[Opensim-dev] Micropayment

[dan miller]

I'd like to weigh in here.  Caveat: I know very little about how the current
SL architecture works wrt money, other than my user experience and a bit of
what I've read on this list and IRC.

ISTM that the problem here is that the SL viewer assumes a trusted grid.  As
Aldon points out, opensim users may want to implement an SL-like scheme, and
their customers may trust them and wish to engage in L$-like
microtransactions.

I think the problem comes up when you envision a casual user browsing the
"3D web", moving from grid to grid.  It would seem easy for such a user to
get confused, forget, or be intentionally misled as to what the consequence
of a transaction will be on the grid they are on at the moment.  It seems
unworkable to have a system where a user has to remember explicitly whether
(s)he is on a trusted grid or not.

That said, it seems ridiculous to just punt the issue and say opensim
doesn't handle transactions.  This may be the exact point at which we have
to decide whether to slavishly follow Linden, and wait for them to offer us
crumbs of capability in the client -- or, we forge ahead, and support a
non-LL-compatible feature.  That doesn't mean the Linden client won't work;
it just means there will be more capability with a forked client.

I understand the issue of client GPL licensing, but frankly I think that's a
bit of a red herring.  I would prefer a white-room viewer, developed without
reference to LL's client, but I think it's also workable to add features to
the existing client, and offer that as an alternative for those who really
want to provide those features to a customer base.

I'm not saying any of this should be a major priority now, but I think it's
shortsighted to pretend the problem will simply go away, be fixed by Linden,
or just assume each opensim grid will have the resources to develop this
stuff for themselves.

-danx0r