Yesterday, Linden Lab's interim CEO Philip Rosedale and CFO/COO Bob Komin did a talk and Q&A session in Second Life focused on where things were at, and where things were going. This week, on The Virtual Whirl, we're going to take a look at that session and see if some sense can't be made of it all.

Continue reading The Virtual Whirl: Linden Lab goes back to basics

The Virtual Whirl: Linden Lab goes back to basics originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 31 Jul 2010 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

This week, we cover the final installment of our summarized history of Second Life and Linden Lab (check out the first installment or the second, if you missed them). It's only possible to cover a tiny fraction of the events that took place in the space we have here, but the highlights paint an interesting picture.

We'll be working our way from 2008 to June 2010, and looking at what future directions we expect from there.

Continue reading The Virtual Whirl: A brief history of Second Life, 2008-2010 and beyond

The Virtual Whirl: A brief history of Second Life, 2008-2010 and beyond originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 10 Jul 2010 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Second Life has just seen its seventh anniversary (called its seventh birthday, only it technically isn't -- the original birthday is in March, but the anniversary is in June. There's history there). It's also traditionally a time when Linden Lab and Second Life users most often treat each other as enemies and obstacles; and it is a time for retrospectives and for considering the future.

With the departure of Linden Lab CEO Mark Kingdon (the press release release says "stepping down," but the day prior to the release many Linden staffers were saying that Kingdon was fired) Linden Lab has hit a turning point -- or the end of another era.

Accordingly, over the next couple of weeks, we're going to look at the history of Second Life, starting back in 1999 and continuing to the present day. Or at least as much as we can cover the ten-year history of something so rich and diverse in the available space.

Second Life is quite legitimately a phenomenon (and even won an Emmy award). It was also something of an accident, since it wasn't what Linden Lab started out to make.

Continue reading The Virtual Whirl: A brief history of Second Life

The Virtual Whirl: A brief history of Second Life originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 26 Jun 2010 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

	Are you a part of the most widely-known collaborative virtual environment or keeping a close eye on it? Massively's Second Life coverage keeps you in the loop.

Linden Lab CEO steps down originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 24 Jun 2010 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Second Life is an immersive virtual environment. That is, it fosters attention and a quality of focus. You might subscribe to alternative definitions of the word "immersion", but focus and attention are the sense being used when developer/operators talk about an "immersive environment". They might intend one of the other meanings at other times - the word is a pretty slippery one.

The problem is that for most general-purpose virtual environments (eg: Second Life), that immersivity - that quality of attention and focus - kicks in pretty late. Only after you understand the basics of the context in which your actions, activities and experiences are taking place, do you have the satisfying sort of immersion that comes so easily to flat spaces like the Web and Facebook.

Continue reading The Virtual Whirl: Immersion, virtual environments, Facebook, and the conceptual hump

The Virtual Whirl: Immersion, virtual environments, Facebook, and the conceptual hump originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 15 May 2010 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

This week, in The Virtual Whirl, we're having our monthly roundup of news items. Things that got missed, things that didn't make the cut, things that got buried under the Star Trek Online launch, and things that really should have gotten your attention anyway.

Continue reading The Virtual Whirl: News of the Whirl

The Virtual Whirl: News of the Whirl originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 20 Feb 2010 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Welcome to The Virtual Whirl, a new weekly Massively column covering virtual environments generally. The term 'virtual world' is slowly seeing less use, being supplanted by the more general 'virtual environment', but the world term still has a fair bit of life left in it.

Virtual environments covers a whole lot of ground. From William Crowther's original efforts in 1976 that based a game in a virtual version of the Mammoth Cave in Kentucky, virtual environments have been a part of gaming, artificial intelligence and behavioral research, modeling, telemetry and process control and more.

Nowadays we're seeing Second Life, Blue Mars, There.com, IMVU and others trying to find places in non-game contexts, like content-development and prototyping, publishing and performance, entertainment and social, education and business; efforts that are met with varying amounts of success.

Continue reading The Virtual Whirl: Community guide to Virtual Worlds

The Virtual Whirl: Community guide to Virtual Worlds originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 24 Jan 2010 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Linden Lab's last CFO (Chief Financial Officer), John Zdanowski oversaw one of the largest growth periods in the history of Second Life. That growth came to a bit of a shuddering halt around the time of his departure last March, though we think that's just coincidental [We'll be looking closer at the 2009 Second Life metrics later this week].

Throughout the comparatively flat second, third and fourth quarters of 2009, the CFO's chair has remained unwarmed, but Linden Lab announced today that the position has now finally been filled by Bob Komin.

Continue reading Linden Lab appoints new CFO

Linden Lab appoints new CFO originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 20 Jan 2010 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Most Second Life users have probably read the New Year address by Linden Lab CEO Mark Kingdon by now. Judging by the reactions we've seen, well... let's just say that we're not keen to be in his shoes right now.

Kingdon wished us all a Happy New Year, and threw some stuff out there about things that might become possible, and things that might be coming up on the schedule this year, and ... well, it was like carrying a big stack of pizzas into an anime convention. I'd hate to be the driver delivering, you know?

Anyway, the laser-like gaze of many (including ourselves) turned right away to one particular bullet point, "The ability to choose either real names or fantasy names in Second Life."

Continue reading Second Life, the New Year, and real names

Second Life, the New Year, and real names originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 05 Jan 2010 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

You might recall that, back in September, Linden Lab CEO Mark Kingdon and the Lab's director of Marketing and Communications Catherine Smith took a trip to Amsterdam, where it was revealed that they were seeking space for a new marketing headquarters for Linden Lab.

Well, the new office isn't open yet - that's coming in January - but Ms Smith has already relocated to Amsterdam, which actually made her a bit easier to catch up with for a talk about the new digs and new initiatives.

Continue reading Massively's interview with Linden Lab's Catherine Smith, in Amsterdam

Massively's interview with Linden Lab's Catherine Smith, in Amsterdam originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 03 Jan 2010 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Yesterday at the morning Second Life mentors' meeting, Linden Lab staff announced that Linden Lab's sponsored mentor group, which had been functionally closed (in all but name) for approximately a year now, would finally be disbanded in practice. The move doesn't really come as much of a surprise to observers of the Lab's sponsored volunteer programs over the last eighteen months.

Almost immediately more ex-mentor Second Life social groups than we could comfortably count sprang up, as people prepared to maintain their network of contacts without the overarching group umbrella. While there was surprisingly little actual yelling, some members of the organization feel the blame lies squarely at the feet of Linden Lab's CEO Mark Kingdon, though there's not a lot of apparent evidence to justify that.

Continue reading Linden Lab to disband moribund mentor group

Linden Lab to disband moribund mentor group originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 19 Nov 2009 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Virtual environment operator Linden Lab has partnered up with 888 Holdings plc's Gisland/Dragonfish division to provide payment processing for non-US Second Life customers.

A spokesperson for Linden Lab told us, "We're working together with Gisland on a cashier interface and other tools that will give Residents more payment options and make it easier for Residents to pay in a wider range of native currencies than they can now. Gisland will also help Linden Lab implement appropriate anti-fraud measures as we expand these payment options. In addition, Gisland will assist Residents directly with payment-related issues, including failed transactions."

That last part is fascinating, as that would be something of a first insofar as Second Life payments processing goes, as is the tantalizing hint of expanded payment options - something that is of considerable interest to users outside North America.

Continue reading Linden Lab partners with Dragonfish for non-US payments processing

Linden Lab partners with Dragonfish for non-US payments processing originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 18 Nov 2009 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Mark Kingdon, Linden Lab's CEO, has been a bit of a mystery figure since his appointment about a year and a half ago. While he has not been uncommunicative, it's been hard to get a very good sense of the man at the helm of Linden Lab, his passions, interests and direction.

We were very pleased, therefore, when he took the time to sit down with us and answer a whole grab-bag of questions, about himself, about Linden Lab, and - of course - about Second Life. Bear with us, because we've got a lot of ground to cover.

Continue reading Exclusive interview with Linden Lab CEO Mark Kingdon

Exclusive interview with Linden Lab CEO Mark Kingdon originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 05 Nov 2009 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Over the last few days, Linden Lab CEO Mark Kingdon, and Lab director of Marketing and Communications, Catherine Smith have been in Europe, where Kingdon is reportedly seeking office-space for Linden Lab in Amsterdam. The office is intended to start as a small marketing headquarters for Linden Lab.

At NIMK, Catherine Smith told De Hoeksteen Live! that Linden Lab was planning to launch the new office in January next year.

Linden Lab's marketing efforts for Second Life hitherto have largely focused on placement of speakers at conferences and events, and - prior to 2008 - on minor registration incentive programs. More recently, efforts have focused on the revamped Web-site and assorted press-materials and white-papers.

Continue reading Linden Lab to step up Second Life marketing with Amsterdam office

Linden Lab to step up Second Life marketing with Amsterdam office originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 28 Sep 2009 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

It seems these days that you can't have a Linden Lab employee give a speech to Second Life users without some included warning label of rough times ahead for them. It's almost relentlessly axiomatic nowadays.

At this year's Second Life Community Convention, Rosedale gently urged users and Lindens to support some necessary changes to come: "Try to work with us. Let go a bit." Ironically, he has encapsulated the same core message that Second Life users have been trying to get Linden Lab to hear for the last several years.

Continue reading Philip Rosedale: "Try to work with us. Let go a bit"

Philip Rosedale: "Try to work with us. Let go a bit" originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 17 Aug 2009 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Taser International Inc have filed a lawsuit against Linden Lab (and others, including some present and some departed) staff. We got a hold of the April 17 complaint yesterday, and have been going through it since then. We've got a summary of the complaint and issues for you, but we won't be linking to the complaint due to the presence of what may be considered to be pornographic images in Exhibit 2. The "crack den" reference in the headline is a recurring phrase in the legal complaint. You'll see why.

If you want the one-sentence summary, Taser seem to have failed to do their homework and basic research, but their case doesn't seem to be entirely without merit either.

Continue reading Taser International vs Linden Lab: Crack Den crackdown

Taser International vs Linden Lab: Crack Den crackdown originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 21 Apr 2009 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Catching up with Linden Lab and Second Life founder and chairman, Philip Rosedale isn't an easy task. We've certainly been trying for years. Having crossed-off most of the plans that didn't involve some sort of indictable body-tackle outside of the Lab's offices in San Francisco, we were beginning to despair somewhat.

However, despite a very full calendar and a busy work-schedule, we unexpectedly wound up with an opportunity to put a few questions to Rosedale, arguably one of the most notable figures in the virtual environments industry, this decade.

Often referred to affectionately as the "Old Man" of Second Life, Rosedale is a hip and handsome fellow, calling to mind a younger Richard Garriott back in the day, and considerably younger than many of Second Life's most-active users.

Continue reading Massively talks with upbeat Second Life founder, Philip Rosedale

Massively talks with upbeat Second Life founder, Philip Rosedale originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 14 Apr 2009 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

After Linden Lab CEO Mark Kingdon's announcement of a standalone virtual world product (essentially Second Life, but able to be run on private servers and with no connection to Linden Lab's virtual world) at the last Virtual Worlds London, the Lab's new director of enterprise marketing, Amanda Van Nuys has followed that up with an announcement that the product (codenamed Nebraska) is now in preliminary testing by a number of organizations.

The beta test (Linden Lab calls it an alpha test, but there's no denying that it is a preliminary beta) is being conducted by such organizations as IBM, the Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC), the New Media Consortium (NMC), Intel, and Northrop Grumman.

Continue reading Second Life in a box, now in preliminary beta

Second Life in a box, now in preliminary beta originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 06 Apr 2009 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

After almost seven years at Linden Lab Robin Harper, the Lab's Vice President of Marketing and Community Development, has given notice of her impending departure from the company.

Harper, who arrived at Linden Lab from game company Maxis, was nominated as one of Edge's 100 Most Influential Women in Gaming in 2006, and in 2007 we considered her the one person Linden Lab and Second Life could least afford to lose. While we still believe that was a correct call at the time, times obviously change.

The Lab has been undergoing significant shake-up at the executive level, particularly in the last six months, as new Lab CEO Mark Kingdon has been completely overhauling management of the company, and given the rate at which Kingdon has been restructuring the executive, this doesn't come as much of a surprise.

Continue reading Robin Harper to leave Linden Lab

Robin Harper to leave Linden Lab originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 02 Feb 2009 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The lineup of staff at Second Life virtual environment developer/operator, Linden Lab changes on a month by month basis. There's been a bit of motion since the last high-profile hire.

Judy Wade, formerly Entrepreneur-in-residence at Kapor Enterprises Inc, has been hired as the vice president of Strategy and Emerging Business. That's the same Kapor as Mitch Kapor who has a seat on the board of directors as the Lab.

Eric Argel, formerly director of Information Architecture at Organic Inc San Francisco, is now director of Information Architecture at Linden Lab. That's the same Organic Inc where newly minted Linden Lab CEO, Mark Kingdon came from.

Continue reading Linden Lab arrivals and departures

Linden Lab arrivals and departures originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 22 Jan 2009 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Newly minted Linden Lab CEO Mark Kingdon has recently been talking about somehow incorporating Teen Second Life into the broader Second Life environment, though no details or plans have yet emerged on how that would happen. At a Metanomics session on Monday, Lab chairman and founder Philip Rosedale sparked considerably more speculation, though his comments on the matter didn't actually provide any new information.

The last time we asked Linden Lab about plans to bring adult and teen users together (more than a year ago now), the Lab said that it had no plans or intentions of doing so in the foreseeable future. That appears to be changing, though it isn't clear if the Lab has any ideas of how to bring it about.

Continue reading Rosedale sparks speculations

Rosedale sparks speculations originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 20 Jan 2009 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

November metrics for Linden Lab's virtual environment, Second Life are available for examination. September and October were relatively poor months, and November's results don't look great at all.

In fact every one of Linden Lab's key metrics fell in November. Land size, user-hours, transactions, PMLF. The only gain is an infinitesimal increase in the Linden Dollar exchange rate of 0.3%.

Continue reading Second Life November metrics: Nothing gained

Second Life November metrics: Nothing gained originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 12 Dec 2008 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

October metrics for Linden Lab's virtual environment, Second Life are not yet formally available, but Lab CFO John Zdanowski wound up giving out a link to the information in advance, so we have the figures to work with. September was not a good month by these metrics, and we were interested to see how October panned out.

Your key takeaways for October are a continuing plunge in premium accounts, and a reduction in overall economic activity. User hours, however were up. A more detailed summary follows after the jump.

Continue reading Second Life October metrics: More falls

Second Life October metrics: More falls originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 19 Nov 2008 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Much has been made of a statement recently by Linden Lab's new CEO, Mark Kingdon, that 'Premium subscriptions are immaterial in our overall business.' You see, in a sense that's pretty much spot-on. Unless a premium account owns more than 512 square metres of the Linden Estate (colloquially known as the Second Life Mainland), that account is either only very small revenue for the Lab, or actually represents an ongoing cost to them.

Linden Lab's CFO, John Zdanowski said, 'The revenue we generate from premium subscriptions is largely offset by the stipends we pay out to these account holders, so this decline doesn't have a material impact on our business.'

Either you're on an older premium account with a 500 Linden Dollar per week stipend grandfathered in, or you're on a newer premium account with 300/week. There's also a choice of plans, ranging from monthly to annual. Let's take a look at the relative values.

Continue reading Premium accounts and the Second Life business model

Premium accounts and the Second Life business model originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 14 Nov 2008 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

One of the latest additions to the Linden Lab team is Amanda van Nuys, now the director of Enterprise Marketing at Linden Lab. I don't think there's any prizes for guessing that van Nuys was hired by Mark Kingdon, the Lab's new CEO, as she spent five and a half years as vice-president of Corporate Marketing at Kingdon's old haunt at Organic Inc.

'I'm leading the marketing charge when it comes to how companies can use virtual world technologies -- powered by the Second Life Grid -- to communicate, collaborate, and learn,' said van Nuys, 'Needless to say, the possibilities are endless and the timing is perfect. With the current economic downturn, companies are going to be searching for ways to reduce costs (particularly travel), increase innovation, and conduct business in more eco-friendly ways.'

Opinion is divided at the moment on whether the economic downturn pushes enterprises towards or away from virtual worlds. It might be another six months before we really start to see an indication of which. Nevertheless with the Enterprise Marketing team continuing to grow at the Lab, it doesn't seem like a stretch that Kingdon would poach someone with a skillset and record that he knows well.

	Are you a part of the most widely-known collaborative virtual environment or keeping a close eye on it? Massively's Second Life coverage keeps you in the loop.

Linden Lab's new Organic enterprise marketer originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 09 Nov 2008 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Linden Lab's new CEO, Mark Kingdon, has announced a new land product for Second Life, based on all the feedback, and vociferous protestation that all but exploded following the original announcement. Reactions to the new announcement are still a bit mixed, with many thinking that this is the announcement that should have taken place originally. After all, Linden Lab already had all of the information prior to the flood of feedback that they received.

Nevertheless, the end result is that void simulators will be available in two flavors: the Openspaces product (now adjusted substantially) and the new Homesteads product. There's a knowledge-base article enumerating the changes, but we'll break it down for you.

Continue reading Linden Lab introduces new land product, changes for void simulators

Linden Lab introduces new land product, changes for void simulators originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 05 Nov 2008 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The context in which the Second Life issue of the void/openspaces price-rise exists is a rather complex one, going all the way back to 2006. So, in order to get the whole issue in perspective, we've rounded up the history of void simulators, costs and conditions, all the way back to the beginning.

And it is a far more interesting progression of events than you might think. On with the show.

Continue reading A brief history of void simulators/openspaces

A brief history of void simulators/openspaces originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 04 Nov 2008 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Mark Kingdon, Linden Lab's shiny new CEO, made a statement to Wagner James Au at GigaOm about the announced openspace/void simulator price rises that have so many Second Life users up in arms, 'this price adjustment affects only a portion of land in Second Life; it does not apply to private islands or regular mainland property. We made this change to ensure an optimal Second Life experience for all Residents.'

We're not sure if this gets points for being intentionally misleading, or unintentionally misleading. Either way, it scores a lot of points.

Lets break it down a piece at a time.

Continue reading Linden Lab CEO on openspace/void price increases

Linden Lab CEO on openspace/void price increases originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 31 Oct 2008 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Second Life users are already calling it Second Life's second revolution. Outside of Linden Lab's in-world Land Team offices, capacity crowds of users have been gathered through much of the day, though there's been nary a Linden Lab staffer in sight. People are cursing, newcomers are asking for protest signs, and there's angry chatter in over a dozen languages. There are a lot of Europeans here, which is not unexpected. They have to pay VAT on top of any additional costs.

There is talk about switching the signs and banners for flaming torches and pitchforks, because, if nothing else Second Life users find value in tradition. There are even discussions about picketing Linden Lab's Battery Street office in San Francisco.

All of this started yesterday at 6PM SLT (US Pacific time) when Jack Linden, head of Linden Lab's land team, announced a price-rise to void simulators (known to Linden Lab as Openspace sims). The reaction since then has been ... robust.

Continue reading The spirit of 1776: Second Life's second revolution?

The spirit of 1776: Second Life's second revolution? originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 28 Oct 2008 22:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Back in August, we talked about what we felt was an inevitability. A Second Life grid devoted to corporations and business collaboration, online 3D meetings and so forth. We figured that the agent-domain system that allows inter-grid teleportation would be a supporting factor in this effort. Also, earlier this week that the growing-yet-eternally-saturated Second Life economy would cause Linden Lab to announce a new revenue stream some day soon.

That day is today. All these things, it seems, may have now come to pass.

Rivers Run Red and Linden Lab (after a bit of a shaky time with their initial announcements for Immersive Workspaces 1.0), have launched Immersive Workspaces 2.0. The clean, sanitized, and focused leveraging of Second Life for your corporate collaboration needs.

Continue reading Linden Lab and Rivers Run Red launch Immersive Workspaces 2.0

Linden Lab and Rivers Run Red launch Immersive Workspaces 2.0 originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 20 Oct 2008 00:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

As you may already know from the buzz back in April when the project kicked off (just prior to Kingdon's hiring as freshly minted CEO of Linden Lab), the global interactive design firm Vectorform was contracted by Linden Lab to undertake the Landmarks and Navigation project, essentially completely reworking the way landmarks (a kind of virtual-environment version of Web bookmarks/favorites) are handled in Second Life.

The project adds a new user-interface element to the screen that applies Web-style browsing semantics (forward/back/location) to virtual environment positions. Vectorform say that they recently submitted a beta of the modification to Linden Lab and are awaiting QA (Quality Assurance) feedback.

	Are you a part of the most widely-known collaborative virtual environment or keeping a close eye on it? Massively's Second Life coverage keeps you in the loop.

Continue reading Vectorform submits landmarks and navigation beta for Second Life

Vectorform submits landmarks and navigation beta for Second Life originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 02 Oct 2008 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

New Linden Lab CEO Mark Kingdon is still making irregular postings to the official Second Life blog. It's all heady and exciting stuff, to be sure. Growth, focus on improvement of the new user experience, simplified registration, and so on.

Yet something seems to be missing. What's missing is anything that excites you if you're already a Second Life user. There's plenty here to entice those who aren't already users, but if you're already one, there doesn't seem to be anything much in them for you to get excited about. Put together with some other pieces, however, it certainly creates an interesting picture about future direction for Second Life.

	Are you a part of the most widely-known collaborative virtual environment or keeping a close eye on it? Massively's Second Life coverage keeps you in the loop.

Continue reading Kingdon's Second Life updates: What's missing?

Kingdon's Second Life updates: What's missing? originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 01 Oct 2008 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Tom Hale, formerly Senior Vice President and General Manager of the Knowledge Worker Business Unit at Adobe Systems has been hired to fill what is apparently a new role at Linden Lab: Chief Product Officer. Hale, as CPO will be reporting to new Lab CEO, Mark Kingdon.

Hale isn't the actually first to be poached away from Adobe Systems to the Lab recently. Clare Rees, a Senior Group Manager there was recently hired as the Lab's new European Marketing Director. Marketing what and marketing to whom -- this is not yet clear.

	Are you a part of the most widely-known collaborative virtual environment or keeping a close eye on it? Massively's Second Life coverage keeps you in the loop.

Continue reading Linden Lab hires another from Adobe Systems

Linden Lab hires another from Adobe Systems originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 29 Sep 2008 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

You may recall our coverage of the state of the main Second Life blog this week, which drew a very prompt response from virtual environment operator Linden Lab.

The Second Life blog has been steadily transforming from a communications tool that conveys information to users into a marketing and promotional tool, whose target audience seems to be those who do not currently use Second Life, with an increasing number of posts that seem to be purely promotional.

Lab CEO Mark Kingdon's post in July seemed to be little more than a brochure in the final analysis. Granted, Linden Lab seems to have no other prominent venue for publishing this sort of material, but the ongoing repurposing of the blog from communications tool to promotional tool is an interesting process to watch over time.

Indeed, the Second Life blog seems to have now completely shuttered except for marketing and promotional purposes, though Linden Lab's response to our story indicates that they have other plans for it -- though quite what, is not made completely clear.

	Are you a part of the most widely-known collaborative virtual environment or keeping a close eye on it? Massively's Second Life coverage keeps you in the loop.

Continue reading Linden Lab responds to blog back-off

Linden Lab responds to blog back-off originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 30 Aug 2008 07:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Linden Lab certainly showed signs of fear when Google's Lively kicked off its public beta. Now we're seeing signs more akin to terror, panic or desperation. 'Who wouldn't be concerned when Google comes after their business?' said new Linden Lab CEO Mark Kingdon to Bloomberg.

Given recent changes and marketing pushes, you can see Linden Lab's management showing a sheen of sweat. Curiously, it seems that Google isn't after Linden Lab's business -- Lively's certainly no competitor to the business that Linden Lab has. However, what Google represents seems to be a threat to the business that Linden Lab wants to have.

This week saw the hiring of Frank Ambrose (AOL's head of technology for infrastructure and network services for a decade) as Senior VP of global technology. While Ambrose has more tech knowledge than the average suit in his position, his primary competencies seem to be negotiations, coordination, contracts and costs -- which all marries up nicely with Linden Lab making a push into corporate, government and military sales, and hiring additional staff to do just that. We're not sure what they're going to be selling, exactly, but virtual environment meeting spaces are probably right at the top of the list.

	Are you a part of the most widely-known collaborative virtual environment or keeping a close eye on it? Massively's Second Life coverage keeps you in the loop.

Continue reading Linden Lab sets terror-alert level to 'Google'

Linden Lab sets terror-alert level to 'Google' originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 09 Aug 2008 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

While the announcement of the Google Lively public beta may have taken many by surprise, apparently it did not take Linden Lab unawares -- their Second Life messages were already lined up and ready to go.

Indeed considering that information about Lively's launch was available to a number of people who were close to Linden Lab, either as partners or ex-staffers, it seems silly to suggest that Linden Lab might not have known Lively's public beta launch date, unless those contacts were aflame with considerable, searing resentment.

Wheezing, clanking and dripping oil from dark and unnameable apertures, one of Linden Lab's most neglected subsystems -- the marketing machine -- arose from it's years-long slumber and went about it's ponderous, mechanical business.

Continue reading Peering Inside: A media campaign

Peering Inside: A media campaign originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 14 Jul 2008 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Linden Lab's newly-minted CEO, Mark Kingdon, has posted another communique to Second Life users, and it isn't hard to see a certain fear in the phrasing and timing.

'The possibilities of Virtual Worlds have attracted a slew of entrepreneurs and even some Internet giants,' writes Kingdon in his second paragraph, 'Some are offering a simple, visually appealing chat solution. Others are more ambitious. 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.'

And it isn't hard to see which Internet giant and what visually appealing chat solution he might be referring to, especially considering the timing of the statement.

Continue reading Kingdon feels the fear

Kingdon feels the fear originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 09 Jul 2008 21:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Linden Lab Chairman, Philip Rosedale and freshly-minted CEO Mark Kingdon gave an introductory speech at 10AM Pacific time to open Second Life's fifth anniversary for 23 June, 2008. While some have considered the speech to be somewhat bland and uninspired/uninspiring, it was pretty much what you'd expect, and you can still smell Rosedale's passion through his anecdotes.

Interestingly, Rosedale referred (with characteristic Linden Lab not-actually-mentioning-it-directly obliqueness) to the troubles that arose from Linden Lab's takeover of the anniverary event from resident-organizers.

Continue reading Rosedale: You can't do it

Rosedale: You can't do it originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 24 Jun 2008 01:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

New Linden Lab CEO Mark Kingdon has reported on his first week at the Battery Street office of Linden Lab in San Francisco. Obviously, Kingdon is still in the immersive learning phase (which, depending on the person and the business can last up to a year) before getting down to brass tacks.

"Inworld collaboration is going to be a killer application," observed Kingdon. We're inclined to agree with him. It is one area of Second Life that is notoriously weak, and we're certainly not going to begrudge him focus on that. From erratic group-systems to overly coarsely grained permissions, inworld collaboration is often frequently better handled out-of-band. We're looking forward to Kingdon's observations after a second week at the Lab.

Kingdon's first week originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 28 May 2008 01:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

In the last couple of years, Linden Lab has grown from around 50 people to (we are told) around 250 people. It is a growth stage of companies that most do not survive, as usually they do something lethally boneheaded in the process.

Another stage that many companies do not survive is their first change of CEO. It is a massive change for the company's table of organization, reporting chains and corporate culture. The first CEO change generally sees a large staff turnover.

That's what usually happens, anyway. While we're not predicting sudden death for Linden Lab, they're getting their first new CEO today.

Continue reading Linden Lab lands Kingdon: new CEO

Linden Lab lands Kingdon: new CEO originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 22 Apr 2008 22:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.