kiramanell

Cathy Foil wrote: I think I remember reading someplace that Ebbe Linden said they want to restructure how the costs are distributed to bring down land costs. I think he mentioned some form of tax. I assume he meant a tax on items sold in the MarketPlace. Right now LL takes a cut from the content creators share so that is basically taxing content creators. Sounds like LL would have the buyers pay the tax perhaps. I think this is pretty much what he said, yes, And it fits with his notion to cater to content creators as the favored customers in the New World. On the latter, I hope he keeps in mind that without me, the consumer, there will be no sales whatsoever. So, giving content creators a freebie, as it were, whilst taxing the consumer heftily, that may not work out as favorably as he may think. For now, we know little more than what we can gather from a few remarks Ebbe made, here and there. Hope his new business model will keep some sort of equilibrium between the two, though.

Vinten wrote: I have a request and wondered if you would consider the following: Can I respectfully request that you put these proposed changes to the SL platform to a 'Public Vote.' Respectfully, but I think this is not a voting kind of matter. People naturally resist change, so they'd be inclined to vote NO. Rather, I want them to listen to the community, and take people's concerns seriously, but ultimately just make a sound business decision about it on their own. Besides, they've already been working on this for years: any possible voting ship has already sailed a long time ago.

Amethyst Jetaime wrote: I suggest you go back and read what Ebbe actually said. The world is not coming to an end anytime soon. Not so sure about that. What if ppl heard tomorrow that the real world only had 2 years to go?! I bet ppl would consider that *extremely* close. Just because SL is a virtual world doesn't mean 2 years isn't equally near.

Qie Niangao wrote: I'm not saying this will or should happen, but one doesn't have to ignore anything Ebbe has said about the changes to conclude that a vast majority of SL content could be transparently available in SL2 without constraining that new platform to real backwards compatibility. Much as I'd love to see my many homes ported to SL2, at this point, it's hard to imagine even mesh, let alone prims, will come out looking unscathed 'on the other side.' And if the new scripting language would require just a few tweaks to the old LSL to make stuff work again, then why even bother with an entirely new language at all?!

Drake1 Nightfire wrote: Have you seen any of the chaos in the inworld groups because most people Inworld have no idea what is going on? The FUD is running rampant and all it would take is a simple post on the main page and on the log in screen to fix. This has been going on for 9 days. It's not whining, it's smart business practice. They have the means to tell everyone about it, but they choose not to. And you are impressed with him... Yes. Something like "Now hear this! This is Rumor Control. These are the facts." I learned of it as FUD on a chat group too, Leaving your customers to guess is rarely an ideal way to go about it.

arton Rotaru wrote: There will be nothing to be ported over. Everything other than a static prop won't work as intended, and even that is questionable. How would any creator be able to support content which took years to create in the first place? They would be working years only on "fixing" things they don't broke. New World > New Content > New People. The new world is not meant for SL oldbies. That's why it's another world, and not SL 2.0. LL can't come up with all the details until to the public beta anyway. Or they will give up on the advantage to start the race from pole position. Giving competitors the chance to make there product slighty different, more appealing, and maybe even launching sooner than LL's next VW. Be it tech details, business model or what ever. Patience you must have young padawan. Didn't say it was possible, but only that, given the permission options listed in the post I replied to, that, as a consumer, I'd prefer to have my old stuff back, of course. I've pretty much written off the chance of that happening, though. As for not letting the cat out of the bag yet, well... maybe Ebbe really shouldn't have then. Now SL2 is like Schroedinger's cat: half in the bag, half out of it: yet no one knows exactly what state that cat is currently in until SL2 is an actual reality.

LaskyaClaren wrote: LL permits the transfer of any content, regardless of perms, by anyone, so long as it can be handled by the code base of the new VW. This probably leaves most consumers happy, but means forgoing the bonanza of buying by new residents that would result from nice, empty inventories. As someone with an inventory, I highly prefer the above option. It wouldn't be a true full-perm thingy, btw; more like a meta-perm, to get stuff exported from SL1, and imported into SL2 (encrypted, for instance, so it can't enter Open Sim or something). As for 'foregoing the bonanza of buying by new residents,' well, much like you need money to make money, you need sales to make sales. Which is to say, you basically already need to have a half-way flourishing world in order for ppl to feel confident enough to buy stuff in. Being able to import your old inventory could be just the ticket to that.

Gavin Hird wrote: Zena Zemlja wrote: I have to agree with you on this. Not everyone has the last new high tech computer. Making a new high tech world will not make them buy one. They simply will not be able to afford it. This is not about developing high tech, but moving into the mobile space where all the action and big revenue are these days. A half-way modern GPU draws upward of 200 Watt. Good luck running that on your tablet. So, either 'Tablet-SL' is graphically so nerfed that I have no interest visiting it at all, or they manage to get a 200W performance out of a 15W card, in wich case I'll rush out on my winged pig to come have a look. Gabe Newell (CEO of STEAM) once said they were going into the mobile market too. Naturally none of that really materialized, as Gabe at least is seated firmly enough in reality to understand a tablet is, graphically, not a PC -- not by a long shot. People may *think* so, because of certain built-in H264 acceleration that allows them to watch full-HD on it; but oh boy if you try and do anything outside that narrow margin! Maybe it would behoove Ebbe to step off the mobile hype-wagon too, and just focus on SL?!

Tanita Blackburn wrote: Ebbe I hope you read Macklin Deckard's original comment because I couldn't agree more to this ! Straight to the point. I will not migrate to any new grid - I will stick with 1.0 as long as it is fun and my business runs stable and after that I am done with Linden Lab. Migrating ? Investing all that money again ? tens of thousands of $US ? - Maybe only to find out after a year or two that 2.0 is not working out and they shut it down ? Migrating back to 1.0 after that - or to 3.0 ? - It was you who said in your original posting they you cannot say wether or not you will shut down the old or the new grid or keeping them both or what the future will bring ... Not very promising, is it ? Defintely not enough ! - Ebbe, you asked a few times your suggestive question what we would like better - Linden Lab coming up with a new grid or someone else ? Trying to make us believe it can only be bad if someone else would do it. The answer is - someone else would be very welcome ! - The only reason why me and many others are still here is because there IS nobody else. External competition would be good. One thing that really stood out to me over the years, is that LL got annoyingly greedy with their land-prices. Some stiff competition might jolt them back into reality, maybe. My main gripe with all of this, however, is the fact that ppl seem to be drooling over a shiny new, and vastly superior, Matrix 2.0, whereas in reality people's computers can't even handle, say, and upgrade to the point-light sytem. Most ppl simply can't even run SL1 at maxed out graphics settings (unless they're okay with 5 fps). So, why this sudden executive push towards an allegedly superior world? Is that decision based on reality in any way? Like some insider knowledge that GPU's are going to run 10x faster by the end of next year, or something? My long-winded point being, I don't think the world is ready for SL2 yet (heck, see above, it's barely ready for SL1 even). What this WILL cause, however, as you point out, is chaos, a weird competition between LL's own 2 platforms, uncertainty leading to certain drop in sales, and ppl willing to invest progressively less in SL1, thus hastening its demise, leaving a 'maybe it will work out' future for SL2.

Gavin Hird wrote: Perrie Juran wrote: Trying to carte blanche apply the Apple/Ipod ruling to the situation here may not apply because Apple has a distinct presence in Europe. This has been changed in similar ways for virtually the entire range of American companies operating in the European consumer market, and notably so to an accelerating degree in the online services market (which was less regulated.) It is now simply one of the parameters of making such business in Europe. Since LL does collect VAT on services rendered to European consumers, they have acknowledged they operate in this part of the consumer market and hence must abide by the applicable legislation. According to Council Directive 2002/38/EC, non-EU operators are required to register for VAT purposes only when their business involves sales to final consumers. As the Directive says, "This allows them to identify themselves for EU tax purposes in a single European Member State. Non-EU businesses are able to register with a tax authority in a Member State of their choosing. They are required to charge VAT to non-business customers in the EU according to the standard tax rate in the Member State where the customer lives. So, just for clarity, LL having to levy VAT, in no way whatsoever, constitutes LL being established in an EU Member State (with all the possible ramifications thereof).

Let's examine things a bit, shall we? Section 2.3 of the Linden Lab TOS reads "You retain any and all Intellectual Property Rights you already hold under applicable law in Content you upload, publish, and submit to or through the Servers, Websites, and other areas of the Service." You never 'gave away your creations.' You did, however, when accepting the new TOS, "grant to Linden Lab, the non-exclusive, unrestricted, unconditional, unlimited, worldwide, irrevocable, perpetual, and cost-free right and license to use, copy, record, distribute, reproduce, disclose, sell, re-sell, sublicense (through multiple levels), modify, display, publicly perform, transmit, publish, broadcast, translate, make derivative works of, and otherwise exploit in any manner whatsoever, all or any portion of your User Content (and derivative works thereof), for any purpose whatsoever in all formats, on or through any media, software, formula, or medium now known or hereafter developed, and with any technology or devices now known or hereafter developed, and to advertise, market, and promote the same." LOL. Yup, they pretty much gave themselves all rights to your works. Rather scummy, really. But they're not alone. The Facebook EULA, for instance, also says "You grant us a non-exclusive, transferable, sub-licensable, royalty-free, worldwide license to use any IP content that you post on or in connection with Facebook." MySpace, Youtube, they all have similar provisions. Importantly, courts have held 'click-wrap' EULAs enforceable, and basically ruled that, unless the terms are objectionable on grounds applicable to contracts in general (for example, if they violate a rule of positive law, or if they are unconscionable), they are pretty much enforceable. Thus, these licensing provisions in the Linden Lab TOS are very likely also enforceable. Primarlity because they do not restrict the rights of the content-creating users: they merely grant LL non-exclusive licenses. With regard to the Linden Lab TOS allegedly being illegal in the EU, presumably people are referring to recent changes regarding EULA's and software licenses within the EU. Linden Lab, however, has registered as a non-resident EU business, meaning they have no sales offices in Europe, and are thus not affected by these changes.

As for scripts, why can't we just have the Matrix 2.0 server run LSL 'Mono' next to whatever there will be in SL2? I mean, 'Mono' has been running concurrently next to LSL2 too, for years. I'm talking about a grace period maybe, of at least a year, so builders and scripters (like yours truly) can be in-world, inside SL2, and start converting stuff. I say 'inside SL2' on purpose, as inevitably much testing will need to be done in the live new environment.

Ebbe Linden wrote: kiramanell wrote: Ebbe Linden wrote: So you assume we could have the same amount of resources regardless of how hard it is to compete or that all projects are equal in potential value? Working on some products have much higher cost and lower return on investment than others. I appreciate a reply from the man himself, but I honestly don't know what you mean, here. I was pretty much just saying that being able to import half-a-home is, effectively, the same as not being able to import it at all. And thus, realistically, that I can forget about ever being able to port my many homes to SL2. Unless you tell me I am wrong, of course (please, tell me I am wrong, LOL). hmm, maybe i responded to another thread? To another thread even?! No offense, but I feel now you're just trolling me.

DesperadoReprise wrote: Hasn't your management training involved Portfolio Theory, Ebbe? Or maybe it has, but you're struggling to express its complexities. "high or low, it's all the same" Can't say I am all that happy with Ebbe's new vision and all; but are these constant ad hominems at him really necessary? At least the man shows up here, willing to answer question -- not many CEO's would.

Amethyst Jetaime wrote: Who said the content that ports over that has to be updated with new scripts will be hacks? A door is a door and has to operate pretty much the same way in SL1 and 2. The difference is the LSL script in it now will have to be replaced with one that works in the new world. Do you throw out updates you get on products you purchased already because they are all "hacks"? If you migrate to SL2 are you going to refuse any updates of products you already own and like and start from scratch? Maybe, but most people won't . Upgrade how?! Will all content creators offer a full script-upgrade kit for all their current builds? (And that is even assuming, at some point, llSetRemoteScriptAccessPin functionality was built in, so as to even update them remotely; which, even if it was, can no longer be used any more). And what about that rezzer the house was in to begin with? Or the food rezzer in your kitchen? Or the many animations in your bath tubs/beds? We're talking about a lot more than just a door that needs to open.

Ebbe Linden wrote: So you assume we could have the same amount of resources regardless of how hard it is to compete or that all projects are equal in potential value? Working on some products have much higher cost and lower return on investment than others. I appreciate a reply from the man himself, but I honestly don't know what you mean, here. I was pretty much just saying that being able to import half-a-home is, effectively, the same as not being able to import it at all. And thus, realistically, that I can forget about ever being able to port my many homes to SL2. Unless you tell me I am wrong, of course (please, tell me I am wrong, LOL).

Pamela Galli wrote: An in depth article on why the migration path is so critical, by SL's most insightful analyst, Gwyneth Llewelyn: http://gwynethllewelyn.net/2014/06/27/next-life/ (She also came up with a pretty good name: NeXT Life.) Looks like Gwyneth Llewelyn is a smart cookie. "So what I see as a major problem is that SL starts losing residents and landmass very fast, well before 'NeXT Life' is due, and LL's revenue stream collapses." Maybe not now yet, but I predict a snowball effect the closer we get to SL2: people will progressively start to make less large purchases in SL, and, conversely, content creators will progressive embark less on new, major projects for SL. "They expect more revenues from 'NeXT Life' to compensate, but… will the users joining 'NeXT Life' (almost all coming from SL) compensate what LL will lose with a shrinking SL?" I think many people will be like me, and 'wait it out' a bit first. After all, initially SL 2.0 will essentially be a ghost town, with nothing in it. And the folks running around in it will all be utter noobs when it comes to having to learn everything all over again. Sure, some mesh may be able to get ported; but, realistically, I think it will at least take 1 year (and that is being optimistic) before we'll see any content, like homes/furniture, that will be on par with what SL has to offer. Also, all complex script tools (rezzers, comprehensive vendors, fancy TV's, etc), LL will have obsoleted them all; so all of that will have to be recreated from scratch before you can count again on even a half-way 'business as usual' shopping experience. So, what will people do in the interim? Stay in SL, most like, and maybe get a small plot in SL2, just to observe what's going on. So, there will be a kind of limbo, with down-spiraled sales in SL, and not much going on in SL2 yet. I wish LL good luck bridging that gap.

DesperadoReprise wrote: Sy, the main problem is not the technical platform for Sanitised Life; it is that creators/vendors are going to be bankrupted prior to any migration because their customers - as they discover that there are no guarantees that anything they purchase from now on will be of any value in a very short time - are going to stop buying. They have already, if several reports are to be believed, and why should they not be. This is certainly an important issue. Why should I, as someone who tends to spend huge amounts of LL on fancy mesh homes/furniture, etc., continue to do so, knowing it will all end soon? (And yes, 2 years is soon). Or why would I, if I were a content creator, embark on very ambitious new projects, when I know it's all for nought ere long? To illustrate, in my country it's illegal to announce, upfront, you're going bankrupt. So, if you run, say, a web-shop, and a client places an order today, whilst you know you will go bankrupt tomorrow, you're not allowed to tell him (yet). While that sounds scummy, it is done so as not to disadvantage the store's main creditors, as, indeed, ppl would immediately stop buying at your store once they learn you're going under soon. And who could blame them?!

Vivienne Schell wrote: "Nobody wants the same totally random sizing of things in the better world as in the present one." SIZE MATTERS! :matte-motes-big-grin: Double entendres aside, scaling (avatar height vs. home height, etc) has always been off in SL. Would be nice if they got it right, this time. Part of said scaling is caused by the way the camers works. Like if your ceiling is too low, your trailing camera is 'inside' the ceiling, as it were (causing builders to make homes that are relative too heigh). Maybe they'll find a better solution to that in nextgen SL.

Phil Deakins wrote: This isn't just a reply to your post, kiramanell. It's meant for all who are seeing doom and gloom because of the SL2 announcement. If LL doesn't create a much better SL-like world, someone else will. If someone else did it, we'd all be saying how much better it is 'over there', and quite a largeish chunk of the population would go over, perhaps also maintaining a presence in SL as well for a while. Those that went over wouldn't be thinking how bad it is that we can't take the inventories along, because nobody would expect SL inventories to go over. Yeah, Except that someone else's Virtual World wouldn't go at the direct expense/cannibalization (pulling away of resources and ppl) of SL. So it's LL that is creating the better world. What's wrong with that? Nobody can find fault with that. AND some of the SL inventory will go over. What a plus! AND SL will continue to run as well. So we get it all - a better world, some inventory going over, and continuance of SL. As I said in chat, the other day: "Half a home is no home at all." It's cute if, say, all the mesh parts can be ported, but if the other prim-half stays behind (very realistic to still have prims in a somewhat older home), then you have totally broken build, and essentially just a pile of garbage.

Coby Foden wrote: If you didn't like the TOS there was the option for you to not to agree and stay out from SL. You made the choise what you did voluntarily - there was no forcing of any kind going on. Agreeing to the TOS is a requirement to get inworld. You either agree or do not agree with the reguirement - it's your free choise to decide what to do. Actually, it's a bit more complex than that. For instance, there may be statutory laws that make certain EULA clauses illegal in some countries. Yes, even when you 'agreed' to those (clauses that violate statutory law are void to begin with, so you can't even agree to them, even if you wanted to). Anyways, I thought we were talking about Linden Lab building a NEW virtual world?! I doubt there would be anything in their new EULA that either differs much from the current one, or would be otherwise offensive to me.

Vivienne Schell wrote: "i've seen entire sims from reputable builders disappear, precisely because LL introduced new things´" The difference HERE is that almost any single asset format will change. The history of mesh or whatsoever has only proven that partial format changes alone didn´t have ANY positive impact on the overall growth of SL. Now they gamble and hope to get away with a radical cut. I think they basically miss the fact that the vast majority of dedicated Second Life customers (not the loud minority on SLUniverse and elsewhere) is not really interested in any substantial changes of technology, but in their inventory and what they can do with it, how they can do something with it and - most important - what for? And since friday for how long? Old dilemma: Techies vs. Philosophers/Business People. At LL the techies obviously dominate all other groups. My point exactly. Not everyone can or wants to embark on a full 'do over.' Reading those blogs, it looks to me that we can pretty much kiss backwards compatibility goodbye (if, for nothing else, by logical inference: after all, the reason to start anew was to get rid of the old, inhibitive tech). My entire sim is full of homes I bought, and then took many years sometmes to mod and decorate, and make my own, as it were. So, while not a 100% content-creator, I'm not sure I want to start all over again. And, like you say, what for? Just so some CEO with a wet dream can yank it out from under me again one day? As Bush once said: "Fool me once, shame on you! Fool me twice.... eh, also shame on you!" (or words to that effect). Also, pray-tell, LL, what spectacular (not specular) new tech is being used?! In reality, I can't even get the Lindens to up the 512MB texture memory limit on the current incarnation of SL, out of fear ppl won't be able to run it. So, what makes them suddenly think the world is ready for Matrix 2.0 now?!

Phoebe Avro wrote: I think a lot of land shrinkage in sl is due to the MP many shop owners have closed up and only sell on the MP now some of these people had clubs or rp sims they also closed! The influx of people selling very cheap items on the MP beacause they don't have any land costs forces prices down! Actually, I've seen entire sims from reputable builders disappear, precisely because LL introduced new things. Some major builders saw their stuff virtually obsoleted overnight when mesh was introduced, for instance. Some builders were able to make the switch and survived. Others just left; and entirely new builders appeared. But, on a whole, obsoleting old stuff can have dettrimental effects on many builders.

Rather shocked here. I have spent thousands of dollars on SL; but, more importantly, thousands of hours creating my many homes. And by ‘creating’ I mean making them my own, thru extensive modding and decorating. They are to me little pieces of art, as it were, that I cherish and hold dear, as I tried to do something special with each of them, interior-design wise. Some of them I’ve been tweaking for years. Also, no backwards compatibility is a shocker to me. And even if they add some sort of backwards compatibility (which they say chances are pretty slim for), then pretty much *all* homes and furniture I bought are non-transfer to begin with (with most of them, I was lucky to get them mod/copy). So, yeah, good luck getting that all ported. Word is, we can certainly forget about LSL Script compatibility. So, exit all my rezzers with all my homes in them. Sigh. For me this just spells the demise of everything I built up. Basically they’re saying, ‘Look, kiddo, enjoy what you have another 2-3 years, but then we close up shop on the old SL.’ Yes, I know the lady said “We’re not giving up on Second Life.” But she also said SL as we know it only has a couple of years to live. Kind of a mixed bag, really. A rather sad Kira.

LadyPetunias Audion wrote: You know I have tried everyhting I was told to deal with the blurring.....for some reason does not help.. then ther eis the mesh not showing up.. tried everthing with that too..... One thing both have in common.......That is the introduction of mesh viewers and project cloudy ( yes I know it is project sunshine)....My graphics card I replaced just over two years ago.. before mesh viewers... or right before it .. anyway.. Everything ran and loaded like a dream, my lag was gone adn omg the detail....it was like discovering SL all over again......But now.... I get laggy, blurry textures.....mesh not loading till I click on it.... even sculpts are deformed.....somtimes till I texture refresh... or I relog if it is bothering me too bad... as I said I have done all that was suggested... now I am left to researching a new graphic card..........:matte-motes-stress: 'Interest list' (what the viewer renders when, so to speak) problems with mesh are common, but are not a viewer issue, really. And a new card? Get one if you feel like getting one. But you're not gonna use > 512MB texture memory in SL because of it. A Linden closed my Jira, btw (with a reference to a case you can't look up). So, let's just hope they're still working on it.