New World Notes: Linden Lab Confirms: We're Developing a Second Life Viewer Accessible FROM the Web
I'm fascinated that Linden Lab has decided to restructure their entire business around making Second Life run in a web browser. There's always been this noise that virtual worlds need to run on the web to be accessible to the mainstream, and clearly Linden thinks this or there would not have been this restructuring. I'm not sure I'm convinced. World of Warcraft requires a download. iPhone apps confirm that you can build a business around requiring people to install software. So let's assume Linden gets Second Life running in a web browser and nothing really changes for usage and retention rates -- what then? I suspect the SL-in-browser work is solving the wrong problem, and I can't believe how boldly the company is restructuring to go off and fight the wrong battle. I seriously hope I'm wrong.
