Glob – The Indusgeeks Blog

Indusgeeks was featured on the Business Channel ETNow recently. Find the video here : Indusgeeks on ETNow Technoholik .

The show featured Indusgeeks CEO Siddharth (Sid) Banerjee talking about  Metamersive Learning Spaces application developed on the Second Life platform  and an older marketing campaign done for Child Rights and You (CRY). It features client and partner testimonials from CRY and Learning Possibilities.

Indusgeeks is proud to present Metamersive Learning Spces  as one of the very few  3D Training, Learning and Collaboration( 3DTLC) related solutions featured on the Second Life Work website by Linden Lab. We are now extending the MLS framework to other virtual environments like Open Sim, Shockwave, Unity 3D and Flash.

Metamersive Learning Spaces features ( demo video here ) :

1) Fully functional 3d multiuser classroom

2) Automated converters for PowerPoint and other audio/video media

3) Easy Web Interface to point media to different screens in the 3D environment

4) Full Security with Private regions and group limitations

5) Text Chat logs

6) Customizable 3D Learning Environment

Good news from the Virtual Worlds!

Indusgeeks has been chosen as a Gold Service Provider by Linden Lab for the Second Life Grid. This makes Indusgeeks only one of  two  companies  in the entire Asia Pacific Region ( the other one being a Japanese firm) to be represented in this accredited category.

This is an extract from the Linden Blog : ” The Gold Solution Provider Program is the first of its kind in the virtual worlds industry, reflecting the strength, longevity, and unique ability for users to create and own their content on the Second Life platform. The new Gold Program identifies exceptionally qualified Solution Providers with a high level of client satisfaction, a track record of developing successful Second Life projects, and demonstrated expertise working with real world organizations. Today, we are inducting 31 Gold Solution Providers into the program who comes from the United States, Europe and Asia (full list of members below). They have business backgrounds in areas ranging from design and web development to marketing agencies and training, and have developed projects for multinational corporations, educational institutions, government agencies, and non-profits”.

This marks a major milestone for us as a company and establishes our strong partnership with the major players in this space like Intel, Sun and now Linden Lab.

Indusgeeks is actively pursuing newer applications and services on Virtual World platforms such as Second Life and this marks a first of its kind recognition for a company in this space in India.

- In Geek we Trust –

As you might or might not have heard … Philip Rosedale the CEO of Linden Lab is planning to move up from his position of Chief Executive Office to Chairman of the Board and an Executive Director with full functional responsibility- or at least that’s what the headlines should have read. It is sad how often news is misrepresented in the media to grab eyeballs.  Although the article then goes on to clarify that Philip was staying on as the Chairman and will be fully involved with Linden Lab many people(like me) might have been be misled by the headline.

Anyways, moving away from the media to the actual impact of this decision on Second Life users and developers like us.  I, like most others believe that this is a very positive step. Philip explicitly states in in his blog how he feels this decision will allow him to hand over the day to day operations to someone more experienced than him and concentrate instead on strategy and product development which he believes are his strengths. Philip has been the chief evangelist for Second Life and this will allow him more time to do so.

Unlike Cory’s departure a few months back which we thought might  have an impact on the growth and development of SL on the tech side . This executive decision hardly seems to be of much more importance than its hype value at least, in the short run. Some believe that the exisiting grid stability problems and the plateauing of the SL growth rate led to this decision. It is also being speculated that this is a move to get a more established hand in as CEO before the much anticipated public offering by Linden Lab.  We at Indusgeeks believe its a combination of both these issues that might have led Philip himself to reconsider how best to position himself in the Company for everyone’s benefit.

We’ll have to wait for the replacement CEO to step into the office before commenting on the medium and long term impact of this decision. In the meantime I’d like to salute Philip for taking a brave and honourable step in the best interests of the company he created.  Now maybe he can spend more time in Second Life….

- Sid

Reuters ratified the news of Cory Ondrejka’s departure from Linden Lab , yesterday. Second Life residents and developers must all be surprised at this development. Cory was one of the main cogs in the Linden wheel. The following are the links to Massively.com articles, which broke the news of Cory’s departure :

1. Philip Linden’s Letter on Cory’s Departure

2. Cory Ondrejka /Linden’s goodbye mail to Lindens.

3. An initial analysis of his significance and impact of his departure from LL.

Idle gossip and pondering aside. From a developer’s point of view what are the ramifications of Cory’s departure? Straight off the bat, I’d say it’s a little scary. But so are all significant changes when they happen. As an avid SLer and CEO of a MDC ( Metaverse Development Co.), I am a big fan of Philip Rosedale and this would be the time to show faith in his leadership.

At present it’s difficult to guess what exact impact Cory’s departure will have on Second Life. My best guess would be that in the short run we aren’t going to see much difference (so we are not looking at Second Life breaking down any more than it already does ). It’s only over the next few months that we will see a difference in the technical direction and orientation of Second Life and Linden Lab. In any case, if the technical set up of Second Life turns out to be overtly dependant on just one person, even if, it is the CTO, it would be wise to find out about it now, than later.. Much also depends on who the new CTO at Linden will be and what kind of vision he brings in and shares with Philip. Unlike what others believe I don’t think such a significant and fundamental decision could have been taken by Philip alone without consulting the top level management, the board of directors and the various investors in Linden Lab. I wouldn’t even be surprised if some of the top developers were taken into confidence.

As the CEO of a start-up, I know that it’s not just about firing an employee, but a friend and a comrade. Ultimately, it comes down to commitment and passion-which are driven by vision. If you are fundamentally not aligned to the vision of the company- as the majority of the stakeholders see it- then you won’t be and can’t be as driven and effective. This holds true as much for the CEO as for the CTO. Also, as companies grow, people tend to rise to levels of incompetence. So although a person maybe a great performer in a certain sized company, that same person may fail to meet the standards set by himself as the company grows. This is unfortunate but tends to happen very often. However, as this is not a management blog … I shall not digress anymore .

To sum it up, as a developer and a company looking to have a presence in Second Life, should this worry you? Yes, but not overtly so. Linden Lab and Second Life are going to go through a fundamental change in their business model in 2008, if they carry out their promise of open sourcing the server side code (Cory’s departure could be related to this development as well). This will have a huge impact on Second Life, including all stakeholders (residents and developers). I think most of the effects will be positive and will eventually lead to the development of the true Metaverse or 3D Internet. If not, Second Life will collapse as a virtual world and company. What I am positive won’t collapse though is the concept of virtual worlds and their utilities in terms of collaboration, training, virtual distance education and marketing.

So if you are company wondering whether to invest in creating a presence on Second Life , I’d say go for it! Not just because it provides work for MDCs like us but because the experience and operational expertise gained out of such a presence is portable across all virtual platforms and is independent of Second Life’s survival (also, because huge companies like IBM, Cisco, Sun, Google are investing massively to make sure that VWs become mainstream and will probably buy Linden Lab out of any trouble). Second Life made virtual worlds mainstream and development companies like us have to be thankful to Philip, Cory and everyone at Linden Lab for that. Whether Second Life survives or not, virtual worlds will.

- Sid