Both Hamlet Au and Tateru Nino are confirming that Linden Lab's Chief Financial Officer/Chief Operations Officer Bob Komin, known in Second Life as BK Linden, has left the company. Spokesman Peter Gray was quoted as saying "Bob Komin has moved on to pursue a new opportunity," stating the Lab planned to employ a new CFO, "Linden Lab is thankful for his contributions to the company, and we wish him all the best in his next endeavor."
BK Linden's legacy is a mixed one to many. He's credited to making Second Life much more profitable to Linden Lab, but it was partially done by laying off about a third of the staff. He also made the corporate management of the company a more traditional hierarchy, which from the point of view of many, "diminished the democratic 'Tao of Linden' spirit Philip Rosedale instituted." He was the acting CEO between Philip Linden's departure as Interim and the hiring of Rod Humble.
Hamlet Au had a few things to say about BK's legacy. The way he say it, "Bob Komin has helped prepare Linden Lab for a post-Second Life era, in which SL is less and less central to the company's strategy and plans." He had helped create the "very large" cash reserve to finance projects, such as games. "much of Linden Lab's management … likely see Second Life as a legacy MMO which has run its course. With the launch of new development tools, followed soon by a steady withdrawal of company resources, the future of Second Life will soon be almost completely in the hands of it's users."
In another post, Hamlet had a few bits of advice on how Second Life residents could help save the Grid after such a departure, notably multiplayer games inside Second Life, and third party viewers that could be tailored to support such games. However, to those who keep asking the Lab to lower tier, he felt Linden Lab was unlikely to do so without "substantial growth of active users. Maybe several hundred thousand." Hamlet doesn't seem to be a fan of what economists call "dynamic analysis" or "dynamic scoring."
Not many Lindens have had as much impact as Bob Komin. It should be interesting to see whom replaces him.
Everyone loves a great deal, right? So, we’re introducing a new test program called “Dash Deals.” During this test, we will be running one Dash Deal per week, for the next five weeks. Dash Deals will provide Second Life Marketplace shoppers with the opportunity to purchase a specific virtual item for 24 hours at a 50% discount or more. Hand-picked by the Linden team from Merchant submissions, these products highlight the creativity and variety of products available to Marketplace shoppers. We hope that you enjoy our selections and take advantage of the deals! And, if the test goes well, then you can expect to see more Dash Deals beyond the test period.Here’s How to Score a Dash Deal:We’ll alert Second Life shoppers when the Dash Deal is available on Facebook, Twitter, and in a weekly email. Just click on the SL Marketplace link provided, take a look at the Dash Deal item, and snap it up while it’s still available.
This is the latest in a number of ways Second Life has been trying to use the highly popular social media sites of Facebook and Twitter. In this case, using it to encourage the use of its SL Marketplace site (and buy more Lindens to use in purchasing items there. In my opinion, it has potential. Taking a look at the “Dash Deal” thread on the forums, some of the posters expresed skepticism about it, saying the email option would be no good to some as the first Dash Deal was good only for 24 hours, and some people didn’t get emails from Linden Labs until more time than that expired.
One poster, Shockwave Yareach, brought up this might do nothing more than annoy some residents, “Do most customers Like, Dislike, or have no opinion about being prodded over and over about sales, new products and the like? I personally do not have any sort of advertising for the simple reason that I'm in SL to get away from things like that which permeate every second of RL. I thus assume my customers likewise don't want to be bothered -- just sell them their gizmodo and let them have fun with it.”
In New World Notes, Hamlet Au had his own opinion, calling it a “Groupon-style offer (a deal-of-the day website)” that reflected “the current Silicon Valley craze for anything which looks even remotely Grouponic. It's a good move to better monetize Second Life's ecommerce site as the company moves away from its unsustainable land revenue model, but I definitely think it could be improved.” His idea of improvement, have people contact a number of friends to reach a minimum number set before the deal becomes active.
This reminds me of something I’ve seen in Second Life for a while. Many Residents have seen those boards in stores (the name escapes me) which promise a free item if a set number of people (one common number is 25, though may be more at popular places) click on it. I myself have been asked by a few lady friends to port over to one of these boards to click on it so they can get an item of clothing they feel is must-have. A tad annoying at times when you don't want to be bothered, but no arguing it draws shoppers, and money, to stores. I can see Linden Labs doing something similar, but on Facebook and/or Twittter instead of Inworld.
Another visit to the Winterfest in the Neutral Zone to see the Art Exhibit landed me right next to my favorite SL artist . As soon as I saw the interactive piece I knew it was Feathers Boa's. The twinkling art she is displaying on the first floor of the Fine Art Exhibition Hall is fitting to the spirit of Winterfest. Be sure to walk into the art itself and see the changes that take place around you.
One piece is a sparkling snow flake that morphs as you pass around it and into it. Another is a crystal heart that changes into gold as you approach it. Some of her old familiar pieces grace the walls . You cant miss the building . It is in the Town Square right next to the directions arrows to take you to the events.
As usual the events were later in the day so the next thing I tackled was the Snow Maze. Great fun! There is a sign on the roof that says “No Peeking!” LOL. I spent more time there than I meant to because there are lots of nice freebie boxes and vendors inside the maze. I picked up a few outfits and some gestures. I was tempted by the free hotel but resisted. Go get those goodies!
The first snowball fight is at 4:00 pm SL time on Thursday and the second at 8:00 am on Friday. I plan to make both if I can! I already picked up my free snowball thrower and practiced a bit.
You have the entrance to the town square for the Art Exhibit so here is the entrance to the maze. By the way, the maze is based on the film “The Shining!" Jack Belvedere, owner of the sims, told me he had to clean up all the gore before doing the snow maze.
After about four months as interim CEO, working closely with Bob Komin, the management team, and the board, we've decided we are ready to start the search for a new CEO. I'll be leaving day-to-day management of the company and continuing in my role on the board, including helping in the search to find a great CEO. I will also be continuing my work with my new company, LoveMachine. Bob will lead Linden Lab while we conduct the search. It's been an intense few months of transition, and we all feel like we are in a better place now, with a clearer sense of direction and more focus, and are ready to bring someone new into the mix as a leader. From the Linden Blog.
On July 30th at 10 AM SL time, Linden Lab CEO Philip Linden (Philip Rosedale in real life) held an inworld meeting with a small audience whom had applied well in advance for the limited seating, randomly chosen through a lottery according to the Linden blog. Most everyone who saw it did so through video viewing through Treet.tv, either live or archived. The event took place at the Linden Estate Services sim, and was moderated by Wallace Linden, who stood out in what looked like a robotic pirate avatar. Also there was Chief Operations Officer BK Linden (Bob Komin in real life).
Philip Linden spent the first half hour giving a presentation. He noted a few points by critics, “Second Life ... it was big in 2006, but where are they today?” He seemed to feel some were just waiting for Second Life to go under, it’s continued existence an annoyance, “it just doesn’t go away.” He then talked about “tearing down the walls” between Linden Labs and the users of Second Life.
Then he brought up the new slogan for the virtual world, “fast, easy, fun. These words capture what Second Life must be as a user experience.” Philip also talked about going “back to basics." These were the two catch-phrases of the meeting.
Of “Back to Basics,” he talked about working on crashing and lag. He talked about an “attack” by the Lab on the problem of crashing until they reach their goal of reducing the crash rate and the impact of crashes. Lag he seemed to think would be a little tricker as many things contribute to it, but stated, “we’re going to attack that.” He talked about a new feature, a faster delivery of textures, which he called “http delivery of textures.” He also talked about separating chat from the servers so it would be unaffected by chat lag.
Philip talked about “winning back the lead” in their technical edge, though didn’t specify as whom this lead may have been lost to. He wanted to increase the rate of community feedback, “our plans and ... our source code will always be visible to you as we work on the product.”
He also held fast on Linden Labs continuing to work on Viewer 2, but acknowledged, “we have a big challenge. I know many people have been frustrated. Under it’s 2.0 release, ... we seem to have created a product that failed to satisfy ... any one group of users.” He stated it didn’t have all of the desired features for new users and lacked those familiar to older ones. He appealed for resident help in improving the viewer, inviting the open source community.
He emphasized it was his goal to grow the economy of Second Life, ““I’m not suggesting Second Life is all about people making money, but ...” He felt the success of the content creator was the “key driver” to the virtual economy. To help them succeed, For the near term, he wanted to have SL “optimizing the process” the residents get their goods. He admitted Search needs work, and told the audience they’ve already started fixing it. Of the process of getting and using virtual goods, he wanted an alternative to sandbox regions, so residents wouldn’t have to port from a store to another sim and rezz a box on the ground there to get the contents.
He stated he would be looking for an alternative to newcomers starting out at welcome areas, bringing them directly to a featured area. Of Second Life Enterprise, Linden Lab was suspending it, “stopping work on a behind the firewall solution.” He talked about wanting to create a better offworld shopping experience, “I know there’s a debate inworld” and insisted shopping on websites and inworld shopping could complement one another. Going back to lag, he brought of region crossing and how it affects sim performance, “we hear you, I couldn’t agree more,” giving an example of how it can interfere with sailing. Of mesh and it’s impact, “we’re very excited about it ... it’s potential on the economy.” But he stated they were being careful, so it would have no impact on lag, or actually help reduce it. Another goal of his, making Second Life work better for the disabled. He thought it could be done with the help of opensource development.
Before answering questions, he finally stated he was giving into those who complained his avatar look was shabby, “I’m committed to getting a makeover for my avatar,” joking that it was “negatively affecting the reputation” of those in clothing and avatar work.
The rest of the time was spent answering some questions. Among them, “If you could do anything over again ...?” Philip at first answered, “Hard to say,” then later felt they could “have been more honest and open” about fixing bugs earlier in SL. “What blogs do you read on a daily basis?” “... some of the most popular ones. I don’t want to call attention to any particular one.”
One question was more clearly answered within hours by the fashion industry than Philip, “How does fast, easy, and fun affect businesses?” It wasn’t long before virtual clothesmakers began making women's’ T-shirts with the phrase “Fast, Fun, and Easy.” No word from Philip on if anyone from the Lab anticipated this.
Both Hamlet Au and Tateru Nino are confirming that Linden Lab's Chief Financial Officer/Chief Operations Officer Bob Komin, known in Second Life as BK Linden, has left the company. Spokesman Peter Gray was quoted as saying "Bob Komin has moved on to pursue a new opportunity," stating the Lab planned to employ a new CFO, "Linden Lab is thankful for his contributions to the company, and we wish him all the best in his next endeavor."
