January surprise: Linden open-sources SL client
By Adam Reuters
Linden Lab has taken the virtual world by surprise with a quicker than expected open-sourcing of the Second Life viewer software. It was only a few months ago that Babbage Linden told UK conference-goers they would be able to download source code “in a year or two.”
Read the official announcement: “Freely-downloadable from the Second Life website, the Viewer software enables Residents to control their in-world avatars, interact with each other via Instant Message, create content, buy and sell objects, access multimedia content and to navigate around the virtual environment.”
More coverage at Fortune, eightbar , KnowProSE, Tao Takashi, and Electric Sheep, among many others.
What does it all mean? Back in October, Babbage Linden promised a Firefox plugin. Today, Tao speculates about the ability to import and export content — maybe through something like Google’s SketchUp? IM interoperability seems to like a no-brainer, as does a more noob-friendly user experience for real-life companies establishing a Second Life presence.
Will we see further controversy along the lines of last year’s CopyBot affair, which originated in the libsecondlife group that was trying to do on its own what Linden Lab has now done officially?
In its FAQ, Linden Lab states: “Viewer source code availability may make it marginally easier for copyright infringement of creative works in Second Life.”
