CasperTech Acquisition Discussion

[Seicher Rae]

Soooooo... (and no, I haven't read the other comments, just the OP—which is what forms this comment)

The OP points to a blog article. I go to said blog article. I read:

That the Second Life portion of CasperTech is being acquired by Linden Research, Inc. ...

OK. And??

CasperTech has provided various business related services [and so on]...

OK. And??

(paraphrasing now): The acquisition will ensure that CasperTech in SL will continue to operate...

OK. Was there some concern they would be pulling out of SL? Like, was this a problem that needed solving?

(paraphrasing): Vastly improved experiences!...

Um. OK? HOW?

(paraphrasing) Yada yada, yay team!

OK, the "news" blog provided exactly ZERO information other than the news of the acquisition.

Really, this (very typical LL opaque attempt at appearing to share information while sharing nothing) makes me wonder what they are up to, and how this really good news is gonna end up biting us all in the butt, and I say that because if this was truly great news for the residents then... wouldn't they spell it out?

Just because you are paranoid doesn't mean they are not out to get you...

Maybe this is a "no big deal" and "who cares?" bit of news, but it doesn't feel that way.

[Sammy Huntsman]

1 minute ago, Seicher Rae said:

Soooooo... (and no, I haven't read the other comments, just the OP—which is what forms this comment)

The OP points to a blog article. I go to said blog article. I read:

That the Second Life portion of CasperTech is being acquired by Linden Research, Inc. ...

OK. And??

CasperTech has provided various business related services [and so on]...

OK. And??

(paraphrasing now): The acquisition will ensure that CasperTech in SL will continue to operate...

OK. Was there some concern they would be pulling out of SL? Like, was this a problem that needed solving?

(paraphrasing): Vastly improved experiences!...

Um. OK? HOW?

(paraphrasing) Yada yada, yay team!

OK, the "news" blog provided exactly ZERO information other than the news of the acquisition.

Really, this (very typical LL opaque attempt at appearing to share information while sharing nothing) makes me wonder what they are up to, and how this really good news is gonna end up biting us all in the butt, and I say that because if this was truly great news for the residents then... wouldn't they spell it out?

Just because you are paranoid doesn't mean they are not out to get you...

Maybe this is a "no big deal" and "who cares?" bit of news, but it doesn't feel that way.

He actually said no, and I am paraphrasing here. That the business was doing pretty well. That and this also gives him time to actually work on the things he loves mainly. Which is software development, and adding updates that people have asked for that is in the pipeline. But with his current workload, he couldn't put out. So this is really a win-win for everyone. 

 

[Asadora Summers]

7 minutes ago, Scylla Rhiadra said:

Economics 101 demonstrates that there is a price point at which an increase in prices leads to diminishing returns. LL may not always seem like they know what they're doing -- and they've certainly made mistakes over the years -- but on the whole they've done a pretty impressive job of keeping an incredibly complicated economic model working. I'm sure they're aware of this.

I actually think of this a little as I would the paying of taxes for public infrastructure. Yes, I know that LL isn't really a "government," and certainly not a democratic one, and I also know that there are some for whom taxation is the Primal Sin.

But CasperVend has become absolutely vital infrastructure in SL -- analogous to highways and ports in RL. And if we all pay a slight cost to keep it running reliably and efficiently, I think that's preferable to the kind of economic disaster that we'd experience if the service went down or disappeared, as the case of Hippo demonstrated.

Regarding CasperVend, absolutely I agree it's popular that isn't in question.
I just know from being in SL for 16 years there is always another shoe waiting to be dropped later in in any given year.
I'd be foolish if I didn't brace for that shoe.

[Scylla Rhiadra]

Just now, Seicher Rae said:

Soooooo... (and no, I haven't read the other comments, just the OP—which is what forms this comment)

The OP points to a blog article. I go to said blog article. I read:

That the Second Life portion of CasperTech is being acquired by Linden Research, Inc. ...

OK. And??

CasperTech has provided various business related services [and so on]...

OK. And??

(paraphrasing now): The acquisition will ensure that CasperTech in SL will continue to operate...

OK. Was there some concern they would be pulling out of SL? Like, was this a problem that needed solving?

(paraphrasing): Vastly improved experiences!...

Um. OK? HOW?

(paraphrasing) Yada yada, yay team!

OK, the "news" blog provided exactly ZERO information other than the news of the acquisition.

Really, this (very typical LL opaque attempt at appearing to share information while sharing nothing) makes me wonder what they are up to, and how this really good news is gonna end up biting us all in the butt, and I say that because if this was truly great news for the residents then... wouldn't they spell it out?

Just because you are paranoid doesn't mean they are not out to get you...

Maybe this is a "no big deal" and "who cares?" bit of news, but it doesn't feel that way.

The power of FOMO is irresistible, isn't it? 😏

Patch, Casper, and others have actually done a pretty good and conscientious job of answering a lot of these questions here. There is a great deal that we can't know about the future -- and that LL itself may not know yet -- but so far this is seeming like a pretty positive thing: a "friendly acquisition" that seems to actually keep Casper Warden in the picture as well.

[Paul Hexem]

4 hours ago, Gwin LeShelle said:

So LL not doing something about certain beloved regions and keeping them alive people moan, now LL aquires an important thing for many residents instead of letting it die and the residents...moan! I don't understand you people lol I think its awesome you guys save it, and keeping it stable. It's awesome LL sees the things ...the awesome things their residents invent and use, and are treasuring our inventions enough to save them for eternity instead of leaving it to die when the creator of it can't handle it anymore and would otherwise probably just give it up.

Redeliveries forever ♾️ x3 ❤️

You think this is wonderful until each redelivery costs 10 L$, or you're only limited to one a day unless you're Premium, or you're only allowed 20 listings as a merchant that's not Premium, or it only works on parcels you're paying for directly, or redeliveries take a week unless you're Premium Plus...

We already see this with Experiences, as a great example.

3 hours ago, Sid Nagy said:

So LL pays money for Casper Vend.
Okay. Cool.
But they must have plans to recoup that money somewhere down the pipeline.
There is no such thing as a free lunch.
So what will be the catch?

39 minutes ago, Asadora Summers said:

Don't forget, we may not see the bad end of this this year; however, maybe later next year... we'll be hit with having to pay for this in some way or another.

 

Edited September 15, 2022 by Paul Hexem

[Lucifera Morningstar]

2 minutes ago, Seicher Rae said:

Soooooo... (and no, I haven't read the other comments, just the OP—which is what forms this comment)

The OP points to a blog article. I go to said blog article. I read:

That the Second Life portion of CasperTech is being acquired by Linden Research, Inc. ...

OK. And??

CasperTech has provided various business related services [and so on]...

OK. And??

(paraphrasing now): The acquisition will ensure that CasperTech in SL will continue to operate...

OK. Was there some concern they would be pulling out of SL? Like, was this a problem that needed solving?

(paraphrasing): Vastly improved experiences!...

Um. OK? HOW?

(paraphrasing) Yada yada, yay team!

OK, the "news" blog provided exactly ZERO information other than the news of the acquisition.

Really, this (very typical LL opaque attempt at appearing to share information while sharing nothing) makes me wonder what they are up to, and how this really good news is gonna end up biting us all in the butt, and I say that because if this was truly great news for the residents then... wouldn't they spell it out?

Just because you are paranoid doesn't mean they are not out to get you...

Maybe this is a "no big deal" and "who cares?" bit of news, but it doesn't feel that way.

Casper Warden had on one occasion (that I'm aware of) mentioned that CasperTech in SL had grown far larger than he'd originally planned - or intended. It's on a scale now where dealing with server maintenance, etc, is taking up a lot of time. Now that LL is going to take care of that aspect, it prevents Casper from eventually hitting the wall of burnout, and allow him to go back to enjoying SL and creating stuff. I don't see a downside to this.

They also linked a video discussing the whole thing on the SL Youtube channel that would have more of the details you're looking for.

[Scylla Rhiadra]

1 minute ago, Asadora Summers said:

Regarding CasperVend, absolutely I agree it's popular that isn't in question.
I just know from being in SL for 16 years there is always another shoe waiting to be dropped later in in any given year.
I'd be foolish if I didn't brace for that shoe.

I suspect you're right, of course -- just as building a new highway will likely lead to an increase in taxes in RL.

The one thing I hope they don't do (and I've NO reason to think they're even contemplating this, but the thought did occur to me) is to restrict deployment of the vending or rental systems to Premium members.

That would unquestionably drive some creators and landlords out.

[Alex Carpenter]

I just wanted to add in my two cents here. Similarly to what another user was suggesting, I think it could be neat to integrate product vending into the core of the SL experience. Perhaps one way to do this would be to add special LSL functions to link into a marketplace store and allow purchasing and redelivery in-world. I have no idea what this would look like to implement, but I think doing some work on reducing script burden so events and other places with a lot of in-world vendors running can operate more smoothly would be beneficial.

[Zidaya Zenovka]

If people read through all seven pages they'd see that Patch has been pretty forthcoming with information. CasperVend was not in trouble. Linden Lab is just doing a bit of forward-thinking and looking after their best interest by making sure a valuable monetary stream is in less danger of interruption. On top of that this makes it even easier to keep track of the health of the economy. As of this point they're not planning on making any changes. However, that's mostly because they're not sure what if anything they want to change at this point. For now the general impression is that they're going to focus on transitioning things over and any possible maintenance needed so as to keep things running smoothly. 

There are NO plans as of yet to charge any kind of subscription or anything like that, and other third party vendors are more than welcome to do business in SL (as long as they abide by the TOS). 

Did I miss anything? 

Speaking for myself I'm choosing to hope for the best and see Linden Lab investing money in SL as a good sign they still deem it worth investing in. Maybe this will lead to something bad at some later date, who knows? I don't see the sense in hand-wringing over it. Especially since they only just announced it. 

[Lucifera Morningstar]

Just now, Zidaya Zenovka said:

..Speaking for myself I'm choosing to hope for the best and see Linden Lab investing money in SL as a good sign they still deem it worth investing in. ...

This. Exactly this. Between this, and the epic script performance update in January, and the viewer performance update this summer, they're showing that they feel SL is viable enough to invest time and money and labor hours into.

[wonderfullife2012]

I'm all happy for Casper but I'm a bit confused as to what exactly LL is purchasing and how it is going to happen.

If they are taking over the CasperTech groups and his in-world pieces to complete this transaction well then how does that occur? There's no way for other business owners to transfer ownership of things like that in world other than selling the SL account itself which is against the TOS. Plus the in-world part of Casper technically already belongs to LL in a way. So what exactly are they purchasing and why is it a big deal?

Does this mean we can all sell our SL businesses?

It would seem to me it would just make more sense, and in line with the TOS, for them to create their own vendor system and talk residents into using it.

[Zidaya Zenovka]

1 minute ago, Lucifera Morningstar said:

This. Exactly this. Between this, and the epic script performance update in January, and the viewer performance update this summer, they're showing that they feel SL is viable enough to invest time and money and labor hours into.

...Of course given the fact LL is owned by an investment firm they could just be sprucing up the Christmas goose in order to increase it's value in case their owners decide they're better off dumping it.

What can I say? I'm a glass is half-full and half-empty kind of roo. 

[Lucifera Morningstar]

Just now, wonderfullife2012 said:

... There's no way for other business owners to transfer ownership of things like that in world other than selling the SL account itself which is against the TOS...

From the TOS:

"You may not sell, transfer or assign your Account or its contractual rights, licenses and obligations, to any third party (including, for the avoidance of doubt, permitting another individual to access your Account) without the prior written consent of Linden Lab."

I don't think LL will have any difficulty getting written consent from itself if it came down to that.

[Zidaya Zenovka]

10 minutes ago, wonderfullife2012 said:

I'm all happy for Casper but I'm a bit confused as to what exactly LL is purchasing and how it is going to happen.

If they are taking over the CasperTech groups and his in-world pieces to complete this transaction well then how does that occur? There's no way for other business owners to transfer ownership of things like that in world other than selling the SL account itself which is against the TOS. Plus the in-world part of Casper technically already belongs to LL in a way. So what exactly are they purchasing and why is it a big deal?

Does this mean we can all sell our SL businesses?

It would seem to me it would just make more sense, and in line with the TOS, for them to create their own vendor system and talk residents into using it.

I'm going to assume that once due diligence has been done and people notified regarding the change in ownership and potential transfer of their data, those who grant their approval will continue doing business as usual. LL has a number of folks working for them who get paid to know how to manage customer service, server maintenance, etc. I don't see why ownership would need to be transferred between individual vendor owners as you down 'own' your vendor in the first place. You own a license to use said vendor. One that can be revoked should they feel you've done something to violate whatever TOS you agreed to when you began using the service. 

The in-world part of CasperVend never belonged to Linden Lab. It was always property of its creator. It's the same as creating anything in SL-you own it outright. You're free to sell your business as long as its done in such a way that it doesn't violate the TOS and whatever applicable laws may apply.  That usually means asking LL first, as someone else helpfully pointed out. 

As far as them creating their own vendor system why should they do that when they can just buy one already set up and proven a viable means of managing transactions? They're saving a boatload more money doing it this way rather than putting tons of time, effort, and money into developing a competing system that may or may not prove popular. 

Edited September 15, 2022 by Zidaya Zenovka

[Luther Weymann]

Casper customers have no insight into the real-life health of Casper Warden, nor do we know the financial state of the SL part of CasperTech. Some of the best people and companies in SL have left SL for one or both reasons. Some have gotten old, sick, or financially what they sold in SL compared to the time they had to spend on what they were selling was just not worth that time anymore. We don't know. We know that Linden Research is a company capable of blowing maybe fifty million dollars on Sansar and yet still able to have a company worth buying by an investment company who cared to see SL continue. They think SL has value. As a resident of SL, I'm lucky my SL experience got to continue after such a massive Sansar blunder because most companies would have failed after that. So the widely deployed CasperVend and CasperLet systems will continue. For all of us Casper customers that is a far better outcome than having the Andy Enfield experience of selling Hippo Tech only to watch it crumble and die. Congratulations Casper!

[Sasy Scarborough]

Firstly Congratulations to both Casper and Linden Lab.

While Casper has other business does this mean that Casper Warden will now be Casper Linden ? because that is the only part of this whole thing that would make sense on the upcoming features etc. Much easier for Casper to do the work but have the resources of LL behind them.

Hippo and E2V have closed in the past, this caused all sorts of issues, I personally am glad this has happened, and I do not have the casper system at the moment, because I have not been producing content for a long time. I have gifted the system though, so it was on my radar as a good product.

For the oldbies that remember, back in the day there were actual vendors in world for OnRez and SLX and I am hopeful that that will be the case again, that listing via our inventory like we do now would somehow be linked to a vendor in world as well making everything one thing, because honestly the amount of double and sometimes even triple record keeping in SL by both the Lab and content creators is excessive, this should streamline all of that.

I look forward to the changes, and maybe this will have LL look into my comments in the past about a 'commercial premium' account so that proper division of needs is possible to choose from.

Whatever happens Business Partner/Manager options are a  must, without them many stores could not function.

 

EDIT: Just went and bought the system, I do so like to put my money where my mouth is. I also forgot I had purchased it for an alt but did not end up needing it, and have received a fully detailed email regarding the buyout etc.

Edited September 15, 2022 by Sasy Scarborough

[AmberJoyBliss]

Five days notice is concerning. 

[princess51506]

 

chould this a mean a in inventory redelivery button  such as how casper curent redeliverys work ?

 

or perhaps even a  visual invintory ?

[spirit Wingtips]

@Patch Linden  @Casper Warden I read in the notecard sent out to residents inworld in Second Life Quote "    You have the right to object to your data being transferred to Linden Research, Inc, by requesting the deletion
    of your data prior to this transfer instead, if you wish. You can view information on the data that we hold on
    your behalf, and request deletion, using our GDPR tool: https://gdpr.casperdns.com. If you have difficulty with
    this tool for any reason, please email gdpr-legal@caspertech.co.uk with your request. In order to take effect
    before the transfer, deletion requests must be activated by 5pm UK time on Monday, 19th of September.
    Otherwise your data will be transferred to Linden Research, Inc, although you can still request that your data
    is deleted by them afterwards."

If A Resident was to proceed with this Data deletion Action how will this affect the resident? Will Redeliveries of purchases still work? can one Still Access Casper products? Will one still be Able to use Casper products one is currently using inworld etc. ?

[primerib1]

2 minutes ago, spirit Wingtips said:

@Patch Linden  @Casper Warden I read in the notecard sent out to residents inworld in Second Life Quote "    You have the right to object to your data being transferred to Linden Research, Inc, by requesting the deletion
    of your data prior to this transfer instead, if you wish. You can view information on the data that we hold on
    your behalf, and request deletion, using our GDPR tool: https://gdpr.casperdns.com. If you have difficulty with
    this tool for any reason, please email gdpr-legal@caspertech.co.uk with your request. In order to take effect
    before the transfer, deletion requests must be activated by 5pm UK time on Monday, 19th of September.
    Otherwise your data will be transferred to Linden Research, Inc, although you can still request that your data
    is deleted by them afterwards."

If A Resident was to proceed with this Data deletion Action how will this affect the resident? Will Redeliveries of purchases still work? can one Still Access Casper products? Will one still be Able to use Casper products one is currently using inworld etc. ?

It has been explained by Casper Warden himself: If you opt to delete your data, all Casper services you use will immediately cease.

Which means losing your store if you're a CasperVend customer, losing your rentals if you're a CasperLet customer, and so on.

[Dorian Meredith]

@patch linden @casper warden

To say that I'm terrified of what this is going to mean would be an understatement, particularly where it applies to switching over to whatever new system there is.

I have almost 200 rent boxes for my multi-scene rental business, that are integrated with third party rezzers and security and all sorts of things and also make use of the casper API.  I've built and tweaked this system working out bugs and glitches for a decade to get it to the (mostly) smooth running machine it is now.  Do you have any idea yet on what sort of integration there is going to be for the casperlet system?  What are the chances I'm going to have to rebuild my whole system from the ground up? 

Like others have said, I think this COULD be a good thing, especially after I experienced rental beam's blow up a few years ago, and that was just a tiny blip in my organization of things.  But, having to start my whole set up from the start again would be a very very sad day.

[diamond Marchant]

In https://community.secondlife.com/blogs/entry/11637-linden-lab-acquires-caspertech-in-second-life/

@Patch Linden posted

Quote

the Second Life portion of CasperTech is being acquired by Linden Research, Inc.

1. I read all the posts. I am aligned with Sid Nagy's thinking.

2. Linden Research is owned by an "investment group led by Randy Waterfield and Brad Oberwager" and includes Linden Lab and Tilia, which "enables publishers of video games and virtual worlds to create in-world economies".

3. Whatever is being acquired can be resold by Tilia. This is the long-term strategy.

4. Second Life will not be with us in the long term. Every day is a gift.

5. I am confident that Linden Lab will adequately address any issues that residents might have with this acquisition as it is in their long-term interest to do so.

 

 

Edited September 15, 2022 by diamond Marchant

[Nanci Barthelmess]

I hope I'm not missing an earlier answer to my question, but it's really late in Boston and my bed's calling me.

Will purchase histories and redeliveries between CasperVend and the MP be merged? I'd love it if I could manage updates, etc., for both vending systems into one redelivery/update mechanism. 

Edited September 15, 2022 by Nanci Barthelmess
It was really late when I write that and my my proofreader app missed flagging "/upstate"

[Ethereal Enchantment]

Will caspertech shop be taken over by the lindens or will it go away or remain on line to sell stuff

[Carina Asbrink]

First of all a big thank you to casper. I have used his system for many years. First the free system and later the premium when the sales were high enough. Casper has shown how far one can get with creativity and skill and I can only hope that Linden Lab will use his skill to finally set up a great working Marketplace with seamless inworld integration.

A few things I would love to see:
- Merge dropboxes into the Marketplace listings that the unnecessary double work ends.
- one product page that works for Marketplace and inworld vendors
- a good customer and sales overview with statistics
- and of course the totally overdue revamping of the Marketplace itself. 3/4 of my sales go through MP, but I have to use cv to handle those sales and have an overview what I sold.

IF we really get good service (most) people will happily pay a share. You could even offer an opt in system. Those who need systems like an accounting can pay a share and who just wants to sell a few things doesn't. The comparison is not the best, but look at Unreal Engine. Those that just play with it can use all of it. But if you earn a lot of money with it you pay for what you get.

I'm hopeful that this will lift the backbone of the SL shopping on a new level. Just ask a few SL residents what they do and a lot will answer they are shopping. It's one of the main activities in SL. So better not mess this up.