News and Commentary: Looking Back At Ebbe Altberg

 

When Ebbe Altberg was made CEO of Linden Lab in February 2014, the reception overall seemed to be cautious optimism. Under the direction of Rod Humble, the Lab had gotten itself out of financial difficulties. But not all was well. The events in which Lindens and Residents met up were gone and there was talk of a "no fratenization" policy. With the Terms of Service controversy, some content creators were worried the vauge language in one part of the ToS gave the Lab the right to claim their content to claim and sell as their own. A few were leaving to the Opensim grids, notably InWorldz. While Linden Lab had made or bought a number or spinoff products, only one was making much money. Ebbe Linden, as he was soon known, would later say, "when I came here, the users were a little bit angry (and) there was a disconnect between the Lab and ... the residents," and that some of the Lab's policies "didn't make much sense."

But in April, he got attention and praise for speaking plainly about the Terms of Service issue, and in months the controversial wording was changed to the satisfaction of most residents. Communication between the Residents and the Lindens improved greatly under him, with "Meet the Lindens" events at the Second Life Birthday, and also the Best Practices in Education event, as well as occasional Town Hall meetings. He was a believer in making an effort for transparency and openness.

Under Ebbe Altberg, Second Life's long slow decline in terms of both sims and active users would halt, and eventually began to grow again. While practically everyone appreciated that, some weren't so sure about another move of the Lab's under Ebbe Linden's watch: the way residents in Second Life paid money to them. Sim tiers were reduced, as well as set-up fees, making land cheaper to get and more importantly cheaper to keep. But Linden Lab had to make up the money somewhere, and did so by increasing the fees to buy Linden dollars. This was the equivalent of reducing real-estate taxes but raising sales taxes. Some residents complained. Others had mixed feelings as even if they didn't own a sim, their favorite places were more likely to last. Under his watch, the Tila company was created. Eventually, it would not only handle Second Life's money transactions, but also Sansar's and a third virtual world: Upland.

Under Ebbe Linden, the Lindens were able to accomplish what under his prececessor they couldn't: bring back last names for accounts; or rather, make last names an option by allowing residents to change them. Some resident's had mixed opinions due to the high fee, and to a lesser extent the choices available (which in my opinion were reasonble ones, given the Lab's options). But overall the residents were happy.

When he was interviewed by Hamlet Au in 2019, at times Ebbe Altberg seemed to have an understanding of Second Life that previous CEOs Mark Kingdom and Rod Humble lacked, at one point commenting it was his opinion "Adult" marked sims didn't always mean X-rated activities, but that the users valued their privacy. He also expressed an enthusiam for it at times, supposedly saying "We are still the s**t when it comes to virtual worlds."

Not everything went well under Ebbe Altberg. It was under his watch that a customer service mishap caused the end of the SS Galaxy as an active area. While preserved by the Lab, it would never be the active resident-run place it was. A similar mishap caused the first Steelhead community to fold. Another customer service mishap almost caused the end of the noted Grendles mall, but the actions of residents saved it. One controversial move was the banning of Linden resellers, making resident-run Linden exchange services no longer permitted. While the idea for Sansar came about under the previous CEO, it was under Ebbe Altberg in which it came about. But Second Life residents were unimpressed and only a handful of people were spending much time there. While a few felt it was an idea worth trying, most residents saw Sansar as a mistake, and the reaction to it's sale was along the lines of "It's about time." Linden Lab would also see a couple rounds of layoffs, related to Sansar's lack of success.

Two moves later in Ebbe Altberg's term also got some controversy from the residents. One was the move of Second Life's data to Amazon Cloud servers. Altberg's Lab stated that it would eventually improve performance and allow for a reduction in fees. But as the move was being done, there were a number of bugs and glitches that the residents openly complained about, and the Lab had to acknowledge and ask for patience. Today, while some residents say there's been some improvement, notably with sim crossings, others say they've only noticed continued glitches such as inventory issues.

And then there was the sale of Linden Lab to a team of investors. Under the terms, Linden Lab would retain a good deal of autonomy and continue to make just about all of it's decisions on it's own. And no doubt this meant more money for the Lab to continue to improve and develop Second Life. But naturally many residents were very worried, some fearing the new owners were only out for a quick buck and jack up tier and fees while cutting development and customer service, or worse. But a year later, the virtual world continues to run smoothly.

There have been numerous comments on the SL forums. Among them: Prokofy Neva, "I remember my main impression was that he was normal. Normal! That may seem funny, but we have had some rather eccentric leaders, who could get pretty wild, and while that is good in the early start-up stages, at some point the grown-up has to come along." ArgontheDevil Ormega, "He understood that SL was unlike any other business in that the relationship between the Lab and the Residents was not purely business.  That is why we mourn his passing.  He was not just the CEO of the company.  He was, in a very real sense, one of us." Trinity Yazimoto, " Ebbe arrived with a positive and friendly attitude (at the opposite of his predecessor). He was humble and open mind. Ebbe gave back SL its stability. Ebbe made SL a better place and i will remember him for this."

While the cause of Ebbe's passing has not been officially released, it has been made known he was sick for two years. But instead of stepping down, he continued to run the company. Inara Pey would write, "It is clear that illness did not in any way blunt his determination." Hamlet Au would comment, "One insider told me that his illness didn't undo him, but rather, gave him a serene confidence in his mission and his life course." Eventually, he would make fewer appearances inworld, his last one being at Oz Linden's retirement party in February 2021. And his last comment on his Twitter was in November last year. He would not speak at the Education conference in March, Patch Linden taking the lead instead.

Linden Lab founder Philip Rosedale was quoted by Hamlet Au as saying, "I can't say enough about Ebbe. He was such a warm, smart, optimistic person who was loved by everyone he came into contact with. I will miss him a lot, and we were so lucky to have him."

So in conclusion, Ebbe Altberg made a good CEO of Linden Lab. Not everything under him went perfectly, but under his leadership Second Life bounced back from it's slow decline and went on the upswing. The virtual world is doing better and it's future is looking better than in over a decade. Second Life still faces some challenges, such as the question of will those who returned during the Pandemic stay and the increasing popularity of VRChat among younger users of virtual worlds. But Ebbe Altberg's time at the helm of the Lab can only be considered a success.

"Sleep well Ebbe, thank you for everything."

Other tributes: Daniel Voyager, Moden World, New World Notes

SL Forums: RIP Mr. Altberg

Bixyl Shuftan