We’re preventing new registrations for the time being as we implement some changes.
We’re not happy with the performance of Ruby with our database queries even on the new server and so we’re going to be doing some extensive back-end changes.
We’ve also extended our free registrations until the end of December 2006 while we work on things.
On the Ogle Earth blog (about Google Earth), they write:
“3D is the next big thing for computers — even operating systems are going 3D — and I think that this trend will facilitate new ways of navigating.”
which echoes what James was saying in the comments for the last post on Virtual Virtual Offices.
The difference is that hyping Second Life as a way for consumers to get into 3D interfaces is completely unnecessary. Consumers have been investigating 3D interfaces since DOOM in 1993. The difference is:
| Second Life | Doom in 1993 |
| Flying | Running |
| Adverts | Flying flaming skulls |
| Sex | BFG 9000 |
| eCommerce | Haha fragged you sucka! |
| Designer Clothing | Heavy Metal Music |
| Interaction | Gameplay |
| 2006 | 1993 |
Things have come a long way since 1993 granted, but the basics are the same.
Now, I’m not saying that Second life is a complete waste of time. I was considering using it for game sessions of my main hobby where I think that the flying could really add to a story.
But it’s not going to help people experience new and exciting ways to interact with their computers. At the moment on the desktop we interact with our computers using a single virtual finger – the mouse pointer – if we had a system that used **gasp** TWO MOUSE POINTERS….we would end up with a much more realistic way to interact.
This shows heaps more potential…video embedded here
Okay, there’s heaps less sex…and no advertising…..so far…
Okay….so onw of the guys came up to me and asked me if I’d heard of something called “Second Life”.
I sighed. Deeply and with the ennui of someone who reads a lot of blog feeds.
So what is it?
Well, it’s the SIMs with more sex. And advertising. I mean it’s like Las Vegas or something.
Second Life developers are now pulling in more than US$10 million in revenues a year and unsurprisingly it’s filling up with advertising.
Ian Betteridge talks about Second Life Spam:
“It’s been a while since I was on the mainland, and I’d forgotten how horrific that some areas of it are. Apart from the small package of land that was occupied by a tiny office for “CNO Partners†there were rotating ads for just all the usual suspects, and it looked like a nightmare vision of completely untalented, unregulated ad-splurge.“
Nicole Simon discussed the difference between Americanocentric media and European media when discussing Second Life.
“Most american articles rarely mention that there is something in Second Life which has to do with Sex whereas the German articles most correctly state that there is also a lot of sex involved. Cheap sex to be precise.”
On GigaOM, Wagner James Au talks about Virtual Sweatshops (which afflicts World of Warcraft as well as Second Life.
“In Second Life, a Hollywood production company is outsourcing its Second Life projects to its Vietnamese branch, where highly-skilled workers can create professional 3D environments for a fraction of the cost, were it done here. It’s easy to see how the Chinese farmers of Warcraft might evolve into the blue collar workers of the 3D Internet.”
Paints a pretty nasty picture eh? Ian Betteridge closes with “If Linden Labs thinks it has a problem with self-replicating objects now, wait until it starts getting the attention of the kinds of people who’ve had years of experience constructing spam-mailing botnets.”
My personal opinion. A waste of time.
But if you’re looking for that sort of thing, then go right ahead.
James asks Can the virtual office ever emulate a shared physical space?
As a card carrying proponent of Bedouin workspaces, I’d have to say yes.
James mentions Alan O’Rourke who seems to be missing the fag breaks and water cooler chats of the pre-Web 2.0 world.
I’m not a smoker and the last thing I would have done back in the day was join my confederates in the “stinky room of death” allocated to the smokers. By all accounts (thanks to the flunky that I sent to his death several times a day), this was not only where the important decisions were made but it was also where the various PAs were loudly indiscreet.
This problem, of course, is with teleworking and this has nothing to do with Bedouin working (unless you’re unfortunate enough to be Bedouin AND alone). I worked from home for 2 years when I was with Nortel. I cheated perhaps because I could pop into the local site when I was needed but my team were all over Europe. We used IP Softphones, Yahoo Instant Messenger and email. Being on-site all the time wouldn’t have helped me because I didn’t go to the smoke room anyway and to be fair I was never one for smalltalk at the water cooler/photocopier anyway.
Alan’s issue is that these 5 minute scenery changes would often provide the best brainstorming breakthroughs. Bernie Goldbach in James’ comments agrees that “Half of the best thinkers on the staff where I’m assigned smoke and share some of their best ideas while outside in the rain.”
If I was their employer I’d wonder why they can’t have these great thoughts in the workspace I’m paying for by the square metre. And if the great thoughts are out in the smoke room, what the hell are they doing working in the office? They’d be perfect for homeworking.
Obviously we can’t condone a smoking workplace but does it reflect on the workplace or the workers when they can’t “work” effectively in the workplace? I’m inclined to think it’s the workplace and then wonder whether a dedicated Bedouin workspace is going to be better or worse than a normal workspace. It’s going to be non-smoking too…
I don’t know what the answer is. I know I resent the smoke breaks taken by co-workers because frankly every smoker I know has taken the piss[1] with them. I most definitely resent the filth they leave behind in the form of ash piles and discarded butts and I’m not a big fan of the smell of dry, powdery tobacco either.
[1] yeah yeah, I know, you’re the exception yadda yadda….
“Alexander Litvinenko, the ex-Russian spy who said he was the victim of a poisoning, has died in hospital.”
Litvinenko fell ill on November 1 after a series of meetings in central London. Initial reports from UCH at the weekend said Mr Litvinenko had been poisoned with the heavy metal thallium.
Some of you may know that my father was also poisoned with Thallium, 20 years ago. I was 13. He was taken into hospital the same day he fell ill but it took weeks for his hair to fall out and he spent 6 months in a coma. Litvinenko lost his hair quickly in comparison and I suppose he might have had a much higher dose as a result.
Wikipedia says:
Amongst the distinctive effects of thallium poisoning are loss of hair (which ironically led it to its initial use as a depilatory, before its toxicity was properly appreciated), and damage to peripheral nerves (victims may experience a sensation of walking on hot coals). Thallium was once an effective murder weapon before its effects became understood and an antidote (prussian blue) discovered.