Things are moving really fast three weeks after Linden went (partially) open source.
Reverse-engineering client code users in the libsecondlife community have created the first (basic) open source Second Life server.
The libsecondlife project is an effort directed at understanding how Second Life works from a technical perspective, and extending and integrating the metaverse with the rest of the web. This includes understanding how the official Second Life client operates and how it communicates with the Second Life simulator servers, as well as development of independent third party clients and tools. With all the media buzz on Second Life I am sure the project will attract more and more talented software engineers who will quickly (perhaps in only a few months) produce a fully operational open source version of the Second Life server code.
The availability of the Second Life server code might allow service providers to deliver independent Second Life services, while current virtual land owners have expressed fears. It’s interesting how opening Second Life is fastly raising up questions about business models, not differently from what happen with open source business.
It looks like opening up the client and the server software in the future as LL has expressed interest in doing, is a reaction to the challenge of scaling their business.
The post from “SecondThoughts” indicates that LL will move away from making >70% of its revenue from selling land (which is really equivalent to selling server space).
Just like vendors look towards open source to grow their customer base, LL is doing the same. As long as LL can capture revenue elsewhere (i.e. ads space in LL), they’re willing to trade off the revenue from selling land.