That was the year that was…
By Adam Reuters
Electric Sheep’s Giff Constable has written an-depth review of 2006, paying special attention to population milestones, mainstream press attention and real-life business launches:
On the one hand, the average user’s experience in SL has not really changed that dramatically, either from a social/experience perspective or a technical perspective. Linden Lab has rolled out a few new features, but they have primarily focused on bug fixing and scaling the back-end to keep up with growth.
On the other hand, the virtual world has seen a radical transformation in interest from real-world businesses. The middle of the year saw lots of rudimentary and experimental projects, many of which did not live up to their full potential but which were still useful first steps. Can you believe American Apparel, which can be viewed as the first significant branding baby-step in SL regardless of whether you consider it a success or failure, was only in June?
