The Fallacy of Uniformity in Marketing
We are in the waning days of the largest Virtual Goods sales portal ever created … SL Exchange or XstreetSL as it was renamed post-buyout. As first imagined by its creators, SL Exchange was designed to provide a vibrant and feature rich marketplace for Merchants of all skill levels and specialties to host and promote their virtual wares. It was a hodge-podge of software modules cobbled together with bubble gum and baling wire … and it worked beautifully. So beautifully in fact that Linden Lab decided to snatch that success for itself. So in 2009 they orchestrated and executed a takeover buyout that gobbled up SL Exchange and produced their rebranded Xstreet SL. Read more
A Shameful Disgrace
I’ve been a professional programmer for nearly four decades now. I’ve worked on all manner of projects and systems from mainframe megalithic code piles to ultra-tiny microprocessor controlled doo-dads. But one thing I have always retained across every job has been a sense of honesty, fair play and integrity.
If you’re a programmer, you know this question all too well. “Hey, can you hack into …?” People ask it for various reasons, usually petty personal ones, sometimes not so petty and sometimes not so clearly answered. But my answer has always been the same … no thank you.
Recently I have posted in the Second Life Commerce forums about the disgraceful website the Linden Lab Commerce team has put out there under the banner of the Marketplace. Their total lack of respect for both customers and merchants, the shoddy manner in which they released a barely functional pre-alpha abomination, and then their spotty, on and off communication with the people that most need it has had me fuming a time or twenty.
But today all of those fell to nothing in one simple blog post that sucked the life and pleasure out of me. It was a blog post made by LordGregGreg Back, late of the Emerald Development team.
In his post, he is both apologist and outraged developer. He blows the covers off something that was added into the Emerald Viewer code by others on the team. And not just added in, but purposely and willfully kept secret, encrypted to prevent detection, obfuscated from other team members, and then lied about when confronted head on.
As I mentioned at the top, the one thing that has typified my career (and netted me some choice jobs in high-security projects) has been my personal integrity. Well the idiots that saw fit to besmirch Emerald’s squeaky clean reputation just destroyed not only their reputations for all time to come, but they robbed every single Emerald user of the TRUST that was key to its success.
I don’t know what malfunction made them decide to play stupid hacker games with the Emerald Viewer, and frankly I don’t give a damn. All I know is they did … and now 70% of the people using Second Life that also used, depended on and praised the Emerald Viewer just took a head shot from which there is no graceful recovery.
Shame on you guys. SHAME SHAME and MORE SHAME!! You have shown you are below contempt and certainly below forgiveness. You have taken the most precious quality of any highly personal software system … and trashed it needlessly.
LordGregGreg .. you may not ever read my words, but I want you to know that I understand your personal turmoil in the decision you’ve just made. I can tell you that where I am today is due in large part to having faced and made those same decisions in my career too. You are not alone, but you ARE worthy of a large thank you. And an apology for the criticism that will surely come your way now.
To everyone else, I will say with every ounce of earnest emotion in me, the actions of these few cretins that saw fit to hide, lie and steal from their loyal customers … that is NOT what typifies a true professional. Any doubts you may have should be weighed in the scale of truth that almost all of us that sling code (and your personal details) around through today’s computer systems, do so with the UTMOST respect for your rights of privacy and security. And we are ashamed for what a tiny few have done to shatter than tender bond.
Where, Oh Where Has My Little Store Gone?
I’ve been pretty quiet lately and I suppose it’s time I explained why. The truth is, I’ve been “occupied”. No, not with anything stemming from my posts about Virtual Land and Second Life (although that did stir up some interesting responses). I’ve actually been occupied working on another facet of Second Life that seems in trouble. White Knight that I am, you just knew I had to stick my nose in it.
Search and the Google Search Appliance
Some time back, about four months so I’m told (although April seems to be a favorite time for jokes), a new venture was begun inside the hallowed halls of Linden Lab. That venture was designed to replace the existing Search Engine used to find stuff inside Second Life with Google’s newest wunderbox … the GSA 6. The goals were admirable, pull out the old iron and drop in some new-fangled and very powerful hardware that was designed from the ground up to be the end-all, do-all search appliance for corporate intranets. It should have been a turkey shoot. Needless to say, the turkeys got away without a scratch.
Further Thoughts on Virtual Land and Second Life
Apparently there are a lot of strong emotions tied up in Virtual Land. Stands to reason I guess since RL Land has been the cause of a lot of spilled blood over the eons, we might as well continue the tradition by spilling innocent pixels over the Metaverse too. My previous blog post “Changes in the Virtual Land Market in Second Life” caused quite a few folks to choose up sides and start lobbing blog bombs at each other. After all the hoo-hah died out though, a lot of good information started coming in. From that information I’ve had occasion to do a lot of thinking about Virtual Land, Second Life, Linden Lab and the future of them all. This blog entry is a result of that information and thinking. Read more
Changes in the Virtual Land Market in Second Life
One of the biggest hullabaloo’s going on in Second Life is the massive land rush. However, unlike most land rushes, this one is in reverse. People are abandoning entire Sims, Sim Owners are feeling the pinch more and more, and worst of all, the margins on land ownership are at an all time low. People are screaming that this has to stop … but no one seems to know why it’s happening or how to put the brakes on it.
Well, I have a theory (don’t I always? LOL) and in this blog I am going to lay it out for you to ponder. As usual, I may be totally off-base, but hang with me to the end anyway. I always put a cupcake at the end as a reward.
Do Web Sales of Virtual Goods Harm In-World Sales?
There have been a number of posts in various blogs and forums asserting that promotion of web-based sales of virtual goods for Second Life has had a dramatic and damaging effect on in-world sales. The position taken in those posts is that by drawing people away from in-world sales, by promoting and “improving” their web-based sales portal (Xstreet now, Marketplace soon) that Linden Lab has in effect been competing with themselves. As evidence, the posters hold up statistics showing a decrease of in-world sales and a corresponding increase of web-based sales. The bottom line theory is that any facilities that enable people to stay out of Second Life are, in the final tally, harmful to the growth and vitality of Second Life and thus damaging to the whole.
I will not argue that the share of sales seems to have been tipping toward favoring web-base sales, but every time I read one of those posts, it just doesn’t ring true for me. On the face I cannot dispute the statistics they present, but I can’t help but wonder … are the shifting sales habits driving the numbers or are they reflecting other factors that affect where and how people shop? Read more
The Farmer and the City Slicker
Tell ya a little story I heard some years back .. might be useful, might not. (Hey, it’s free, might be worth every penny. LOL)
One day a farmer was standing out in his field, leaned up against the fence post, idly staring at the clouds and feeling the wind on his face. All of a sudden a hot new sports car races up and screeches to a halt, throwing smoke and dust all over the farmer. The driver leans partway out the window and addresses the farmer.
“Hey, you, Hayseed. Do you know the way to town?”
The farmer slowly brushes the dust off his coveralls, eyes the city slicker up and down a few times, then answers him, “Yup, sure do.”
The city slicker, obviously in a hurry, sputters for a moment then barks out, “So? Which way?”
The farmer pauses a second, glances up at the clouds, eyes the trees on the other side of the valley, then points down the road and says, “That way. But you might wanna wait till tomorrow.”
“Oh yeah? And why is that?”
“Well, cuz the bridge might be out.”
Obviously amused, the city slicker slams his foot to the floor and roars off in the direction of town.
About three hours later, the city slicker comes walking around the bend in the road, his clothes tattered, hair mussed, and obviously drenched from head to foot. He marches right up to the farmer and nearly shouts at him.
“Very funny hayseed. Just how did you know the bridge was out? Did you read the clouds or did the trees talk to you? Just how did you know?”
The farmer puts his hand over his eyes, glances up at the sky again then peers off across the valley. He takes a deep breath and slowly explains, “Nope .. didn’t read the clouds or listen to the trees.”
“Okay, fine! I don’t care. Keep it to yourself then.”
As the city slicker begins to stomp off, the farmer continues on, “I knew cuz the last guy went down that road walked back and told me so.” Read more
Early Days of Hope in Second Life
I’m going to start this blog with a disclaimer … well, more of a refining description. In the past few days I have been called a “reporter” regarding my posts on the goings on at Linden Lab. I am most definitely not a reporter. A competent and professional reporter stands amidst the fray, rarely if ever becomes involved, and files stories which are supposed to be devoid of bias or personal agenda.
Instead I am a “pundit” or “theorist” if you will. I may be standing in the fray, but I am far from detached … and I most assuredly reserve the right to slant my posts based on my own personal perceptions and conclusions. I render here my opinions of what I see happening and how I feel they will turn out. Any reporter that does that is just not doing their job properly. I think I would be doing this job poorly if I didn’t render up what I perceive and deduce.
So … with that outta the way …
Day Two – Return of the King
Perhaps it was inevitable, but I must say that I am somewhat aghast at the level and dimension of the emotions being expressed by every faction, special interest group, individual and collective involved in Second Life. There is a sort of “keep your hands off MY stuff” attitude that pervades everything said and posted. The past two years of the Kingdon Regime taught a lot of people to be fearful of anything that might be happening inside The Lab. Read more
Beginning of the End, or End of the End?
In case you haven’t heard yet, this news was posted by Philip Linden on SecondLife.com:
Mark Kingdon is going to step down as CEO, and I am going to return as interim CEO, working side-by-side with former CFO Bob Komin, who is being promoted to COO.
This is a big, tough change but one the board of directors and management team deeply believes in. We owe Mark great thanks for the many things we’ve accomplished in these last two years — most notably a great improvement in the stability of Second Life, and also the hiring and nurturing of a strong team of new leaders who are now ready to do some amazing work together.
Our thinking as a team is that my returning to the CEO job now can bring a product and technology focus that will help rapidly improve Second Life. We need to simplify and focus our product priorities — concentrating all our capabilities on making Second Life easier to use and better for the core experiences that it is delivering today. I think that I can be a great help and a strong leader in that process.
It is an honor to have a chance to help more directly again, and I come to this mission with energy, excitement, and an open mind about what we need and how we need to do it. I want to see Second Life continue to grow, amaze, and change the world. It’s what gets me up in the morning. Despite the challenges of such a big change, I am happy to be drafting this blog post while sitting in our San Francisco office, surrounded by the many Lindens who have made it all possible.
More to come, as soon as we all get settled and figure out how best to work together!
Personally, I think it bodes well. However this is far from the end of rough seas, so in my typical conservative fashion, I’m only opening one bottle of champagne. 
Jive Talkin’ the Linden Lab Way
All those years ago when Philip Rosedale started the experiment that has become Second Life, it seemed as though he had nailed the desires of a lot of people. As I discussed in “The Facebooking of Second Life“, the explosion in Second Life players was unprecedented and probably because it brought more people into the Creator role than any other game/web site had before.
However, since the entrance of Mark Kingdon on the scene, the “air” of Linden Lab has changed dramatically. Some of this is of course due to Kingdon’s different “Corporate Upbringing”, but there is another scent in the air that is becoming stronger all the time … kinda like that skunk that wanders past your window late at night.
I mentioned before that When Linden Lab took over the ill-fated Xstreet SL (which had previously been known as SL Exchange), one of the first changes they made was to remove the Forums. On the surface that seems a reasonable change for purely technical reasons. Since the Forums were based on a stand-alone “package” (much like this WordPress software is separate from the DGP4SL web site and Wiki), it made sense they would “personalize” it by replacing it with their own Forum software. But upon closer examination it has a much more sinister intent. (Yes, I mean to use the word “Sinister”.)