ReactionGrid Releases OpenSim Appliance
One of the biggest obstacles to enterprise adoption of the OpenSim virtual worlds platform has been the lack of a decent behind-the-firewall solution. There are some hosting companies running OpenSim projects, but if you wanted to install it and run it yourself, you would need to invest serious time andRead More →
Will you miss the next Internet boom?
I missed the first Internet investment boom. I was covering wars in Central Asia, but that’s no excuse. I could have invented Yahoo! — it started with a guy in his dorm room with a list of favorite links. I could have done that. Or eBay — a guy whoRead More →
Which virtual platform is best for business
So you have decided that your company needs a virtual world platform. (Maybe you read our earlier article, “Do you need a virtual world?“) Here is how to select the rigtht platform. Do you expect to have more than 50 visitors at any one time? Most immersive virtual words haveRead More →
OpenSim Glossary
Grid A horizontal map composed of one or more regions, similar to the way that a chessboard is made up of individual squares. A grid is normally identified by a URL and a port number, for example, the OSGrid is located at osgrid.org:8002. Hypergrid All grids that are linked toRead More →
Real names and real faces for virtual worlds
When business users first log into a virtual world like Second Life or OpenSim they usually have two questions: can they use their real names for their avatars? And can their avatars look like them? The answer to the first question is simple. In OpenSim, users can choose any namesRead More →
Singapore fund manager to hold virtual annual meeting
The company is in Singapore. The owners are in Thailand, Moscow, and Shanghai. What’s the most convenient location for the annual corporate meeting? Hint: it’s got dragons, a spaceport, and a red light district. You might think – China. But the company actually picked a place much cheaper to travelRead More →
Individual grids, merchants determine OpenSim payments
Unlike Second Life, the open source virtual world platform OpenSim does not have a built-in currency system. To users, this is a significant lack of functionality – but developers see it as a feature. The reason? OpenSim is not a clone of the Second Life game – that multi-user virtualRead More →
Hypergrid 101: Why its good for business
[Update: You can browse all hypergrid-enabled public OpenSim grids with Hyperica, the directory of hypergrid destinations. Directory indexes more than 100 shopping and freebie store locations. Updated hypergrid travel directions here.] What is the hypergrid? And why should business care? Because it’s starting to look as if this is theRead More →
Hollywood producer wrestles with OpenSim
Mike Joyce – that’s Michael R. Joyce on imdb.com – is a Hollywood producer. You may have heard of him from such projects as “Battlestar Galactica†and “Jewel of the Nile.†“The kind of work I did was line producing,†he said. “I did whole shows right from scratch. IRead More →
Web access lacking in some virtual worlds
Virtual worlds can be difficult to access, with most of the popular ones — such as Second Life and games like World of Warcraft — requiring the installation of special software. The new OpenSim-based virtual worlds are no exception, requiring that users install software and then struggle to figure outRead More →
Do you need a virtual world?
Few companies today actually need a virtual world — but yours could be one of them. Here’s how to tell. Are you in the education business? Take for example, Tom Hood, president of the Maryland Association of CPAs. His group has conducted about a dozen events in Second Life overRead More →
How to choose a good OpenSim host
Update: Full, up-to-date list of OpenSim hosting providers is here. Running an OpenSimulator instance is a challenging prospect for many — there are a number of important criteria you should be looking at before purchasing, but the single most important question is: “Will I be managing this myself?†“Do itRead More →
Shanghai’s DeepThink shifts to OpenSim development
When it comes to virtual world real estate and design, DeepThink has been a big player, operating one of the largest continents in Second Life. But in recent months, the Shanghai-based company has been refocusing on OpenSim, the open-source platform that’s rapidly becoming the standard for enterprise virtual worlds. OpenSimRead More →
OpenSim reaches 95% compatibility with Second Life
According to OpenSim core developer Charles Krinke, there are 330 key functions in Second Life – and 300 of them have been fully implemented in OpenSim. Of the remaining 30, half have to do with vehicle physics, he said. These are the functions that allow virtual passengers to ride inRead More →
OpenSim developer: Second Life will survive as a virtual world
Remember Compuserve? You had a dial-up modem and you could log into this bulletin board and send messages to other members. You had to stay inside Compuserve though – there was no place else to go. Well, there was America Online – but you had to get for a newRead More →
OSGrid welcomes foreign regions
Many virtual worlds, including Second Life, OpenLife Grid, ReactionGrid and many others, keep the entire grid behind a corporate firewall, and restrict access. OSGrid, however, is wide open. Anybody can install OpenSim on a server – or, like I did, on a home PC – and fire up a regionRead More →
OpenSim evolves from packets to stargates
Charles Krinke joined the OpenSim core development team a year and eight months ago. In that time, he saw the project go from being a collection of 600 messages – packets – used by Second Life browsers to communicate with their servers – to a fully-fledged platform for building hyperlinkedRead More →
Charles Krinke: Why he codes for free
The OpenSim project – while backed by big companies like IBM and Intel – is not beholden to them. In fact, it works more like a pick-up game of basketball. People show up at the same court, break into teams, play a few games, then go home when they’re tiredRead More →
OpenSim built by eavesdropping on Second Life
Many people think that the OpenSim platform was reversed engineered from Second Life’s browser — but this is not actually true. It was actually built based on eavesdropping. No, not on company phone calls — on the communications between the Second Life browser and the Second Life servers. Servers areRead More →
OSGrid organizers answer questions
The folks behind the OSGrid — a non-profit open grid focused on OpenSim development — answer questions about the grid, and about OpenSim, every Saturday at 10 a.m. PST, or 3 p.m. eastern time. The PST refers to the internal clock set in the Hippo browser, the recommended browser forRead More →
OpenSim overview and 2010 predictions
Gwyneth Llewelyn actually posted this article “OpenSimulator: The Choice for 2010 back in January, but it still remains one of the best overviews of what’s happening in the OpenSim worlds that I have read so far. She talks about how OpenSim was developed, and how its modular approach makes itRead More →
Ten New Business Ideas for Emerging Worlds
Everybody knows about the big three of virtual business: sex, gambling, and role-playing. But with the new OpenSim platform and hyperlinks between different virtual worlds, the three-dimension Internet is about to explode as a serious platform. Here are a few ways to take advantage of it.Read More →
Hosting A Virtual Universe — on My PC
Today I attempt to create my own virtual world. Second Life, World of Warcraft — prepare to meet your new competition. I’m not speaking facetiously. With the new OpenSim platform for creating and hosting virtual worlds — and linking them to other virtual worlds — any person, and any company,Read More →
Hosting A Virtual Universe on My PC: Summary
Here is a summary of what I did to get my virtual universe — all sixteen acres of it — up and running.Read More →
3D Worlds Developer Launches Online Magazine
According to Ralf Haifisch, a virtual worlds developer, what we’re seeing now is the emergence of a new Internet. And he knows what’s he’s talking about – he was the first one in his part of Germany to run an Internet host there – and sent me a document dating back to 1991 attesting this fact.Read More →
Boutique Web Design Firm Goes 3D
As a demonstration project, Mueller is now building his own grid, called NextReality, which will be home to Future City, a business destination.Read More →
Internet history made today: Travels through the Stargate
So far, the owners of 18 other virtual world grids have expressed interest setting up Stargates on their land and allowing cross-dimensional travelers …Read More →
Internet history was made today, with a new “StarGate†system for linking grids
Internet history was made today, with the rollout of the first practical – and stylish — “StarGate†transport system for the new 3D Internet.Read More →
Folk Cafe Does OpenSim Right
If you want to see how the OpenSim platform works in practice – and who doesn’t want a glipse of the next generation of the Internet? – you might be tempted to come to the OSGrid, the largest public OpenSim deployment that’s out there right now. Don’t. If you want to see a nice, stable OpenSim project, go to the Folk Cafe at Grid4us.Read More →
Folk Cafe Does OpenSim Right: How to Visit
If you’re looking to see what a good OpenSim deployment looks like, I strongly recommend the Folk Cafe and the surrounding German village region on the Grid4us OpenSim grid. How to get in: If you already have an OpenSim account, see below. If you are new to OpenSim: Step One:Read More →
Travel the OpenSim HyperGrid
[Update: You can browse all hypergrid-enabled public OpenSim grids with Hyperica, the directory of hypergrid destinations. Directory indexes more than 100 shopping and freebie store locations. Updated hypergrid travel directions here.] Today I stepped through a StarGate — several times — to travel between different grids in the OpenSim universe.Read More →
Three Worst Second Life Business Plans
The three top businesses in Second Life are land sales, item sales, and (presumably — no hard data available) sex. For businesses looking to explore Second Life, however, these are the worst businesses to get into right now. First, land. It might seem a no-brainer on the surface: rent landRead More →
Opening up to OpenSim
OpenSim has many of the same things you can get in SecondLife – land, buildings, furniture, clothes and avatar shapes.Read More →
Metaplace cuter, easier than Second Life
I’ve been playing around with a beta account on Metaplace — a new 3D virtual world, something like Second Life. If you’re looking for a place to start, Metaplace is by far simpler. No download required — it works in a regular browser. It’s in beta, so it’s not fullyRead More →
The future of the Internet is coming on
At each stage of its evolution, the Internet has become more engrossing, a richer experience, with more choices. Also, at each stage, nobody expected it to change.Read More →
Free guide to virtual worlds
Press Release: The Blue Book: A Consumer Guide to Virtual Worlds Is Now Available Free from the Association of Virtual Worlds The Association of Virtual Worlds has released its new title The Blue Book: A Consumer Guide to Virtual Worlds listing over 250 virtual worlds and is pleased to offerRead More →