I am sick and tired of all take and no give from Linden Labs. This is one premium account member that is fed up with the support I get from them, the quality of the stuff they put out (i.e: their viewers), and the changes they've made inworld to date ~ many of my scripts/products I've purchased, don't work anymore. Take a look around Mr. Linden - THERE IS TONS OF :LAND FOR SALE THROUGHOUT SECOND LIFE! WHY IS THAT DO YOU THINK?
Because people are leaving Second Life by leaps and bounds. This will be my last year as a paying premium account holder if you force me to use your second rate piece of #%$^^#@! viewer and you continue to discourage free enterprise and an open-source environment. Everything you have done has been counterproductive and ultimately is contributing to your own demise.
Perhaps you should take a few cues from the likes of Coca-Cola (and what happend when they introduced "the new coke") and Wendy's Restaurants (who decided to cut costs and buy inferior products as soon as Dave Thomas died - keeping pricing the same and thereby increasing profit margins. Unfortunately for them, they lost two thirds of their customer base - loyal customers who were used to a premium product). This is what you will do... lose an already eroding customer base if you decide to move forward with these changes.
This is a sad day in Second Life. I urge you to reconsider these plans - fire the person or persons who suggested it. Look back at the changes you've made so far and see if you can correlate a decline in membership and land holdings. Second Life is NOTHING without it's members and if you chase them all off, there will be nothing left.