Apparently part of the reorganizing at Linden Labs, that led to layoff's of a third of staff, also lead to a replacement of the current CEO with the once and future CEO Philip Rosedale. I have a suspicious nature and can't help but wonder if the old CEO wasn't kept on long enough to lay off the people so any residual resentments would accrue to guy who left. But, that is just idle musing on my part.
I thought about this quite a bit and decided that this is probably a good move. Philip Rosedale is a likable, charismatic visionary kind of person who is needed to provide visionary leadership for a product like Second Life and a company like Linden Labs. I saw a recorded video of a talk that he gave and you cannot help but like the guy. And his childlike enthusiasm with technology is infectious.
This kind of leadership energizes a company and so I see it as a positive move. My main concern is whether or not that energy will directed into productive applications. And, I guess, that remains to be seen.
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Voice Morphing
Linden Labs introduced a new feature for Second Life - voice morphing. For three dollars a month you can alter (read disguise) your voice. The vast number of free accounts compared to premium accounts attests to the fact that most people are unwilling to pay even a token amount for their Second Life experience. And yet Linden Labs believes that these people will fork over $3 a month to disguise their voice. Who would do such a thing? Well, several categories of people come to mind.
Celebrities who have very recognizable voices and are incognito in Second Life may wish to alter their voice so as not to be recognized. OK, that covers a dozen or so people. But really, aren't we talking about a different market here entirely? Who would need to disguise their voice? A few possibilities come immediately to mind: 1) men pretending to be women, 2) women with husky voices from too many years and too many cigarettes, 3) teens pretending to be adults, and 4) over the hill pedophiles pretending to be teenagers.
Do you get the point? Of all the things that LL could have spent development money on to make the product viable voice morphing is NOT one of them. After having laid off a third of their work force you'd think they would stop barking up the wrong tree. But, they seem to like that tree and they seem to like to bark. So, I guess I shouldn't expect any better of them.
Celebrities who have very recognizable voices and are incognito in Second Life may wish to alter their voice so as not to be recognized. OK, that covers a dozen or so people. But really, aren't we talking about a different market here entirely? Who would need to disguise their voice? A few possibilities come immediately to mind: 1) men pretending to be women, 2) women with husky voices from too many years and too many cigarettes, 3) teens pretending to be adults, and 4) over the hill pedophiles pretending to be teenagers.
Do you get the point? Of all the things that LL could have spent development money on to make the product viable voice morphing is NOT one of them. After having laid off a third of their work force you'd think they would stop barking up the wrong tree. But, they seem to like that tree and they seem to like to bark. So, I guess I shouldn't expect any better of them.
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Downsizing at Linden Labs
There were numerous articles, forum posts, blog entries and the like, this past week, about the major downsizing at Linden Labs. The staff was cut by 30%. Operations are being consolidated in North American. And they are focusing on a new strategic direction.
First, I would like to offer my condolences to all those people who were laid off. Losing your job is never a pleasant experience and in the current economy is it even more dire. Add to that the special status of Lindens in the Second Life world. It will be very difficult to return to being a normal person.
I suspect that many employees got caught up in the hype just as the residents did. There is no end of bitter residents who thought their Second Life careers would make them millionaires only to find their dreams dashed and their wallets a little emptier. Now I suspect that there will be no end of ex Linden Lab employees who saw themselves as the next generation of Internet start up millionaires only to find themselves unemployed. For these people there is no upside to this situation.
Nonetheless, there is a potential upside for both Linden Labs and the residents of Second Life who still see its potential value and have hung on all these years despite the problems. I say potential because, although this is a good step, it is still unclear that thinking at Linden Labs has turned in a fruitful and positive direction.
There are two elements of their new strategy as noted in several of the postings and articles that give me pause. The first is the elimination of the custom client in favor of a web browser based client. And the second is the improvement of the "In world experience". I will take these topics up in the next few posts.
First, I would like to offer my condolences to all those people who were laid off. Losing your job is never a pleasant experience and in the current economy is it even more dire. Add to that the special status of Lindens in the Second Life world. It will be very difficult to return to being a normal person.
I suspect that many employees got caught up in the hype just as the residents did. There is no end of bitter residents who thought their Second Life careers would make them millionaires only to find their dreams dashed and their wallets a little emptier. Now I suspect that there will be no end of ex Linden Lab employees who saw themselves as the next generation of Internet start up millionaires only to find themselves unemployed. For these people there is no upside to this situation.
Nonetheless, there is a potential upside for both Linden Labs and the residents of Second Life who still see its potential value and have hung on all these years despite the problems. I say potential because, although this is a good step, it is still unclear that thinking at Linden Labs has turned in a fruitful and positive direction.
There are two elements of their new strategy as noted in several of the postings and articles that give me pause. The first is the elimination of the custom client in favor of a web browser based client. And the second is the improvement of the "In world experience". I will take these topics up in the next few posts.
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