Second Life Server Not Going Open Source Soon

Linden Lab has constantly voiced a commitment to open source development and a desire to see open standards and protocols developed for virtual worlds. The company open-sourced the code for the Second Life viewer, resulting in some commercial applications, but it says the server code is more complicated. "There are a number of things about the architecture of our current server infrastructure that inhibit a source code release," Director of Open Source Development Rob Lanphier told Linux.com. "There are a lot of cases of monolithic design and improper trust relationships between components that would need to be addressed." Similar concerns have been voiced by Vivox, which provides the integrated voice chat for Second Life. There are already open-source competitors developing platforms based on the Second Life experience, though, which seem to be hoping that getting to market first will draw more interest than a later, official open-source version of Second Life.

Comments

[Pierre-Olivier Carles - Stonfield InWorld]

If Second Life server won't go Open Source soon, we will have to use alternative technologies such as Open Sim.

Building the 3D Internet needs to go trough the Open Source step, with or with out Linden Lab. I hope it will be with...

We've just post 2 tutorials, about "VNC used in world" (from our RealXrend servers) and about "How to import stuff directly from Maya".

2 steps done and many to come soon ! ;-)

[Rip]

I agree Pierre, SL better go opensource soon or it may be to late. LL may have started this race but now the other racers are starting to put their resources together to build a larger faster and more user friendly decentralized machine with interchangable parts. If LL doesnt go opensource by the end of 2008 the race will be over for them, and failing pixel dust sales and ip rights will be the least of their worries!

[Ric Mollor]

Linden Labs is slowly getting backed into a corner on the issue of open sourcing their server code.

On one hand they are pressed for time as competing projects increasingly match and in some cases extend their functionality while on the other faced with potentially exposing security flaws and destroying their business model.

Increasingly, Linden Labs is becoming just another minnow in the VR pond looking for customers.

2008 will be indeed be interesting.

[Deryck Hodge]

This article doesn't tell the whole story of the post at linux.com. While Rob is quoted as saying that the server source release is not coming soon, much of the article is on the efforts of Linden Lab to create an interoperable and open set of protocols for virtual worlds. And part of this is "opening large portions of our server infrastructure," as also quoted by Rob.

So yeah, you probably won't see the entire server source tarballed and released anytime soon, but certainly parts of it already have been, and more will likely follow.

[Dusan Writer]

Pierre - RealXtend is really wonderful to work with. Early days but showing the most promise and I'll post on my own experiences with it shortly.

I still get confused about open source, open protocols, and open standards...and just plain open lines of communication, I suppose, but that's another story. And I agree with Deryck that they may not be opening the source code but that they have no choice but to open some of the protocols and perhaps add a bit more interoperability.

I'm all for a bit of a wall around the SL garden, but a moat is too much.

P.S. I still have a list of deliverables that Linden promised for 2008:

- They promised a lightweight client of their own by February.
- Mono (in progress)
- They SPECIFICALLY talked about open source servers by April
- HTML on a prim (hmmm, is that what that is? Looks a little static to me)
- And finally, an improved experience towards user retention (um, ongoing).

For my sources of these statements and promises see my post:

http://dusanwriter.wordpress.com/2008/01/27/schedule-for-second-life-improvements-mono-lightweight-client-open-servers-html/#more-335

[Gwyneth Llewelyn]

Ironically, Linden Lab would be far better on by betting on OpenSim to be a stable and viable alternative in 2-3 years — and then move to OpenSim too.

After all, NCSA developed the first wildly-adopted HTTP Web Server... and was quickly overrun by Apache... and these days, the NCSA web servers run, naturally, Apache.

This would ease the "pressure" on LL to launch an open source server "soon" and instead commit even more support to OpenSim and the Architecture WorkGroup 2.0 — and focus on grid interconnections.

But, we'll see!...

[len]

IBM and Linden Labs are trying to fix the wrong problem. Interoperation on the web is simple. Use it the way it is designed to be used. On the other hand, once behind the firewalls, it doesn't matter much.

The problem that matters is content has to be portable and interoperable to provide artists a scalable market for different consumer services. That's a language standards problem. LL, IBM and Forterra got this exactly wrong.

All prosperous markets ARE based on scarcity. The scarcity is not digital. The networks did away with that. The scarce resources are talent and ideas.

[Justin Clark-Casey]

Gwyneth, I believe the situation is slightly different viz OpenSim/Linden and NCSA/Apache. My understanding is that Apache was launched from a collection of patches developed in response to the fact that NCSA was not being updated at all quickly.

I don't see Linden stopping development any time soon, even if certain parts do get open sourced to promote an open standards grid or series of grids. Indeed, I personally think they could keep their software closed and use it to provide a service, much like Google, Amazon, etc., keep the software running their sites closed. The advantage for them would be potentially greater stability (at least until OpenSim fully matures) or better features.

[Lina Pussycat]

I think one fact that people forget with something like OpenSim etc is that the service wont really mature beyond what SL currently is.... They will need to use open source alternatives to things like the physics backend and alot of other aspects at the moment... And even if they did fully open it anything that is directly commercial couldn't be released per say...

The backend of the grid is more complex then people give it credit.... I just find some things arnt going to be able to be exact ever... But we'll see.....

One thing i notice on the roadmap with RealXtend is a bit alarming as they plan to switch over to Direct X for "better performance...." this will result in a windows only application as support for Direct X on Linux or OSX is absurd (mainly due to Microsoft...)

Some aspects of it look good while others i frown on as its a direct move away from being playable by people on other operating systems.... I do hope some competition for SL comes up personally just because it starts to push more boundaries and stability :)

[spiceman latte]

ive been working on my own grid for a month now and am looking forward to attaching it to the sl grid as soon as its available however i can understand why LL is being so dauntless in not allowing it at this time security is a major issue last thing i want is my consumer base going to a grid not owned by LL and loseing all there stuff first and foremost it would lead to alot of new grids never being explored due to the fear a few bad eggs put in to the community secondly it could end the opensourceing before it ever really started however i am hopeing LL atleasts devotes enough staff into production of a full opensource code to allow both a secure connection to sl grids via your own grid that can not be reverse engeneered to be turned into a hack or exploit

remember for every 10 honest ppl that play sl theres 1 thats looking for a way to cheat it and unlike sims or any other program out there this one has a real money market and its bigger than loseing a few thousand ls its the possability of your cc info adress and all personal info being hacked being its your grid connecting to the asset server

plz linden labs go opensource and allow others to connect to your grid but do it smart