[Opensim-dev] Welcome, Avatar!

diva at metaverseink.com diva at metaverseink.com
Mon Aug 23 18:31:20 UTC 2010 

This starts with us being careful about not blurring the line between 
our worlds, and/or other products, and the OpenSimulator project. Our 
OpenSim-based worlds are not part of the OpenSimulator project -- period 
-- even if we contribute to the OpenSimulator project. Credit is 
appreciated (not required), but let's make sure that all that love is 
kept an arms-length apart from the project itself.

Good examples of a healthy relationship are Reaction Grid and Avination. 
These ventures de-emphasize OpenSim and emphasize their own value 
proposition related to virtual worlds. That's how it should be! Trust 
me, we don't feel hurt that the OpenSimulator project is de-emphasized, 
on the contrary. It's quite rewarding to see ventures spawning out there 
based on the OpenSim platform but walking on their own feet.

There are many other ventures that are trying to find their own voice 
but still clinging on to the OpenSimulator/OpenSim project brand. I'm 
seeing really horrible things in terms of blurring the line. My 
suggestion is that you revise every occurrence of the word "OpenSim" on 
your web site and consider replacing it with the words "virtual world". 
If you want to keep the connection to the project, because for some 
reason it's important for your target audience to know, then say 
something to the extent that your virtual world offering is powered by 
the OpenSimulator platform (as opposed to, say, OpenCroquet or the 
Unreal engine). But under no circumstances make, for example, your 
registration link show the word OpenSim, or other aberrations like that 
that I'm seeing out there as we speak.

Brianna wrote:
> As a community, SL sailors have the project clearly defined. I did not 
> poll them.
> The reason is education to that group by individuals like James 
> Stallings.. he includes presentation graphics and an open QA .
> --------------------------------------------------
> From: <diva at metaverseink.com>
> Sent: Monday, August 23, 2010 10:02 AM
> To: <opensim-dev at lists.berlios.de>
> Subject: Re: [Opensim-dev] Welcome, Avatar!
> 
>> Yep. We know that.
>> Even people on this list who ask "really simple questions" seem to be 
>> utterly confused.
>>
>> I blame this situation on us, as a community. We have been uber-sloppy 
>> on conveying what the OpenSimulator project is. We have an uphill 
>> battle on people's perception, because most people who hear about 
>> OpenSim hear it in the context of Second Life, which is a *service* 
>> provided by a company. So immediately their perception is "OpenSim is 
>> a grid like Second Life" and "OpenSim project is a competitor of 
>> Linden Lab" sort of like another Blue Mars thingy but with the added 
>> advantage of using the SL viewer.
>>
>> Worse, people who decide to install and run an OpenSimulator world, 
>> and subscribe to this and the -users list, often don't realize what 
>> they are doing. They think that somehow they are like what estate 
>> managers are in Second Life, but with more power, and therefore they 
>> look at the OpenSimulator project as the engineering arm of an 
>> integrated effort.
>>
>> Unless we are relentless in fighting this perception, and in making 
>> OpenSimulator-world operators take *ownership* of what they're doing, 
>> we're never going to get the message right. And the fight starts with 
>> us, with what each one of us in this small community near the 
>> development kernel is conveying to our end-users and to the people we 
>> talk to. Small details like the graphic elements of our public 
>> presence, the welcome message, etc. that's what establishes or blurs 
>> the relationship between each of us and the OpenSimulator project.
>>
>> Brianna wrote:
>>> To give all a morning smile..
>>> an impromptu poll I just did in SL
>>>
>>> Hi, to you what is OpenSim, a definition?
>>> [9:15]  Sommer Shepherd: A different grid
>>> [9:16]  Dizsa Zuta: an ubber grid based on openlife software, osgrid 
>>> and 3rdrock are members
>>> [9:17]  Tasha Kostolany: well -- I think of -- Free and open for 
>>> development (or nearly free, or a lot more free than sl will ever be)
>>> [9:20]  Georgia Roberson: its one of those silly lil sims that LL 
>>> sell ain't it
>>>
>>> Scary perceptions with some :)
>>>
>>> --------------------------------------------------
>>> From: <diva at metaverseink.com>
>>> Sent: Monday, August 23, 2010 9:04 AM
>>> To: <opensim-dev at lists.berlios.de>
>>> Subject: Re: [Opensim-dev] Welcome, Avatar!
>>>
>>>> The license that Adam gave to his SVG image has a couple of 
>>>> exemptions that are quite appropriate. Attribution is only required 
>>>> if the image is used outside the context of the OpenSimulator 
>>>> project; within the context of the project, attribution is not 
>>>> required. That's the license I gave to mine too. I suggest everyone 
>>>> uses those exemptions.
>>>>
>>>> Justin Clark-Casey wrote:
>>>>> On 23/08/10 16:54, diva at metaverseink.com wrote:
>>>>>> For those who wish to contribute more of these images, here are some
>>>>>> guidelines:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> - Unless your intent is to provide raw material for others to modify
>>>>>> (like the SVG image, for example) do not make the ready-to-use logos
>>>>>> big. The "Powered by OpenSimulator" logos should be DISCRETE. The 
>>>>>> one I
>>>>>> made is 114x27, that should give an idea for what *I* mean by 
>>>>>> discrete.
>>>>>> But don't take it from me. Have a look at "Powered by Apache" 
>>>>>> logos out
>>>>>> there; that should give you an idea of what common sense suggests for
>>>>>> these kinds of logos.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> - You need to include a license for the image(s) you upload and link
>>>>>> from that page. Images without licenses will b removed from that 
>>>>>> page.
>>>>>
>>>>> Hi Diva.  Could we require that this license be Creative Commons Zero?
>>>>>
>>>>> http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/
>>>>>
>>>>> The other creative commons licenses require attribution to the 
>>>>> original author.  I don't think that this is appropriate for 
>>>>> community-contributed opensim logos.  Of course, there's nothing to 
>>>>> stop people attributing if they want to do that, just that they're 
>>>>> not forced to do it by the license terms.
>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Thanks.
>>>>>> Crista
>>>>>>
>>>>>> diva at metaverseink.com wrote:
>>>>>>> Hi,
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> I created a page for OpenSimulator graphics:
>>>>>>> http://opensimulator.org/wiki/OpenSim_Graphics
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> If you create variations of this art, and wish to make it publicly
>>>>>>> available for others to use, please add it there in a similar manner
>>>>>>> to the ones already there.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Thanks.
>>>>>>> Crista
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Jeroen van Veen wrote:
>>>>>>>> Do you have the same icon with an opaque background as well?
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Jeroen
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> On Saturday 21 August 2010 17:15:39 Rich White wrote:
>>>>>>>>> Here is a chicklet icon perhaps to get the ball rolling:
>>>>>>>>> http://twitpic.com/2gue0y
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> ====
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> On Sat, Aug 21, 2010 at 9:47 AM, <diva at metaverseink.com> wrote:
>>>>>>>>>> P.S. For people who want to give credit to the project, the
>>>>>>>>>> "correct" way
>>>>>>>>>> of expressing it is
>>>>>>>>>> "Powered by OpenSim".
>>>>>>>>>> At some point it would be nice to have a logo with those words 
>>>>>>>>>> in it.
>>>>>>>>>> Examples:
>>>>>>>>>> http://www.google.com/images?q=powered+by+apache&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla 
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> :en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=univ&ei=5eVvTPSNMYK 
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> 2sAPu2cCXAg&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=1&ved=0CCIQsAQwAA& 
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> biw=1306&bih=933
>>>>>>>>>> http://www.google.com/images?um=1&hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla 
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> %3Aen-US%3Aofficial&biw=1306&bih=933&tbs=isch%3A1&sa=1&q=powered+by+CentO 
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> S&aq=f&aqi=g1&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> diva at metaverseink.com wrote:
>>>>>>>>>>> -1 on this.
>>>>>>>>>>> I'm generally reluctant in using the term "OpenSim" for anything
>>>>>>>>>>> other
>>>>>>>>>>> than the name of this project. It's bad enough that bloggers 
>>>>>>>>>>> and the
>>>>>>>>>>> public keep confusing the project with its uses, let's not 
>>>>>>>>>>> give any
>>>>>>>>>>> more suggestions in that direction. OpenSim is the 
>>>>>>>>>>> infrastructure
>>>>>>>>>>> project, not its uses. The users of OpenSim are the world 
>>>>>>>>>>> operators,
>>>>>>>>>>> not the people who login to these worlds.
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>> In other words, when people login to an OpenSim-based world they
>>>>>>>>>>> are not
>>>>>>>>>>> "logging in to OpenSim"; they are logging in to a world that 
>>>>>>>>>>> someone
>>>>>>>>>>> runs based on OpenSim. This may seem like an insignificant
>>>>>>>>>>> distinction,
>>>>>>>>>>> but it's not, it's huge.
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>> So let's leave it with the generic message that is has now. The
>>>>>>>>>>> config
>>>>>>>>>>> var is there for people to customize it.
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>> Ai Austin wrote:
>>>>>>>>>>>> In a recent commit by Justin he suggested that if a change was
>>>>>>>>>>>> made to
>>>>>>>>>>>> the default viewer welcome message, it would be useful to 
>>>>>>>>>>>> get the
>>>>>>>>>>>> thoughts of others first. I do appreciate that most folks 
>>>>>>>>>>>> will alter
>>>>>>>>>>>> the string anyway, but it is useful out of the box to have 
>>>>>>>>>>>> useful
>>>>>>>>>>>> messages. And I had suggested a change to help differentiate
>>>>>>>>>>>> things a
>>>>>>>>>>>> bit in an immediately visible form at the user end, and to 
>>>>>>>>>>>> brand the
>>>>>>>>>>>> system in the default. Can I suggest this change and see 
>>>>>>>>>>>> what others
>>>>>>>>>>>> think?
>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>> Opensim.ini.example "Welcome to OpenSim"
>>>>>>>>>>>> Robust.ini.example "Welcome to OpenSim Grid"
>>>>>>>>>>>> Robust.HG.ini.example "Welcome to OpenSim Hypergrid"
>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>> This would have the nice effect of differentiating which
>>>>>>>>>>>> [Architecture]
>>>>>>>>>>>> is being used immediately.
>>>>>>>>>>>> _______________________________________________
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>>>>>
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