CasperTech Acquisition Discussion

[Coffee Pancake]

1 minute ago, Patch Linden said:

There will be no changes to how any of the products operate for a while and we hope to start off with bringing some new, exciting and additive features on board.   Maintaining service continuity and stability are key for us.

I was meaning that the products themselves are sold for a price.

[Quistess Alpha]

3 minutes ago, Scylla Rhiadra said:

What data in SL do you think LL doesn't have access to currently?

I'd assume formatting and association mostly; LL might know that I sent Mr Merchant 100L$ and Mr Merchant gave me a fun widget a second later, but with the caspervend system as an intermediary, LL doesn't ~technically know that those 2 events are associated, although they could easily assume that. Csper may have also collected aggregate data (Ex. how often was product X redelivered) that would be a pain to recreate on a mass scale.

[Sphynx Soleil]

2 minutes ago, Rosie Langer said:

You have not sent me anything and i have Casperlet system on my land 

Remember the grid has limits on how fast things can be sent out, and there are a LOT of merchants that are, or have in the past, used CasperVend - you WILL receive it, it just may not be near-immediate.

 

[Scylla Rhiadra]

Just now, Casper Warden said:

It takes a little time to send out 100,000 notecards - it'll be with you! If you don't recieve anything by midnight please ping me and i'll send it over. It's also in the CT group notices if you're in there.

Only 100,000???

HURRY!!! 🙃

[Scylla Rhiadra]

3 minutes ago, Quistess Alpha said:

I'd assume formatting and association mostly; LL might know that I sent Mr Merchant 100L$ and Mr Merchant gave me a fun widget a second later, but with the caspervend system as an intermediary, LL doesn't ~technically know that those 2 events are associated, although they could easily assume that. Csper may have also collected aggregate data (Ex. how often was product X redelivered) that would be a pain to recreate on a mass scale.

Oh I'm sure. Although, whenever I receive anything from CasperVend I get a notification of that fact which is obviously routed through SL's systems.

This is all a bit of a red herring I think in any case: the bottom line is that there is no reason to believe that LL is going to do anything with this data that they aren't doing with what they currently have. And so far as I know, they are not selling it. (Who on earth would want to buy it?)

[Paul Hexem]

I'm cautiously optimistic here.

I've always used my own systems because I figured resident run ones could go away at any time, exactly the way Hippo did.

Having an LL backed system is great if we think of the potential improvements in reliability, integration, and longevity.

That said, every time there's a buyout like this in games or sometimes even here in SL (like with XStreet) you see big talk, maybe some development spent on it, then it becomes basically abandoned with no further development except cash grabs and price hikes.

[Ezra Lorefield]

8 minutes ago, Patch Linden said:

There will be no changes to how any of the products operate for a while and we hope to start off with bringing some new, exciting and additive features on board.   Maintaining service continuity and stability are key for us.

Will third party vendor makers have access to all the capabilities CasperVend will gain under Linden Lab? Will there be expanded LSL functions, web-based APIs and the like? I know it's all too early to give exact details, but could you please be direct and upfront about whether third parties will be disadvantaged by not having the same capabilities that CasperVend will gain?

For example, Linden Lab alone has grid-wide experience keys, third party creators never got that.

Linden Lab alone can sell and provision land through websites, third party estate owners require manual land purchases, evictions and so on.

Linden Lab alone is able to operate a Marketplace with direct access to the asset server and doesn't need intermediary scripted delivery boxes, XStreet didn't have that and Casper's PrimBay after didn't have that.

Will CasperVend gain capabilities competitors won't have access to?

Thanks.

[Out Jinx]

19 minutes ago, Patch Linden said:

There will be no changes to how any of the products operate for a while and we hope to start off with bringing some new, exciting and additive features on board.   Maintaining service continuity and stability are key for us.

If there are any additive features in the future and it must take a fee, can it be an optional addition to preserve Casper's current base feature model? If not, will you consider this as a suggestion to prevent any catastrophe that will discourage users in the future?

[Coffee Pancake]

5 minutes ago, Paul Hexem said:

I'm cautiously optimistic here.

I've always used my own systems because I figured resident run ones could go away at any time, exactly the way Hippo did.

Having an LL backed system is great if we think of the potential improvements in reliability, integration, and longevity.

That said, every time there's a buyout like this in games or sometimes even here in SL (like with XStreet) you see big talk, maybe some development spent on it, then it becomes basically abandoned with no further development except cash grabs and price hikes.

Kind of the same feeling .. the stability is broadly welcomed, LL should have been doing this for the last 15 years.

How this pans out with the lack of competition, this being the Linden vendor system (even if not yet in name), potential for future features to be gated behind premium and premium plus memberships, the fee structure that merchants basically have no choice to adopt, and so on.. Talk of no change today is just to punt things down the road.. why buy it then. We're not daft. There is a business case for buying Casper or it wouldn't have happened.

We've lived though several vendor platforms going away over the years, it's a chore, it not the end of the world.

[Romy Writer]

That seems pretty exciting.

@Patch Linden  I like how CasperVend has the ability to refund you instantly if you are making a duplicate purchase, and tells you, you have already bought that item. I do not like how not all merchants use it, and then it is a hassle to get your money back, if in fact they will refund you at all.

Would be great if it was a standard of how it operates. 

Edited September 14, 2022 by Romy Writer

[Rowan Amore]

26 minutes ago, Rosie Langer said:

You have not sent me anything and i have Casperlet system on my land 

My redelivery HUD was there when I logged in about 30 minutes ago.

[Kimmi Zehetbauer]

34 minutes ago, Casper Warden said:

No! We've been profitable since the day we launched.

But the amount that one guy (me) can handle is limited, and as CT grew I found myself with a massive challenge and not enough time to improve the service.

Now I can! *yay*

Edit: I didn't mean to exclude our amazing support people, I was referring to maintenance of the servers and code primarily, and support requests which required my intervention.

Maybe time to get more fishing or camping in!

[Chic Aeon]

1 hour ago, Charlotte Bartlett said:

The good news is if they misstep and try to overwrite the license those of us whom paid upfront and try to implement transaction fees in the future, we can easily migrate to a third party vendor system and there are wider options now including self hosting for those who want their own servers/hosting.  The bigger brands do this already.

Unless somewhere down the line that becomes against the TOS.  Just playing devil's advocate here; I don't use a vendor system and never have so I don't really have a stake in this change -- for now. 

In Sansar ALL purchases went through the Market and while you could add an "inworld" clickable sign to your products (hardly anyone DID this and there were almost no demos except for mine) -- that linked to the Market.  So conceivably the current vendor system could be changed down the line with the inworld purchase going into a "new" Marketplace".  That isn't necessarily a bad thing, but historically we have seen echoes of these types of things.  

 

At one time years ago there was talk of "taxing" all sales even inworld ones with no vendor systems (what "I" use).  That didn't happen and hopefully it will not.  We keep getting farther and farther away from the original Second Life shopping experience.  There were plenty of good things about the olden days :D.

[LucyElaine]

Hey there! 

Roleplay sim owner here. How will this affect users who use Casperlet for rentals?

[Paul Hexem]

7 minutes ago, Coffee Pancake said:

There is a business case for buying Casper or it wouldn't have happened.

Bingo, this right here.

LL doesn't do anything out of kindness, they're a business trying to make money, and chances are they see a way to make money with this buyout.

The only question is how, and how much? 

[Jules Catlyn]

3 minutes ago, LucyElaine said:

Roleplay sim owner here. How will this affect users who use Casperlet for rentals?

Nothing will change for now

 

[Jules Catlyn]

3 minutes ago, Paul Hexem said:

LL doesn't do anything out of kindness, they're a business trying to make money, and chances are they see a way to make money with this buyout.

Also keep in mind that a big drive behind this purchase was to ensure that Caspertech systesm stay available until the end of time and are not in danger of leaving when something happens to Casper

[MsToya Bailey]

2 hours ago, Patch Linden said:

Not at the present, there are no plans to do anything like this for the foreseeable future.  

This was my first thought, it will be going just like it went with marketplace. If This would happen it also would not be fair since we have bought the packages and myself for example has first tryed it out and for every sale i payed a share. 

Its a great idea. but only if you guys keep on leaving the packages for the owners like they are without as you now say having to pay a fee for every transaction etc.. 

[bigmoe Whitfield]

This is very exciting news,  we use casperlet on a few sims that I help manage,  estate managers are getting mm worried about what that means for rentals.

[Keiko Kiyori]

Will someone still be able to rent out land without using the casper systym?

[Loleeta Lennie]

I see this as excellent news, actually. I always preferred Casper over Hippo through the years. And as others have stated, as long as Vendor Systems competition is still allowed in a "free" marketplace without "corporate" oppression, I can only see this as a good thing.

Journey forth with open minds, my friends.

[Qie Niangao]

10 minutes ago, Paul Hexem said:

That said, every time there's a buyout like this in games or sometimes even here in SL (like with XStreet) you see big talk, maybe some development spent on it, then it becomes basically abandoned with no further development except cash grabs and price hikes.

Yeah, and this is a big one. I've long pleaded to unify all SL commerce, such that a product offered in-world and on marketplace could be the very same offering with a single workflow for the seller, and the buyer enjoying identical options for gifting, redelivery, product reviews, refunds, etc., all with a uniform in-world and web interface. It's "a big one" because virtual world commerce (including rentals) is so central to SL: this is potentially the Lab's most significant differentiator (or licensing cash-cow) if they give it enough sustained attention to take a technology lead here.

5 minutes ago, Ezra Lorefield said:

For example, Linden Lab alone has grid-wide experience keys, third party creators never got that.

It's a bit off-topic, but I think this is incorrect. I helped beta-test Experiences and some of the testers eventually got grid-scope Experiences to test. I didn't go for one, but it's my impression that those who tested them were able to keep the grid-scope ones, too. It's a crying shame that there's simply no way for residents to get them anymore, and apparently nobody even considering it.

Maybe that's not so off-topic, now that I think about it. A waste of possibilities after a big investment—we can only hope this acquisition isn't squandered opportunity yet again. It has such potential, at the very center of LL's competencies and business prospects, if for once they can just keep focus.

[Cackle Amore]

2 hours ago, Love Zhaoying said:

I predict this will be a GOOD THING, like when LL bought the old company that required people to use "black boxes" for pre-Marketplace sales.

Indeed, respect to XLStreet for creating the foundation, but LL taking over and directly integrating it into the game and providing a way to directly upload to the marketplace without needing land was a great boon for those of us that didn't have land of our own to put those dropboxes. Much is the same issue Caspervend has too.

[Arduenn Schwartzman]

@Patch Linden Will the CasperLet rental system (part of CasperTech) also be somehow integrated into the grid system, in conjunction with the land buy/maintenance system?

[Bren Kenin]

If I'm not mistaken, CasperTech also includes Casperlet, CasperSafe, CasperUpdate, etc. Will these be included in the purchase of CasperTech? I'm all for less scripts and less setup time but also concerned about the data analytics not being available nor the ability to search specific purchasers, verify purchases, have a ban list, etc. Just the first things that came to mind. I do, however, think, overall, it's a great move.