidentally acquired a blockchain services company in 2019. Why try to compete with them when there are so many niche markets that need custom accounting/ledger services?

If I had a company with blockchain expertise and regulatory compliance for currency conversion in my pocket right now, I wouldn't be interested in creating a currency for it to trade.  I would be interested in finding more niche markets where:

  • They had need for blockchain-based accounting, but no expertise
  • They have money to pay for services (which may bump virtual worlds a ways down the list of desirable markets)
  • I had access to expertise in their industry
  • I had contacts with potential customers

Let's see ... with this acquisition, what other industries might Tilia possibly be able to reach ... hmmm...

[But you know, even if Tilia stays within the gaming industry, their potential could be large.  Having a conduit to convert legally between RL and virtual currencies might be of interest to many gaming companies, even tho most might still shy away from offering it to users.]

 

Edited by Nika Talaj
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51 minutes ago, Nika Talaj said:

Why try to compete with them 

Why try to compete with Paypal?  Because Paypal is the main service used for most Second Life-ers including inworld as well, one can make a payment for rent inworld directly to Paypal.  

And, I also had said "eventually"...none of Tilia taking over for Paypal would happen overnight...or would it?   It could when it's ready just suddenly be an option to use Tilia instead of Paypal but I'd need an incentive to switch.  

Edited by FairreLilette
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6 minutes ago, FairreLilette said:

Why try to compete with Paypal?  Because Paypal is the main service used for most Second Life-ers including inworld as well, one can make a payment for rent inworld directly to Paypal.  

And, I also had said "eventually"...none of Tilia taking over for Paypal would happen overnight...or would it?   It could when it's ready just suddenly be an option to use Tilia instead of Paypal but I'd need an incentive to switch.  

Oh, I'm sorry!  I thought you meant in the general market, not just within SL.  That I haven't thought about, could be.  As you say, it might be hard to get folks to switch.

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12 minutes ago, Nika Talaj said:

Oh, I'm sorry!  I thought you meant in the general market, not just within SL.  That I haven't thought about, could be.  As you say, it might be hard to get folks to switch.

Yes, it could be difficult to get people to switch UNLESS they offer incentives to do so.  

Plus, if they start out in the MMO and/or "gaming" financial service, they could eventually compete with Paypal but they might need to offer incentives for a while.  To the younger crowd especially, incentives could be a big deal as well as with a post COVID-19 world incentives could quickly gain them market share and a reputation.  Once a reputation is developed, they could eventually compete with Paypal.  Who knows?  Younger people like to have something that Mom and Dad don't have, and Mom and Dad have Paypal.  This is always a smart angle.  Having the kids say "Mom and Dad you should switch to such-and-such for the incentives!"  lol  Kids like to sound "hipper" than Mom and Dad.  Now I'm giving away all the secrets.  

But, Marketplace needs upgrading with sub-categories desperately.  I'd even like to see categories for clothing styles such as Gothic, Kawaii, Emo, etc...because just trying to find Gothic clothing is ridiculous.  

Well, it's all a wait n' see really.  

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While we're musing and posing hypotheticals, I'll offer my unqualified opinion! 

Tilia could position themselves to service all the adult content PayPal won't touch. For those who don't know: PayPal has a rather puritanical approach to adult content. Look up what happened with them and PornHub performers. One of many examples.  From what I can guess, Second Life skirts this because they are merely a platform that happens to contain adult content. Free from those constraints, SL could vigorously promote the adult side of SL in a way they can't / won't / are afraid to because of the advertising  implications.  Personally I would be thrilled. 

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Wow silent that email is enough to put anyone off using the internet :(

Tilia was made to meet the tax regulations imposed upon SL many years ago, to keep SL compliant with tax or SL would of been closed down by the USA govt a long time ago. It is now incredibly hard to legally create and regulate a new virtual economy with an actual currency, perhaps impossible.  This makes SL unique and one of kind there will probably not be another SL because of the USA tax system putting on bossy boots and telling the whole world what to do as part of the tax stimulus package.  Tilia is a proven acceptable verification process (due its strict requirements of ID verification).  The USA government accepts Tilia has a in-depth verification process.  That is why other companies can now use Tilia in there business venture online project or virtual world.  In a world were we could be locked down stuck at home online often in the future this makes Tilia a huge business asset and totally worth investing in, this acquisition makes sense if you look at it like that.

Edited by JUSTUS Palianta
English is my first language i'm just a terrible typist!
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2 hours ago, Silent Mistwalker said:

Cryptocurrency? Count me out. Not when I keep seeing crap like this in my email. This is the second one in 7 days.

No, I didn't fall for it. 

 

Best thing for BTC is go the way of the dodo bird.

Funny though if your comp doesn't have a camera on it. :D

Edited by Kimmi Zehetbauer
Old age.
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22 minutes ago, Kimmi Zehetbauer said:

Best thing for BTC is go the way of the dodo bird.

Funny though if your comp doesn't have a camera on it. :D

It doesn't. lol I don't even own a cam. Smartphone? What's a smartphone? 🤨

Edited by Silent Mistwalker
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On 7/9/2020 at 6:21 PM, Whirly Fizzle said:

SECOND LIFE IS DEAD

Right because Investment companies buy companies to put them out of business.

Seriously if an investment firm is interested in buying LL, it is because they think LL will continue to earn money and generate profits for them,

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10 hours ago, Nextio said:

I think most people will move to OpenSim if SL ever shuts down.  Some creators will move too, which will ultimately determine if SL continues in OpenSim, or not.

All i can say is, prepare for instability in the upcoming weeks and months.

Looks like loads of fun to me!

https://opensim.stanford.edu/

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12 hours ago, Love Zhaoying said:

Now, if only new owners create a cryptocurrency (to go with Tilia)..so we can finally have BLOCKCHAIN IN SECOND LIFE!!!1!!1!

 

81993859-A6ED-438C-BA00-16D636629CB2.jpeg

I've said it before, I'll say it again - Anyone who sings praises about anything relating to "Agile" or "The Blockchain" are telling porkies.

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7 hours ago, Silent Mistwalker said:

Cryptocurrency? Count me out. Not when I keep seeing crap like this in my email. This is the second one in 7 days.

No, I didn't fall for it. 

image.png.07a02ca63a45b8521e8b40d5e7117365.png

hehehe All I can think of is Russel Crow in Gladiator..

When I give the signal, Unleash hell..

hehehehehe

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On 7/10/2020 at 2:34 PM, Brett Linden said:

Great question! We look forward to being able to share more as soon as we can and I know that Brad is eager to meet the community as we get closer to the closing/approval date. 

I actually feel a lot better reading just this. Knowing that the investors want to engage with and meet the community makes it feel like they are not here purely for max profit and will allow LL to continue the healthy community/profit mix that has been part of SL for so long.

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11 hours ago, missyrideout said:

While we're musing and posing hypotheticals, I'll offer my unqualified opinion! 

Tilia could position themselves to service all the adult content PayPal won't touch. For those who don't know: PayPal has a rather puritanical approach to adult content. Look up what happened with them and PornHub performers. One of many examples.  From what I can guess, Second Life skirts this because they are merely a platform that happens to contain adult content. Free from those constraints, SL could vigorously promote the adult side of SL in a way they can't / won't / are afraid to because of the advertising  implications.  Personally I would be thrilled. 

Although possible, it's extremely unlikely they would try to tackle that business angle.

 

The issue goes far beyond PayPal. A large part of it has to do with the credit card companies and their policies. Often times they will refuse to service transactions with your business if it's of adult nature or provides services for adult industries. Some of this has to do with the credit risk involved.. The adult industry has the largest amount of disputed charges than any other industry. Thus the credit card companies are often left carrying the loss. Then you get into the pressure they receive from other industries, clients, religious groups, etc that all threaten to boycott, switch services, etc if they continue to provide services to adult services. Basically it's one big ripple effect.

It's why you often see new services pop up, quietly allow adult industry, and then later put restrictions into place. It's not that they are opposed to adult industry, it's that they've been pressured into declining the industry.

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20 hours ago, Love Zhaoying said:

Now, if only new owners create a cryptocurrency (to go with Tilia)..so we can finally have BLOCKCHAIN IN SECOND LIFE!!!1!!1!

I always agree with LZ, but...

I'd like to point out that we already have Blockheads, Blockchains can't be that much of an upgrade.

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20 hours ago, FairreLilette said:

I still don't think investors are here for Second Life content, and look at the figures you have 500K monthly users compared to Roblox which has 90 million.  Well, for one thing, Roblox works on way inferior devices.  If SL were to run on inferior devices, the avatar quality would suffer greatly and we'd have to be legless or look like a box to run on a phone.

S/L is/was capable of running on "inferior devices" like android phones and tablets through a 3rd party viewer called Lumiya. Though it is no longer maintained it did prove that Secondlife can be run quite well on those devices and still look quite good at a limited draw distance. Myself I am hoping the new investors might be agreeable to LL putting more emphasis on viewers for mobile devices and even web browsers like IMVU has done, thereby opening up the gates to a lot bigger market.

As you mentioned elsewhere, the inworld build tools are not used nearly as much anymore so they wouldn't be needed in such a viewer while still allowing people to access Secondlife without requiring the latest and greatest in hardware.

9 hours ago, Ardy Lay said:

Looks like loads of fun to me!

https://opensim.stanford.edu/

Try this address http://opensimulator.org

Edited by Arielle Popstar
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I have to say that I am amazed at all the focus on adult content in this thread, when I see no reason to believe that that subculture would be perturbed in the course of this acquisition.  I'm sure that LL is aware that some of the most innovative uses of SL have come out of that community, LL knows its importance, and has sometimes acted to protect it.  Personally, while I support the rights of adult practicers and merchants to pursue their interests in SL, and I own and (discreetly) display adult art, it's been probably a decade since I've discussed such issues with anyone.  It's just kind of a given, and this strident advocacy for it in the absence of any threat surprised me.  LL is not being acquired by Disney.

If anything, by focusing on adult content issues, y'all have probably succeeded in alerting anyone from the M&A team who may be reading this thread to a possible source of issues within SL.  Congratulations?

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1 hour ago, Arielle Popstar said:

As you mentioned elsewhere, the inworld build tools are not used nearly as much anymore so they wouldn't be needed in such a viewer while still allowing people to access Secondlife without requiring the latest and greatest in hardware.

No build tool? No rezzing of objects from inventory and placing them or anything like changing clothes since it's all part of the build tool (singular). Great way to make sure SL dies.

The build tool does far more than just allow prim creation. The build tool is what is used to edit terrain.

Lots of people still use the build tool. Take that away and they will leave SL.

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2 hours ago, Anna Nova said:
23 hours ago, Love Zhaoying said:

Now, if only new owners create a cryptocurrency (to go with Tilia)..so we can finally have BLOCKCHAIN IN SECOND LIFE!!!1!!1!

I always agree with LZ, but...

 

I missed the bolded, yellow bit!! How much do I owe you?

6A3BE613-0E19-4D06-A721-040EABA3E36D.jpeg.3a0b418c8e0463524e78e18a7c025821.jpeg

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11 minutes ago, Nika Talaj said:

I have to say that I am amazed at all the focus on adult content in this thread, when I see no reason to believe that that subculture would be perturbed in the course of this acquisition.  I'm sure that LL is aware that some of the most innovative uses of SL have come out of that community, LL knows its importance, and has sometimes acted to protect it.  Personally, while I support the rights of adult practicers and merchants to pursue their interests in SL, and I own and (discreetly) display adult art, it's been probably a decade since I've discussed such issues with anyone.  It's just kind of a given, and this strident advocacy for it in the absence of any threat surprised me.  LL is not being acquired by Disney.

If anything, by focusing on adult content issues, y'all have probably succeeded in alerting anyone from the M&A team who may be reading this thread to a possible source of issues within SL.  Congratulations?

I think that this is a function of the degree to which many of us use SL in highly specialized ways, and hence tend to move around in a bit of a bubble. Role players sometimes seem to think that RP is the main function of SL, without which the platform will die, vehicle users are sure that fixing sim crossings will result in a burst of new sign ups, gamers are convinced that the chief problem with the platform is FPS, etc., etc. For whatever reason, I've noticed that those who focus on adult activities tend to be particularly tunnel-visioned in their understanding of SL, despite the fact that a majority of regions are still rated "Moderate," and many of those rated "Adult" aren't really focused on sex. And, honestly, the most dynamic and exciting place in SL right now is Belli, which is all rated "M".

My concern is with the ecosystem and culture as a whole. The weird mix of things that SL has on offer, including all of those activities mentioned above, plus music and dancing, avatar customization, SL photography, and a host of other stuff, has developed organically, and mostly seems to work. And they are overlapping and inextricably interconnected: avatar customization, for instance, is a huge part of SL sexuality, as is RP.

My worry, somewhat allayed by what's come from the Lindens themselves, is that too much tweaking, or excising this or that, is going to throw the balance off, and have ripple effects. I think it would be a bad thing, for a number of reasons, to lose adult content (although some of the violent crap could disappear tomorrow and I'd not be mourning its loss), but mostly because I think SL is s very delicate little mechanism, and messing too dramatically with it could have serious impacts.

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The future of SL was decided well before LL was purchased. The buyers have already looked at SL’s history, current operations and future plans by existing management. They’d want to analyze how the Company works before the purchase and not after.

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