LINDEN RESEARCH, INC. TO BE ACQUIRED

[Love Zhaoying]

2 hours ago, CoffeeDujour said:

Lets just take this moment to remind ourselves what LL themselves did when they bought companies out.

F

May I have a history lesson, please? 

[clivesteel]

On 7/9/2020 at 11:21 PM, Whirly Fizzle said:

SECOND LIFE IS DEAD

Indeed. And Ebbe is the murderer.

[FairreLilette]

2 hours ago, Love Zhaoying said:

May I have a history lesson, please? 

Maybe these?  I've never heard of OnRez?  

On January 20, 2009, Linden Lab acquired XstreetSL (formerly known as SLExchange) and OnRez, two web-based marketplaces for Second Life virtual goods.

Company acquired: OnRez, Enemy Unknown ...

Games developed: Second Life, Blocksworld

Product line: Apple iPad Family

Person: Philip Rosedale, Rod Humble

[FairreLilette]

5 hours ago, Kyrie Deka said:

read the first five pages, page 17 skimmed, and page 20 only.  

Stood out: "proposed" acquisition, business as usual, concerns of change naturally.

It just has to finalize that thing called "regulatory approval" which has not occurred yet.  Not to my knowledge.  

 

https://nwn.blogs.com/nwn/2020/07/linden-lab-second-life-acquired.html

EXCERPTS FROM ABOVE LINK:  

 Linden Research, Inc. announced today it signed an agreement to be acquired by an investment group led by Randy Waterfield and Brad Oberwager. Closing of the acquisition is subject to regulatory approval by financial regulators in the U.S. related to Tilia Inc.’s status as a licensed money transmitter as well as other customary closing conditions. Upon closing, Mr. Waterfield and Mr. Oberwager will join the Board of Directors of Linden Research, Inc.

This announcement follows fast upon the recent acquisition (in March) of Linden Lab property Sansar by a little known turnkey operation called Wookey. In fact, that's when I heard rumors of Linden's coming acquisition -- just as I did when Linden Lab made a round of layoffs last February. In retrospect, both moves appear to be in preparation for this purchase.

However, the overall gist of this announcement is very much: Don't worry, Second Life will continue and grow. Which may or may not be true, but that's definitely the intended theme:

“We’re excited for this new chapter to begin. We see this as an opportunity to continue growth and expansion for Second Life and our money services business Tilia,” says Linden Lab CEO Ebbe Altberg. “We're grateful for the ongoing support from our community, business partners and investors. Now more than ever, there is increased recognition of the value and utility of virtual worlds to bring people together for safe, shared, and social online experiences.”

“Both the company and its virtual world community have a unique culture and creative energy that remain important to the long-term success of Second Life,” says Brad Oberwager. “There’s a bright future for both Second Life and Tilia and we’re excited to help fuel these growth opportunities.”

[Alwin Alcott]

21 pages of posts about a subject where no official announcements were made about ... amazing
(and not really a reason to make official announcements... users have nothing to do with investors)

Edited July 14, 2020 by Alwin Alcott

[Lancewae Barrowstone]

 

Look, am I the only once who sees it??   Okay here:

-----------------------

 

Press Releases

Upland Enters Strategic Agreement With Tilia

May 21, 2020

Arm Treasure Data Launches New CDP Capabilities and Unlocks Value for Customers Such as Linden Lab and Anheuser-Busch InBev

Apr 22, 2020

Vivox, Inc. Embeds Real-Time Voice Communications in Virtual

Feb 2, 2009

 

OK, you got it now??  HINT:  "Arm Treasure Data CDP." Apr 22, 2020.  Any bells in your brains going off yet?  Try this:

"Linden Lab improves marketing ROI by 300% using personalization features from Arm Treasure Data CDP"

Ok, that's cool.  THUS, with that little improvement LL was ready to sell.  Nothing wrong in that.  Now as to that purchase,  and what we the player base might expect?   Well, let's look at ARM Treasure Data.  Oooh... we all like treasures don't we ??

 

"Through the Arm Treasure Data CDP and new Customer Journey Orchestration features, Linden Lab will be able to make purchasing journeys more actionable across the hundreds of touchpoints for thousands of players."

https://www.bloomberg.com/profile/company/978281Z:US

https://www.treasuredata.com/press_release/arm-treasure-data-launches-new-cdp-capabilities/

 

... and on it goes.  Figure it out for yourselves

~ciao

 

EDIT:  I left this cool resource off >>>. https://www.youtube.com/c/TreasureData/videos

~May the Force be adequate to flush every toilet!

Edited July 14, 2020 by Lancewae Barrowstone

[FairreLilette]

10 minutes ago, Lancewae Barrowstone said:

Figure it out for yourselves

Thankies.  lol

[Lyssa Greymoon]

2 hours ago, Love Zhaoying said:

May I have a history lesson, please? 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avatars_United

Quote

The company was acquired by Linden Lab in January 2010.

Linden Lab closed Avatars United in September 2010, integrating the underlying social technology into Second Life.

 

[Cam Mode]

And Linden bought the Windlight people, remember Pastrami Linden and his frying pan? Took what 10 years for some EEP project, not sure if even done yet.

Edited July 14, 2020 by Cam Mode

[Coffee Pancake]

3 hours ago, Love Zhaoying said:

May I have a history lesson, please? 

2007 LL acquire Windward Mark - Start up game dev team fresh out of MIT that had some cool tech for realtime rendering and a game in the works.

The Windlight we all eventually saw was significantly cut back.

https://www.lindenlab.com/releases/linden-lab-shines-new-light-on-second-life-with-acquisition-of-technology-from-windward-mark-interactive

 

 

2009 LL acquire XSTreet and OnRez. XSTreet lasted months before being replaced by the marketplace that would then take years to really catch up to what we had before. Personally .. OnRez was a much better experience and LL purchased it to kill it and ensure they had a monopoly.

https://www.lindenlab.com/releases/linden-lab-goes-shopping-buys-virtual-goods-marketplaces-to-integrate-web-shopping-with-second-life

https://www.engadget.com/2009-01-21-linden-lab-acquires-onrez-xstreet-onrez-to-close.html

https://kotaku.com/linden-lab-buys-second-life-virtual-marketplaces-onrez-5136087

 

 

2010 LL acquire Avatars United, a social networking/media site for avatars that supported almost every platform with avatars. Nuked it the same year, mangled half of what remained into web profiles and feeds (ditching the in viewer profiles in the process), and then lost all interest letting that side of the platform rot till they recently announced it would all be going away in favor of in viewer profiles. Everyone who used Avatars United for a non SL avatar was just SOL. 

This was also about the time LL thought a web based client would be a good idea.

https://www.engadget.com/2010-01-30-linden-lab-acquires-avatars-united-enemy-unknown-ab.html

https://gigaom.com/2010/02/02/419-linden-lab-buys-avatar-social-network-avatars-united/

 

 

2013 LL acquired Desura, an indie game / media distribution platform. Put Second Life on it, got royally hosed by the Desura community  .. and then rapidly sold it on. This killed Desura.

https://www.lindenlab.com/releases/linden-lab-acquires-desura

https://www.lindenlab.com/releases/bad-juju-games-acquires-desura-from-linden-lab

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desura

 

 

 

[Love Zhaoying]

1 minute ago, CoffeeDujour said:

2007 LL acquire Windward Mark - Start up game dev team fresh out of MIT that had some cool tech for realtime rendering and a game in the works.

The Windlight we all eventually saw was significantly cut back.

https://www.lindenlab.com/releases/linden-lab-shines-new-light-on-second-life-with-acquisition-of-technology-from-windward-mark-interactive

 

 

2009 LL acquire XSTreet and OnRez. XSTreet lasted months before being replaced by the marketplace that would then take years to really catch up to what we had before. Personally .. OnRez was a much better experience and LL purchased it to kill it and ensure they had a monopoly.

https://www.lindenlab.com/releases/linden-lab-goes-shopping-buys-virtual-goods-marketplaces-to-integrate-web-shopping-with-second-life

https://www.engadget.com/2009-01-21-linden-lab-acquires-onrez-xstreet-onrez-to-close.html

https://kotaku.com/linden-lab-buys-second-life-virtual-marketplaces-onrez-5136087

 

 

2010 LL acquire Avatars United, a social networking/media site for avatars that supported almost every platform with avatars. Nuked it the same year, mangled half of what remained into web profiles and feeds (ditching the in viewer profiles in the process), and then lost all interest letting that side of the platform rot till they recently announced it would all be going away in favor of in viewer profiles. Everyone who used Avatars United for a non SL avatar was just SOL. 

This was also about the time LL thought a web based client would be a good idea.

https://www.engadget.com/2010-01-30-linden-lab-acquires-avatars-united-enemy-unknown-ab.html

https://gigaom.com/2010/02/02/419-linden-lab-buys-avatar-social-network-avatars-united/

 

 

2013 LL acquired Desura, an indie game / media distribution platform. Put Second Life on it, got royally hosed by the Desura community  .. and then rapidly sold it on. This killed Desura.

https://www.lindenlab.com/releases/linden-lab-acquires-desura

https://www.lindenlab.com/releases/bad-juju-games-acquires-desura-from-linden-lab

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desura

 

 

 

Of those items, it seems (to my ignorant self) that the Windward Mark (Windlight) purchase (even if issues in implementation), and XStreet / OnRez purchases / integrations "stuck" the most (had impact on SL).  Imagine if the XStreet / OnRez purchase and integration did not happen - LL would potentially not be getting all that "marketplace" revenue! As for Windlight, I can take it or leave it.

[Garnet Psaltery]

55 minutes ago, Lancewae Barrowstone said:

 

Look, am I the only once who sees it??   Okay here:

-----------------------

 

Press Releases

Upland Enters Strategic Agreement With Tilia

May 21, 2020

Arm Treasure Data Launches New CDP Capabilities and Unlocks Value for Customers Such as Linden Lab and Anheuser-Busch InBev

Apr 22, 2020

Vivox, Inc. Embeds Real-Time Voice Communications in Virtual

Feb 2, 2009

[...]

I don't envy them trying to make sense of my data.

[JanuarySwan]

19 minutes ago, CoffeeDujour said:

2007 LL acquire Windward Mark - Start up game dev team fresh out of MIT that had some cool tech for realtime rendering and a game in the works.

The Windlight we all eventually saw was significantly cut back.

https://www.lindenlab.com/releases/linden-lab-shines-new-light-on-second-life-with-acquisition-of-technology-from-windward-mark-interactive

 

 

2009 LL acquire XSTreet and OnRez. XSTreet lasted months before being replaced by the marketplace that would then take years to really catch up to what we had before. Personally .. OnRez was a much better experience and LL purchased it to kill it and ensure they had a monopoly.

https://www.lindenlab.com/releases/linden-lab-goes-shopping-buys-virtual-goods-marketplaces-to-integrate-web-shopping-with-second-life

https://www.engadget.com/2009-01-21-linden-lab-acquires-onrez-xstreet-onrez-to-close.html

https://kotaku.com/linden-lab-buys-second-life-virtual-marketplaces-onrez-5136087

 

 

2010 LL acquire Avatars United, a social networking/media site for avatars that supported almost every platform with avatars. Nuked it the same year, mangled half of what remained into web profiles and feeds (ditching the in viewer profiles in the process), and then lost all interest letting that side of the platform rot till they recently announced it would all be going away in favor of in viewer profiles. Everyone who used Avatars United for a non SL avatar was just SOL. 

This was also about the time LL thought a web based client would be a good idea.

https://www.engadget.com/2010-01-30-linden-lab-acquires-avatars-united-enemy-unknown-ab.html

https://gigaom.com/2010/02/02/419-linden-lab-buys-avatar-social-network-avatars-united/

 

 

2013 LL acquired Desura, an indie game / media distribution platform. Put Second Life on it, got royally hosed by the Desura community  .. and then rapidly sold it on. This killed Desura.

https://www.lindenlab.com/releases/linden-lab-acquires-desura

https://www.lindenlab.com/releases/bad-juju-games-acquires-desura-from-linden-lab

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desura

 

 

 

I've been trying to catch up here but there are a lot of pages to read.

However, I can see LL having a need to acquire those companies, but this new investing team is not a virtual world, so why would it want Second Life in order to have it die?  They don't have another virtual world to merge it with.  

Any further idea why you think these two mentioned investors would want Second Life and, of course, Tilia too? 

add:  When I first heard of a potential buy out, my theory was the Lindens want to retire.  It may just be their time to retire.

Edited July 14, 2020 by JanuarySwan

[Solar Legion]

Desura was DoA even before LL acquired it, that is part of why LL was able to buy it.

[Nika Talaj]

1 hour ago, Lancewae Barrowstone said:

Look, am I the only once who sees it??   Okay here:

Hmmm.  Despite all the info, you may indeed still be the only one who sees it.  Seems to me they're talking about two applications of ARM Treasure's CDP platform, one for ad placements on various sites to solicit new signups, and another for bringing inworld experiences to the attention of users who may like them, for retention.  For example, sending info about sculpture galleries to someone who bought a statue on the marketplace?  The second is a little scary, as of course it opens the potential acting like a Facebook news feed, and trapping users within a narrow tunnel defined by past interests.  I don't know that I've seen LL attempting to do that yet.

However, your inclusion of the Vivox and Upland press releases convinces me that I don't really understand what you're getting at, P... er ... D .... er ... Lance!  That's it!

Feel free to DM if you don't feel at ease being clearer.

[JanuarySwan]

34 minutes ago, Garnet Psaltery said:

I don't envy them trying to make sense of my data.

What does this mean?  Does this mean the digital goods we own now we can sell?  Say what?  

“We strongly believe that the future of games and digital property is true
ownership; giving players full control over the digital goods they spend time
and money acquiring and allowing those goods to retain value in a fair and
open marketplace,” said Idan Zuckerman, co-founder of Upland. “This
partnership helps us fulfill that true ownership promise.”

Available cross-platform via browser or as free, downloadable native apps for
iOS and Android, Upland is a virtual layer mapped to real-world addresses –
currently throughout San Francisco, and soon rolling out to other cities and
regions. Upland’s use of unique or ‘non-fungible’ tokens enables true
ownership of the game’s properties, allowing players to sell or trade their
digital purchases.

adding:  from this link...about UPLAND

https://www.bloomberg.com/press-releases/2020-05-21/upland-enters-strategic-agreement-with-tilia

Edited July 14, 2020 by JanuarySwan

[Garnet Psaltery]

8 minutes ago, JanuarySwan said:

What does this mean?  Does this mean the digital goods we own now we can sell?  Say what?  

“We strongly believe that the future of games and digital property is true
ownership; giving players full control over the digital goods they spend time
and money acquiring and allowing those goods to retain value in a fair and
open marketplace,” said Idan Zuckerman, co-founder of Upland. “This
partnership helps us fulfill that true ownership promise.”

Available cross-platform via browser or as free, downloadable native apps for
iOS and Android, Upland is a virtual layer mapped to real-world addresses –
currently throughout San Francisco, and soon rolling out to other cities and
regions. Upland’s use of unique or ‘non-fungible’ tokens enables true
ownership of the game’s properties, allowing players to sell or trade their
digital purchases.

adding:  from this link...about UPLAND

https://www.bloomberg.com/press-releases/2020-05-21/upland-enters-strategic-agreement-with-tilia

I take it to mean that people owning digital property in Upland can sell it for real money, just as we can in Second Life, but that's just what I think on a first reading.

[JanuarySwan]

12 minutes ago, Garnet Psaltery said:

I take it to mean that people owning digital property in Upland can sell it for real money, just as we can in Second Life, but that's just what I think on a first reading.

But, Linden Lab could give us full ownership of our items too then?   I think LL really owns all the digital content here and we waive all rights as to how that content is used or abused according to the TOS or something along those lines.  

I read it as trying to make the digital goods we buy the same as tangible goods we buy in real life.  

Edited July 14, 2020 by JanuarySwan

[JanuarySwan]

1 hour ago, Nika Talaj said:

Hmmm.  Despite all the info, you may indeed still be the only one who sees it.

There have been so many changes recently in the world that have brought a lot of stress, so I'm on a bit of a burn-out.  

I feel it would take me several hours of reading all those links and this thread perhaps to start to understand it and "see it" as to what all is actually going on here but I'm too burned out right now.  

I wish someone would just spell it out with an A/B/C/D is going to happen.   But, whatever happens, I hope it's not "bad".  It's been a stressful time since Covid-19.

Edited July 14, 2020 by JanuarySwan

[Innula Zenovka]

As Sherlock Holmes remarks in A Scandal In Bohemia.

Quote

It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts.

 

[Lyssa Greymoon]

9 minutes ago, Innula Zenovka said:

As Sherlock Holmes remarks in A Scandal In Bohemia.

 

Well he’s just no fun at all.

[Silent Mistwalker]

4 hours ago, Lancewae Barrowstone said:

~May the Force be adequate to flush every toilet!

BA-WHOOSH!

[Coffee Pancake]

30 minutes ago, Lyssa Greymoon said:

Well he’s just no fun at all.

probably explains why he spent all the time between cases brain mashed to a pulp on opiates

[Lancewae Barrowstone]

8 hours ago, Nika Talaj said:

However, your inclusion of the Vivox and Upland press releases convinces me that I don't really understand what you're getting at, P... er ... D .... er ... Lance!  That's it!

Feel free to DM if you don't feel at ease being clearer.

Okay, I move a little too fast, I admit.  That was a direct copy/past from the Bloomberg Company Profile page for Linden Research, Inc.   I offered the full list of the Press Releases only to show context by their dates,  and well, Arm Treasury Data being the most recent, and most significant, and thus the most informative to our discussion here.   Here is a snapshot of the relevant part of that page from https://www.bloomberg.com/profile/company/978281Z:US

 

 

[Drakonadrgora Darkfold]

While everyone else is panicking that sl is dead or going to die about this, it may turn out better than some think. Perhaps the new company may bring new money into to sl and some improvements may happen, such as a new viewer that takes better advantage over newer hardware and software. Or perhaps other improvements long promised might finally be finished and added. Perhaps the original owners are just tired and finally want to be free of SL and the hassle of running and worrying about it anymore aka they want to retire and spend their money elsewhere. Maybe they might even think of having new viewers for different os's such as for ios and android and maybe game consoles tapping into new markets for potential members and new sources of revenue. Imagine if you owned a ps4 or xbox one and could connect and didn't need a computer anymore. Imagine using an ipad or an android tablet and connecting and have a decent sl experience; it would open up the ability to play sl from so many other places. 

But all of this is just hopeful and positive thinking. Which really is futile and pointless for none of that is going to happen at the end of the day. 

SL is going to die out or be changed in such a manner that it will drive people away from it. Newer higher prices for things on the store, less lindens per dollar bought, newer higher prices to own sims, less accounts per email, less groups for normal users, more data mining meaning you need to provide proof of age or income to be allowed in adult regions, maybe an implementation of real id, where they expect you to send them proof of who you really are in real life for legal reasons. maybe they might even change profiles and make it show your real gender and age so no more spoofing on the forums or in world. Maybe they will start to add in advertisements to everything you buy on the market place, you open the item and get a big add slapped in your face. Voice will become a premium only feature, being in adult locations will become a premium only feature. Having more then one account per email will become a premium feature, allowing more than one email per ip address will become a premium feature. Who knows, and at the end of the day none of it matters. What happens will happen and either you continue to play or your leave, either way they wont really care as much as some like to think they will.

Edited July 15, 2020 by Drakonadrgora Darkfold