Second Life becomes open source
The company Linden Lab yesterday opened the source code of the browser viewer of the virtual world Second Life and is going to continue to open the source code of other server applications.
The first step in opening the original moves means that outsiders will be given the opportunity to modify the code of the browser program of the virtual world. This practice does not guarantee success, but it worked in Linux and Apache projects. Linden Lab’s technical director, Cory Ondrejka, hopes that in the near future, bugs will be fixed first, and an improved version of the program for Linux will appear, and in the longer term, incredible changes will await the project.
Mr. Ondrejka says that users themselves have written millions of lines of code in the scripts that manage objects in Second Life, and that it would be foolish not to use this talent and energy in the development of the browser program.
This step confirms that Linden Lab again raised the issue of philosophical disagreement in the software industry. On the one hand, software companies (for example, Microsoft), which fully control and sell their products, come forward with their programs, and, on the other hand, organizations and companies with their open source projects that are ready to distribute programs without a hindrance and bet on the benefits of participating in developing second parties.
')
“We hope that in the future Second Life will naturally be perceived as an open source project,” says Ondreika, arguing that the opening of the server part of the project will increase the scale of Second Life and allow Linden Lab to make more money. “There are just a great many ways to make money even in the case when the project with all the giblets is open source, but we want to be careful in this matter,” he added.
However, not everyone is convinced that the discovery of the server side of Second Life can be profitable for the company. “Server-based virtual worlds supported by membership fees are not the most appropriate thing for a fully open business model,” said Raven Zachary, an analyst at 451 Group. He further added: “For a manufacturer, a restriction at a certain level and even for himself is valuable.”
Ondreyka says that there are a number of ways to make money on the Internet without even taking into account hosting, domain registration, search and various services.
Linden Lab has opened the program codes for viewing the worlds under the GPL license, under which the source code for the Linux kernel, the MySQL database, Samba, and thousands of other projects are open.
Linden Lab will check all third-party code and keep control of the official version of the browser program. Programmers must sign a collaboration agreement before publishing the code. The project, called libsecondlife, is dedicated to a protocol that manages communication between a browser program and Second Life servers.
Dramatic changes
The company is taking an important step in unlocking source code during growing changes and fundamental reforms throughout the entire virtual realm architecture. All network protocols used in Second Life are the company's own developments, but now everything is moving towards XML and HTTP.
One of the advantages of the new architecture is that Linden Lab will be able to upgrade several servers simultaneously, and users will be able to upgrade to the new version of the browser, each according to their capabilities. Today, such changes would require a complete stop from the system and a one-time software update on the players' side. According to Ondreiki, another advantage is that Second Life will be able to work with already implemented Internet technologies and standards.
One of the changes is the new interface that will allow running scripts in Mono (Novell). Mono runs scripts much faster than the current development of Linden Lab.
“Suppose you want to create an object with some kind of intelligence that will respond to visitors to your store ... or a really good guide who will be able to respond to a number of factors,” says Ondreika. Today, the Linden Scripting Language has so many features to realize your idea.
The first step in opening the original moves means that outsiders will be given the opportunity to modify the code of the browser program of the virtual world. This practice does not guarantee success, but it worked in Linux and Apache projects. Linden Lab’s technical director, Cory Ondrejka, hopes that in the near future, bugs will be fixed first, and an improved version of the program for Linux will appear, and in the longer term, incredible changes will await the project.
Mr. Ondrejka says that users themselves have written millions of lines of code in the scripts that manage objects in Second Life, and that it would be foolish not to use this talent and energy in the development of the browser program.
This step confirms that Linden Lab again raised the issue of philosophical disagreement in the software industry. On the one hand, software companies (for example, Microsoft), which fully control and sell their products, come forward with their programs, and, on the other hand, organizations and companies with their open source projects that are ready to distribute programs without a hindrance and bet on the benefits of participating in developing second parties.
')
“We hope that in the future Second Life will naturally be perceived as an open source project,” says Ondreika, arguing that the opening of the server part of the project will increase the scale of Second Life and allow Linden Lab to make more money. “There are just a great many ways to make money even in the case when the project with all the giblets is open source, but we want to be careful in this matter,” he added.
However, not everyone is convinced that the discovery of the server side of Second Life can be profitable for the company. “Server-based virtual worlds supported by membership fees are not the most appropriate thing for a fully open business model,” said Raven Zachary, an analyst at 451 Group. He further added: “For a manufacturer, a restriction at a certain level and even for himself is valuable.”
Ondreyka says that there are a number of ways to make money on the Internet without even taking into account hosting, domain registration, search and various services.
Linden Lab has opened the program codes for viewing the worlds under the GPL license, under which the source code for the Linux kernel, the MySQL database, Samba, and thousands of other projects are open.
Linden Lab will check all third-party code and keep control of the official version of the browser program. Programmers must sign a collaboration agreement before publishing the code. The project, called libsecondlife, is dedicated to a protocol that manages communication between a browser program and Second Life servers.
Dramatic changes
The company is taking an important step in unlocking source code during growing changes and fundamental reforms throughout the entire virtual realm architecture. All network protocols used in Second Life are the company's own developments, but now everything is moving towards XML and HTTP.
One of the advantages of the new architecture is that Linden Lab will be able to upgrade several servers simultaneously, and users will be able to upgrade to the new version of the browser, each according to their capabilities. Today, such changes would require a complete stop from the system and a one-time software update on the players' side. According to Ondreiki, another advantage is that Second Life will be able to work with already implemented Internet technologies and standards.
One of the changes is the new interface that will allow running scripts in Mono (Novell). Mono runs scripts much faster than the current development of Linden Lab.
“Suppose you want to create an object with some kind of intelligence that will respond to visitors to your store ... or a really good guide who will be able to respond to a number of factors,” says Ondreika. Today, the Linden Scripting Language has so many features to realize your idea.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/30882/
All Articles