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Eloise Pasteur

Gwyn's Home » Not So Lively: Chronicles of Day One on Google's Virtual World - 0 views

  • (no new virtual world supports the Mac these days, in spite of the “promises” done to “support it soon” — with “only” 8% of market share and growing, the Mac is simply not interesting for developers to focus on)
    • Eloise Pasteur
       
      Not true, Small Worlds does
  • Being — like all Google products! — a Beta version, there are perhaps 40 or 50 available options (not the “millions” announced by Google reps) and they can be somewhat configured, but the choices are confusing and very, very limited.
  • “Linden Lab” room a close second. Figuring out that here I would already find a few familiar faces from Second Life®, I went for that one. The choice was certainly correct — Dusan Writer, Grace McDunnough, Jurin Juran, and likely a few others (sometimes it’s not easy to figure out who’s who!) were around in the room, testing the cumbersome interface. And cumbersome it is!
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  • Then again, it looked like most of the crowd was complaining about the excruciatingly painful lag.
  • Combine that with a confusing little interface and it was clearly anything but a “fun” experience. And remember that we were all cheating. Everybody on the “Linden Lab” room at that time was a veteran Second Life resident; we’re not exactly newbies with virtual worlds. We have tried several, and in some cases, use different VWs regularly and every day. We’re used to lag, to semi-functional software, to application crashes (several people crashed during the few hours I was online), to things not loading, to silly mistakes that everybody does. We’re also used to the insanely complex (but virtually rich) interface of Second Life, and use computers and their complex applications to accomplish tasks every day. And, of course, we all are very open minded and eager to try new things out.
  • Lively was anything but Lively — except for the fact that you were in a visually unappealing chatroom with a lot of friends or at least acquaintances from one’s journey across the Metaverse. Like I usually say, most virtual worlds I’ve tried only capture my attention for about 15 minutes, and it’s up to the developers to make sure that I enjoy the first 15 minutes
  • The “cartoonish” look (which is so great for rendering things quickly) is also something that baffles me. I can’t believe that Google is targeting the teen population.
  • After all, Mike Elgan from ComputerWorld claims: What that means is that companies will be able to re-create their office and meeting space, and events companies can create or re-create entire conferencing facilities. Your avatar can wander around, see the “booths,” check out the conferences or interface with other “attendees” — all in virtual space.  Really, Mike?… They might do that, but definitely not on Lively.
  • Even a MoU representative (who, as said, did create a room for a client in Lively already) considers that opinion an “interesting hypothesis”. Put into other words, not even MoU seriously believes that article, and it’s just one of a series — which, if I didn’t know the reputation of the magazines writing them, I’d just believe they were infodumps straight out of Google’s marketing department. The claims are just ludicrous.
  • If Google has more plans for Lively, they’re not telling — and instead are offering a terrible product, way below their usual offerings.
  • So why are people so enthusiastic about Google Lively? I have only one explanation: it has the brand “Google” behind it.
  • As a 3D-chatroom-embedded-on-the-web, it falls behind almost every other product and application I have tried in the past 4 years, no matter where you wish to find something good. The animations are goofy and cartoonish, to the point of extreme irritability.
  • The interface is not obvious, but then again, SL suffers from the same problem, and it’s just a question of getting used to it.
  • There is no content creation at all; no way to integrate it with anything; no programming/scripting; no chat tools (even GTalk, known to have the least features just after SL’s chat system, has far more!).
  • And, more important: no support, a terrible forum system (I can’t answer on half the threads), no helpful people around… if you bump into a Google Developer, they’re very likely very friendly (or so everybody who met them claims), but that’s all you get.
  • Google’s webpage for Lively is even more minimalistic than anything else they’ve launched before
  • And there is nothing on the Google developers’ sites either.
  • Searching for the “most popular” rooms leads to the inevitable: the most rated one was a dance club (since you can stream music) and on the top ten list you had a lot of sex-related rooms as well.
  • This was a terrible disappointment. I admit to being very naive. I was expecting something with at least the quality of Vivaty which at least has pretty decent avatars
  • but using SketchUp to import at least crude models. Even importing plywood cubes would be nice! Instead, we have to rely on the “Catalog”, created by a limited group of Google developers.
  • Some SL residents managed to talk to the Google Developers, and these said that there was a 3D Max plugin to allow the creation of content into Lively. The plugin works 90% of the time but it can only improve. There is no idea or plan or announcement on if that plugin will be released to the public.
  • Google is known to be “the company that does no evil”. But looking from my point of view — an enthusiast of the 3D Social Web — I feel cheated. We were doing great in opening the minds to millions of users to look at the Metaverse as Second Life defines it as the next human-machine interface for all our tasks. Granted, we all know it’ll take ages — another decade at least — but we all are here for the long term. Instead, what we get from one of the industry giants is that “3D is bad, embedding cartoons on Web pages is good”. Why? Well, it should be obvious. Google is the market leader in (2D) web search content — both text and images (and soon video). While there is an HTML-based World-Wide Web, Google will be a major player in it — always.
  • I don’t think there are coincidences. In about 24 hours (not in the same day for the timezone-impaired), Sun’s Wonderland gets slashdotted, Linden Lab announces the massive growth of Second Life and demonstrates the interoperability between their main grid and IBM’s OpenSim-based grid, and Google launches their own virtual world, Lively. July 8th was definitely the Day of the Metaverse!
  • So, like probably billions of people around the world, I tried to join in to Lively and see what’s all about. Not to be turned down by the lack of Mac support
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    More on Lively. Google is missing the mark
Eloise Pasteur

Second Life interface redesign - Eloise's thoughts and fancies - 0 views

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    My thoughts on redesigning the SL interface. Just for fun really.
Eloise Pasteur

Dusan Writer's Metaverse » Interface Design Contest Finalists - 0 views

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    Results of privately sponsored contest about redesigning the Second Life interface
Kerry J

Developing for SecondLife / OpenSim | drupal.org - 1 views

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    Second Life objects are written in a language called Linden Scripting Language (LSL). For more on how to use this language, refer to this wiki http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/LSL_Portal. A good tutorial on LSL can be found in this Dr Dobbs Journal article using the Linden Scripting Language. The Second Life framework Drupal module interfaces with Second Life using the llHTTPRequest() function. See details here for llHTTPRequest. In order to write a Drupal application that interfaces with Second Life, you need to create a new module. See the sltest module in the samples directory for an example. The app is the application name, and is also the module name. The cmd is a command that your module/app must handle. The args vary from one cmd to the other. The $sl object contains the Second Life info you need to know, such as region, location in the grid, user name, user key, ...etc. The $args is an array that is passed from the LSL script to you.
Eloise Pasteur

Letter to Second Life Residents « Official Second Life Blog - 0 views

  • Second Life continues to expand each and every day. New Residents are joining, artists are creating amazing content, new businesses are springing up, big companies are entering for the first time, educational institutions are building virtual universities… and the list goes on. Everyday I learn of something new, something bold, something you’ve created.
  • Second Life offers something no ones else does - an astoundingly rich array of user-created content and a large, diverse and ever-expanding virtual economy.
  • The content and economy reflect the diversity of the Resident population. Your creativity covers 1.5 billion meters of space that’s taken more than 500 million hours over the past five years to assemble. It’s a mammoth undertaking.
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  • Our growth has come at a cost which you felt, and still feel - platform stability, viewer performance, lag, inventory management, etc. It’s important for you to know that we are ALL OVER these problems and that we’re making progress.
  • Our next viewer, when it comes in full release, will offer a much better inworld experience. With more than 50 crash fixes, you’ll have fewer viewer failures and we’ve fixed some irritating elements in the interface.
  • m top to bottom – recognizing that new users don’t need such a dizzying array of features, and experienced users, land and business owners and content creators need better tools that are more thoughtfully designed and organized for their needs. Everyone needs better inventory management and search is due for an overhaul. We hear you. We’re on it.
  • We have redesigned and rebuilt the registration process to make it easier for new members to join. Although it is still in testing, we’ve seen a significant improvement in registration levels. Significant. That, plus press attention outside the US have allowed us to hit some new registration records for the year. Very exciting. In addition, we are reworking the first-hour experience for new Residents to help them become more quickly acclimated and connected to Second Life and able to enjoy the richness and experience earlier.
  • In addition, Torley Linden has produced a library of 150 video tutorials designed to make it easier to do everything from teaching new Residents basic skills to putting media on their parcel. The videos are currently displayed on the blog and organized by category for easier consumption.
  • Support continues to expand its services to the Residents; in the last quarter we have redesigned the Support Portal interface in response to your feedback, to bring key components of our service front and center so they are more accessible.
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    M Linden's address to the world on the blog. It's a well written piece, unlike some of the Lab's previous effort, and although it's not as formal as a plan with timelines, it's got some nice indication of recent successes and imminent improvements in the pipeline. It's a confidence inspiring piece that maybe they've got management for their current size and maturity
Michael Galvin

Second Life Interface design contest - Eloise's thoughts and fancies - 0 views

    • Michael Galvin
       
      I agree that each of these has something to glean from. A more intuitive cockpit will only improve the performance of the vehicle and the driver!
Eloise Pasteur

Technology Review: The Virtual World as Web Browser - 0 views

  • nd since the outside content doesn't pass through Linden Lab's servers, it won't necessarily appear exactly the same way and at exactly the same time to all viewers. The company is currently working on allowing people to associate live Web content with so-called prims, the geometric building blocks that Second Life denizens use when creating virtual objects. Web content could then be stored on a portable object that a user's avatar can carry anywhere in the virtual world. "You can take it out and show it to someone without that land having to be yours," Miller says.
  • A virtual whiteboard, for example, might display a document, which two users could work on at the same time. In addition, he says, the company is building a programming interface that will allow other developers to import different types of media--Flash, for example--into Second Life without any change to the virtual world's underlying code. Miller says that companies or individuals will then have much more flexibility to use the types of media that suit their purposes within the world.
  • However, Rivers Run Red's Bovington says that Second Life tends to be the cheapest, most versatile way for a company or individual to try out Web integration. Although it has fewer security features, he says, it requires a smaller initial investment.
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    Page 2 of 2 - plans for integrating external content into SL
Gaby K. Slezák

Handsfree 3D - Controlling Second Life without a mouse or keyboard - 0 views

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    Old video where Mitch Capor shows what they are working on. Their last blog entry is from October 2008 - does anbody know the current status on his exciting development?
Ole C  Brudvik

Colony: Colony: Blogs - 0 views

  • [SLED] Grad Colony - Demo Sloodle Web interfaceParticipantsBlogs Page:  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  (Next)Add a new entryBlog from the top of the libraryby Grant Potter - Friday, 20 April 2007, 11:40 PM Anyone on this sitePosted from Second Life: SJSU SLIS Hello again. Live from the top of the San Jose Library...by Grant Potter - Friday, 20 April 2007, 11:06 PM Anyone on this sitePosted from Second Life: SJSU SLIS Sitting on the edge of the prim... Top of the world!by Grant Potter - Friday, 20 April 2007, 10:46 PM Anyone on this sitePosted from Second Life: SJSU SLIS Sitting on a prim on the top of the library. Blog Post #1 - Posting from SLby Grant Potter - Friday, 20 April 2007, 10:44 PM Anyone on this sitePosted from Second Life: SJSU SLIS Here I am on top of the San Jose Library sitting on a prim. Posting with the 2 in 1 Toolbar...very handy!by Grant Potter - Thursday, 19 April 2007, 10:26 PM Anyone on this sitePosted from Second Life: Campus I dropped the HUD to the ground and resized it. I put it back in my inventory and attached it to the center of my HUD. Works (and looks) great now that is it larger. Testingby Kip Yellowjacket - Monday, 16 April 2007, 08:28 AM Anyone on this sitePosted from Second Life: Hyperborea asfdjasldjlasjdlajsdlasldjasldjlasdjlaösjdlöasjdlas Greetings from Sloodlevilleby Clark Shah-Nelson - Thursday, 29 March 2007, 07:14 PM Anyone on this sitePosted from Second Life: Hyperborea Testing the Sloodle Toolbar from Hyperborea, 56, 179, 22 Sloodleville! 12 Sloodle Toolbars have been served. I can't quite figure out what to do with the Sloodle Box... Clark Sakai signing out. Blog 2by Clark Shah-Nelson - Thursday, 29 March 2007, 07:08 PM Anyone on this sitePosted from Second Life: Hyperborea
    • Ole C  Brudvik
       
      This is example of blogging with the avatar inside secondlife to the course blog on the web (sloodle).
Benjamin Jörissen

"Long Road Behind, Long Road Ahead" - Ph. Rosedale updates SL Mission Statement - 0 views

  • But now we seem to have reached a point where the rapid addition of capabilities is no longer the key challenge, and indeed can be counterproductive.
  • talked about how all too often Linden Lab is now simply ‘in the way’
  • a company of almost 250 people
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  • one new platform feature that still seems really important to deploy given the rising use of SL for education and collaboration, and that is being able to browse the web easily from in-world
  • We aren’t there yet in terms of the interface for virtual worlds. There is now a small new internal team doing nothing else
  • keep opening SL up
  • Virtual worlds, in their broadest form, will be more pervasive that the web, and that means that their systems will need to be open: extended and operated by many people and companies, not just us.
Dr. Fridemar Pache

A Second Life For Business - Second Life: Is Business Ready For Virtual Worlds?: Second... - 0 views

  • There's also a more academically respectable software platform for 3D interaction, known as Open Croquet, which is backed by computer industry luminary Alan Kay, one of the originators of object-oriented programming and graphical user interfaces.
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    sl secondlife alternative VRMLdiigo.com/tag/sl secondlife alternative VRML
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