The third party Firestorm viewer is used by about 90% of the regular Second Life user base, making any update to Second Life basically irrelevant until it's compatible with Firestorm. So that means Linden Lab should just hire the all-volunteer Firestorm team, right? Wrong, argues Bavid Dailey in Comments:
If Linden Lab were to take over the Firestorm viewer, they'd break it. Corporations do things differently to how volunteer groups do. Nothing kills developer enthusiasm better than meetings. I have no direct knowledge of how the Firestorm team works, but I hazard a guess that there are a minimal number of meetings. Also, Firestorm volunteers know that they are focused on a clear objective. Corporations tend to have other agendas, and upper management tends to change agendas without consultation, right of appeal - or much logic in many cases. Don't kill the goose that lays golden eggs. Perhaps toss them some gold filings from time to time....
This sounds right, which would mean that we are stuck in our current state: Highly profitable Linden Lab being totally dependent on non-profit volunteers. But yes, agree with the "gold filings" point. When is Linden Lab going to throw the Firestorm team an all-expenses-paid Thank You party at Linden's HQ in San Francisco?
"Linden Lab being totally dependent on non-profit volunteers"
Pretty much a summation of Second Life overall. Yes, Linden Lab provides the platform but "Second Life" is almost totally user-generated! When the Lab has tried to assume control it has always been an unmitigated disaster!
Posted by: Shug Maitland | Monday, October 21, 2019 at 01:14 PM
Ay fricking man, Shug. Sometimes the only thing the gardener can do after watering the soil and purging the weeds is to stand back and let things grow as they do.
Posted by: camilia fid3lis nee Patchouli Woollahra | Tuesday, October 22, 2019 at 01:08 AM
"When is Linden Lab going to throw the Firestorm team an all-expenses-paid Thank You party at Linden's HQ in San Francisco?" The absolute least thing they can do. It should be a hell of a lot more! I'm guessing they drop more in just advertising costs. And the positive publicity in the game mags alone would make up for it with prestige.
Posted by: Joey1058 | Tuesday, October 22, 2019 at 06:32 AM
Shrug is right.
"Linden Lab being totally dependent on non-profit volunteers"
has always been Linden Lab's business model.
Posted by: Amanda Dallin | Tuesday, October 22, 2019 at 05:16 PM
Look at what Linden Lab did to the birthday celebrations. They took it from a volunteer group who had put it together for years and in the process took 'community' out of 'community celebration'
Posted by: Twenty2Toes | Tuesday, October 22, 2019 at 05:59 PM
i am not sure that is any reason for Linden to take over Firestorm or any other TPV
the point of open sourcing the viewer code was to bring about the situation there is today
a plethora of people, with different and competing wants, contributing to the code base
Posted by: irihapeti | Wednesday, October 23, 2019 at 03:46 AM