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.

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.

Generally, operators of MMOGs and virtual environments don't show their numbers unless they feel they've got something to crow about, and Linden Lab's crowing today, releasing a selection of figures that give you an idea of the scale of Second Life.

Approximately 1,250 text-based messages are sent every second in Second Life. That's 108 million messages per day and more than 600 million words are typed on an average day. That's a whole of messages for any architecture, quite honestly.

Continue reading Linden Lab says Second Life huge, shows numbers

Linden Lab says Second Life huge, shows numbers originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 22 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.

It's the sixth anniversary of Second Life opening to the public (not the sixth birthday, which is actually in either March or April depending on how you figure these things), and as usual, Linden Lab is organizing a soiree for the occasion - though once again this year, it's a week later than usual, starting on the anniversary date of 23 June, rather than ending on that date.

Generally, just after 23 June, community (and the Lab's) attention is inevitably drawn away to Linden Lab's SL Community Convention and SL Relay For Life, both taking place later this year, and requiring considerable amounts of organizational attention.

Nevertheless, there's a packed schedule of eclectic events and discussions, starting with Philip Rosedale's opening speech in just 30 minutes time (10AM Pacific time), and 20 regions packed with user-contributed art installations and displays, so there's plenty to see and explore.

	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.

Second Life celebrates sixth anniversary originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 23 Jun 2009 12:30:00 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.

April Fools' Day is quite the hodge-podge in Second Life. Linden Lab doesn't generally pull pranks on the user-population (some may disagree with us on that) but there are hordes of different groups and communities, and even a relatively low percentage of hoaxers lead to literally hundreds of hoaxes, almost all of which are spread by word-of-mouth.

We'll quickly round up some of the most common gags that are going around this year (a few of which are perennials).

• Linden Lab is going back to charging for teleportation (the sum of L$1 per teleport). This one's formatted as a press-release, though the grammar is quirky enough to be a tip-off. Besides, this one came around the last two years as well.
• Linden Lab has been purchased outright by [Microsoft/Activision-Blizzard/Electric Sheep/7-11/NCsoft/AOL/Worlds.com/IBM].

Continue reading April Fools' Day 09: Second Life users pull the other one

April Fools' Day 09: Second Life users pull the other one originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 01 Apr 2009 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Linden Lab founder and chairman, Philip Rosedale, yesterday announced changes to the open-source Second Life viewer program that would enable the fast-tracking of user-contributions to the code-base. The viewer source-code was originally released just a little over two years ago on 8 January 2007, and spurred an immediate surge of development, spurring developments of a variety of software including third-party server opensim.

The procedure for actually submitting patches to the codebase however was clunky, and some contributors abandoned their development efforts after contributed code (some which corrected egregious problems) was left to languish for many months without approval. The new scheme seems set to fast-track user-contributions and eliminate that particular problem.

Continue reading Linden Lab ramps up open source viewer program

Linden Lab ramps up open source viewer program originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 31 Mar 2009 12:00:00 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.

You may remember Richard Minsky, founder of The Center for Book Arts in New York City and owner of SLART Magazine. We previously wrote about his assertion of his rights and obligations with respect to his SLART trademark, which covers (among other things) Minsky's SLART magazine. The SL portion obviously represents Second Life, and the ART well... that's art.

Minsky originally filed his SLART trademark on 22 March, 2007. It was published for opposition on 18 September, 2007, and finally granted formal registration by the US Patent and Trademarks office on 18 March, 2008 (registration number 3399258). SLART, therefore, is owned by Minsky insofar as the US Government is concerned at the present time, whether that grant was conferred rightly or wrongly, unless it is somehow overturned or abandoned.

Now he has filed a civil suit in a federal court, naming Linden Lab, Philip Rosedale, Mitch Kapor and one or more other Second Life users (as John Does) for (variously) trademark infringement, trademark dilution, tortious interference (that is interference that causes injury), and fraud.

	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 Minsky vs Linden Lab: Minsky's mark

Minsky vs Linden Lab: Minsky's mark originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 03 Sep 2008 02:30:00 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.

Cinemassively: The Metanomics Colbert Challenge originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 08 May 2008 12:30:00 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.

On Tuesday, 1 April at 9:30AM (US Eastern time), Linden Lab CEO Philip Rosedale will be appearing to testify before the Congressional Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet. The topic will be "Online Virtual Worlds: Applications and Avatars in a User-Generated Medium" and this will be the first Congressional hearing to explore the ways in which virtual worlds are enhancing the means by which individuals can transcend space to communicate with each other.

You can catch the live webcast of the event when it takes place, and the session will be taking place in room 2123 of the Rayburn House Office Building, Washington DC, if you are interested in attending in person. The facility should be wheelchair accessible.

Thanks to Linden Lab for sending us the notice on this event.

Philip Rosedale to appear before congressional subcommittee originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 31 Mar 2008 04:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

In the wake of the announcement that Philip Rosedale would be moving up to chairman of the Linden Lab board of directors, and that present chairman Mitch Kapor would be moving to a key (but as-yet-unnamed) role, Cornell University Professor Robert Bloomfield (Beyers Sellers in Second Life) will be hosting a special Metanomics session this Friday at 10:30AM SLT (US Pacific time). The session will feature a one-on-one discussion with Kapor, himself.

The topic? Bloomfield offers, "We will talk about his vision for virtual worlds technology and business strategy and, of course, the future of Linden Lab and Second Life."

Live coverage of this special edition of Metanomics on Friday, March 28, 2008 from the CMP sim, owned by United Business Media's Think Services division, will be broadcast exclusively on slcn.tv for those who cannot attend in person, or are unable to attend the sim in person.

Special Metanomics session: Linden Lab Upper Management Musical Chairs originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 26 Mar 2008 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

No, you've not missed an announcement of an upcoming IPO. We're just looking at what it would mean if you did. There's been talk for years about Linden Lab taking the company through IPO (Initial Public Offering) and going public.

Given the vision and history of the company, and the overall direction of the business, an IPO would more or less signal an epic failure to deliver.

Continue reading Peering Inside: Linden Lab IPO = Epic Fail

Peering Inside: Linden Lab IPO = Epic Fail originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 24 Mar 2008 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Cinemassively: GigaOm interviews Philip Rosedale originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 17 Mar 2008 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

With Friday's announcement of Rosedale stepping down from CEO of Linden Lab and stepping up as board chairman, things certainly start to look interesting for Second Life. You see, Rosedale was the one who really kicked off this latest generation of virtual worlds, much of it by imagination and force of will.

Unfortunately, for some years he's barely been involved. But wait -- he's CEO of Linden Lab, right? Yes, that's right; which means he's probably had about as much focus on the world itself as the person who orders the beef jerky and pencils. Maybe less.

Continue reading Peering Inside: Philip Rosedale regains his Second Life

Peering Inside: Philip Rosedale regains his Second Life originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 17 Mar 2008 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Cinemassively: Philip Rosedale on transparency originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 14 Mar 2008 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

"It was not precipitated by a crisis," said current chairman Kapor, speaking to Reuters today. "We had always anticipated that there would be a time when he'd decide he no longer wanted to be a CEO."

We don't know about you, but we don't think that CEO is really where Rosedale wanted to be in the long run. Rosedale will remain on board at Linden Lab working on strategy and product development.

Philip Rosedale stepping down as Linden Lab CEO originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 14 Mar 2008 12:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Linden Lab announces today that Cyn Skyberg (aka Cyn Linden) formerly Director of Customer Relations at Linden Lab has been promoted to Vice-President of Customer Relations.

Skyberg's new role will see her also overseeing Second Life billing, risk management, in-world support as well as "external sales and management" (we're not really sure what that part means).

Continue reading Linden Lab promotes Cyn Skyberg to executive team

Linden Lab promotes Cyn Skyberg to executive team originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 05 Feb 2008 18:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Cinemassively: Second Life Golf, Lesson One originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 02 Feb 2008 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading The Second Life Philip Linden/Gavin Newsom Fireside Chat, part 2

The Second Life Philip Linden/Gavin Newsom Fireside Chat, part 2 originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 10 Jan 2008 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Philip Rosedale has taken this lull in Second Life grid operations to post an update - partly as thanks for the award. It's nice to hear from The Old Man, of course, but there's nothing much new from previous messages.

2007 had growth - roughly the same statistics are put forward (hey, we're all looking forward to the December 2007 key metrics, actually), and challenges. 2007 had considerably more growth than 2006. Also the now-familiar, 'most business use of the platform is internal, not marketing'.

"We will focus intensely in 2008 on continuing to make SL more stable. We will keep opening the SL platform up to residents, developers, entrepreneurs, and partners. We will shift from our historical focus on relentless feature innovation to put making and keeping happy customers first on our list of priorities." (Rosedale's emphasis)

Philip Rosedale speaks on 2007 and happy customers originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 09 Jan 2008 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading The Second Life Philip Linden/Gavin Newsom Fireside Chat, Part 1

The Second Life Philip Linden/Gavin Newsom Fireside Chat, Part 1 originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 09 Jan 2008 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Mayor Gavin Newsom's not completely a stranger to Second Life, having been interviewed by Reuters' Adam Pasick in Second Life at the WEF media event in Davos, twelve months ago.

Well, Newsom's back at the New Globe Theater in Second Life for an discussion with Philip Rosedale over the parallels, opportunities and challenges of managing two famously diverse, tech-savvy and dynamic communities with global profiles: the City of San Francisco, and Second Life. Newsom will also be discussing his priorities for his next term, and both Rosedale and Newsom will be taking questions.

Continue reading Mayor Newsom to make another SL appearance

Mayor Newsom to make another SL appearance originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 08 Jan 2008 01:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

It's been no less a tumultuous year for Second Life in 2007 this year than any previous year, frankly. There are a few standout items though.

This isn't the list that anyone else might make - We might completely skip over one of the things you see as standing out as a huge impact, based solely on that we don't actually think it was that big a deal in the scheme of things.

Continue reading Peering inside - looking back at 2007 [UPDATED]

Peering inside - looking back at 2007 [UPDATED] originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 01 Jan 2008 10:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

One year ago, Linden Lab gave out the 90 day retention figure for Second Life. That is, the percentage of people who were still logging in to the virtual world after their first 90 days. That figure was 10 percent.

In the 12 months since that time, there have been an enormous number of changes. Changes to the user interface, two completely new orientation plans, a complete reworking of the volunteer corps who help new people out, a new knowledge-base and Support Portal/ticketing system.

So, what's the number now?

Continue reading Peering inside - Second Life's user retention

Peering inside - Second Life's user retention originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 23 Dec 2007 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Catherine Linden (Catherine Smith) is doing a new Linden Lab podcast called Inside Linden Lab. The first episode features Philip Rosedale, CEO of Linden Lab.

During the course of the 'cast, Rosedale does specifically contradict Gene Yoon by consistently referring to the economy, where Yoon has previously insisted no such economy in Second Life exists.

Continue reading Catherine Smith presents Inside Linden Lab

Catherine Smith presents Inside Linden Lab originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 22 Dec 2007 00:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Second Life's Cory = Apple, Inc.'s Woz originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 12 Dec 2007 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Ondrejka's leaving Linden Lab at the end of the month. It wouldn't surprise me to see him working for (eg) Google on 2 January. Face it, Ondrejka's hot geek property, any issues of sex-appeal aside.

Recruiters, if you want a piece of Ondrejka, you've probably got very little time to pitch something at him. Whatever Linden Lab's fortunes are, or have been, Ondrejka's the bee's knees right now, both technically and from a PR perspective.

Continue reading Peering inside - What does Cory Ondrejka's departure mean?

Peering inside - What does Cory Ondrejka's departure mean? originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 12 Dec 2007 01:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Shortly after we received Philip Rosedale's official statement on Cory Ondrejka's imminent departure from Linden Lab, a source close to Linden Lab passed us a copy of Ondrejka's internal email about the matter.

Trying to sum up 7 years of work at Linden is an impossible task. All nighters at the Linden Street office. Gaining 20 pounds but then losing 70. Flying 350,000 miles on Linden travel. Recruiting and hiring many of you. Creating a programming language that now had 2.5 billion lines of code written in it - note to self, next time spend more than one night designing language. Changing the world.

Continue reading Cory Ondrejka's departure in his own words

Cory Ondrejka's departure in his own words originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 11 Dec 2007 21:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Linden Lab's CEO, Philp Rosedale has responded with a statement on the departure of Linden Lab CTO Cory Ondrejka.

"I can confirm that Cory Ondrejka, CTO, will be leaving Linden Lab at the end of this year, in order to pursue new professional challenges outside the company. I wanted to take this opportunity to publicly thank Cory for his tremendous contribution to the company and to Second Life, in terms of its original vision and ongoing progress.

Continue reading Philip Rosedale responds to Cory Ondrejka's departure

Philip Rosedale responds to Cory Ondrejka's departure originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 11 Dec 2007 21:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading [UPDATED] Was Cory Linden fired, or did he quit?

[UPDATED] Was Cory Linden fired, or did he quit? originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 11 Dec 2007 20:17:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

NBC covers Second Life with strange results originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 05 Dec 2007 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Philip Linden (known as Philip Rosedale in some circles, we hear) today published a piece on Linden Lab's mission statement. If he'd been talking about the stability problems (no improvements today, alas - worse, if anything) or if this talk had been given at Second Life's anniversary (23 June every year, in case you were wondering) this would seem a little less out of place.

As it is, it seems to come out of left field, as they say.

Continue reading Philip Linden talks mission statement

Philip Linden talks mission statement originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 22 Nov 2007 01:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Second Life user Jesse Barnett today posted an open letter to Philip Rosedale (aka Philip Linden) in the Second Life forums, with copies in the Public JIRA issue tracker, and in the Second Life developer mailing list.

'Well actually there is one thing we have asked and that is for bbcode to be reenabled and yet the official linden response is that "Sorry, we don't have 5 minutes to answer that question."'

It all pretty much boils down to the vBulletin-based official forums (or what is left of them) and the fact that BBCode support for them is either broken or disabled (it was disabled in response to a cross-site scripting vulnerability, but why it remains off is an open question).

While there are some workarounds, such as using GreaseMonkey to modify pages on the fly, those few users who use the official forums since the forums' fangs were pulled, find the issue vexatious.

Second Life versus BBCode - an open letter to Philip Linden originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 04 Nov 2007 23:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.