[Opensim-dev] An Open Letter to Open Source and OpenSim Communities

[Cristina Videira Lopes]

Dear Rex people:

Taking the risk of giving unsolicited feedback (according to your 
timeline), here is a community activity that would probably give you the 
most bang for the buck:

Help document the existing client-server protocol. By now, your viewer 
engineers must have a thorough understanding of what that protocol is. 
Can they write that down in a series of sequence diagrams and brief 
notes? We all know some parts of it are horrible and should be shredded 
into the trash bin. But the server-side developers of OpenSim don't 
really know what the protocol is, leading to all sorts of bugs. OpenSim 
is sticking to the LL viewer for the foreseeable future, so the LL 
protocol will be mastered and documented, with or without your help. 
Your help will place you in a much better position to influence the 
evolution of that protocol. (OpenSim works better incrementally, as many 
ppl already said)

Crista

Ryan McDougall wrote:
> Recently there has been much discussion in OpenSim, other Open Source
> communities, and within realXtend itself. As a result of changes
> within realXtend, there is some new direction and focus. I would like
> to clear up any misconceptions and help set the stage for future
> cooperation.
>
> The biggest change is that reX has asked added a technical architect,
> Ryan McDougall, to help shore up its long range planning, and improve
> community relations. The result has been an ongoing process of
> planning for 2009 that pre-prioritized community involvement, and a
> commitment to strategic goals, including a from-scratch BSD-derived
> viewer.
>
> This means that our interactions with you will now be different. It
> will be open and clear and everything you expect from a member of the
> community in good standing.
>
> Let me also explain a bit more about realXtend past history and future strategy.
>
> When RealXtend first began, it was with an idea about merging what was
> real and what was virtual, in order to create tools and experiences
> that affected peoples lives positively. Open Source was a core
> principle in the project, because RealXtend was intended to become a
> defacto standard for the coming revolution in how we interact with
> world -- both real and electronic.
>
> Many technology-bases were evaluated, and it was felt that a
> combination of OpenSim and the Second Life(tm) viewer were the best in
> class. Because there was much to learn and discover, the first couple
> prototypes were made away from the respective communities. When
> RealXtend decided on continuing evaluation of OpenSim and Second Life,
> attempts were made to join both communities. Some of those attempts
> were awkward or rebuffed, and without the experience of how to be a
> member of an open community in good standing, it was decided it would
> be more efficient to continue prototyping separately.
>
> Now RealXtend finds itself at a cross-roads. Our prototypes have been
> wildly successful in many ways -- except the ways that matter to
> paying end-users. We find that it is becoming more and more difficult
> as time goes on to maintain forked software and keep pace with
> duplicated efforts in OpenSim. To remedy this fork, we have engaged
> Deepthink to modify OpenSim to accept a port of RealXtend, and to make
> most of the port itself.
>
> The client side of the equation, however, remains more problematic.
> While it is Open Source in name, it is not in practise, and our
> changes will never make it back into the upstream repository. In order
> to disengage ourselves from the wake of the private entity who
> controls the repository, and make the sort of important, innovative
> changes that we think are necessary, we have concluded that we must
> have a truly open sourced client viewer that we have some ability to
> participate in.
>
> We do not make this decision lightly, knowing how much work and money
> that doing so represents. We take on this challenge because we know
> someone must, and with the hope that with the help of many community
> and corporate partners, we can together, make this a reality, and open
> a new chapter in our industry.
>
> We will begin this new process in January and continuing until
> February of 2009, with a feasibility study. That process will conclude
> with a proposed road-map as a result, what will be able to take us
> through 2009 and beyond. The process will begin internally with
> RealXtend, in order to solidify a unifying core set of principles, but
> very soon move outward to include a call for proposals and comments
> from all of you. With a clear road-map and a successful consultation
> process, we are confident that we will birth an cross platform Open
> Source community that will be at the forefront of the 3D Virtual World
> revolution.
>
> We invite you to give your feedback by visiting the RealXtend website,
> trying out our software out, signing up for our mailing lists, or
> joining us on IRC.
>
> Sincerely,
> Ryan McDougall
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