Oh gosh, I'm always late to the party . . .
Hi Kim, and welcome!!
I think you'll like it here! SL is not the software, or the grid: it is instead an enormously diverse, talented, creative, and committed community -- or communities -- of residents. And that is where the "X Factor" lies: within that community, among the creators, the entertainers, the educators, and the "citizenry" at large. This is why I like this so much:
I’m excited about the prospect of helping to build a product that really empowers people to express what they’re about, and that can make a real difference in their lives. I think we’ve only just started to see what can be done here, and I can’t wait to see where we and our Residents can take things from here.
I think this represents exactly the right kind of thinking: empower the residents to make SL even more exciting and enticing than it already is! Help us create the environment and content that will attract new people; help us get the word out about why people should be wanting to come here. Whether it's building a new gaming system for in-world, or helping to create stronger and more exciting communities of like-minded individuals, the focus should very much be upon "empowering" and "enabling."
That's why I also want to emphasize and repeat what some others above have said: please come in-world, and into the forums, and interact with us. Learn about us, and learn what we are capable of: all of the potential for what SL can eventually become is here, among those posting here, or in the forums and blogs, or doing things in-world.
Move among us, talk to us, and I think you will see potentialities that perhaps are not yet apparent even to ourselves.