[Opensim-dev] OpenSim - What's Taking so long

Diva Canto diva at metaverseink.com
Fri Jul 9 00:08:15 UTC 2010


That's all great and good. Let's just make sure that we are all in the 
same page wrt expectations.

I've read in your emails references to some undisclosed final goal; it 
shows in the subject of this thread ("taking so long" to get where?), as 
well as in expressions such as "how non-programmers can help the code 
*move along*" -- where to? What this means is that you have a final goal 
in mind. I don't know what your final goal/vision is, but note that your 
final goal/vision may not be the same as that of lots of people here, 
and it's really important that you understand that. This is so that you 
don't get the wrong impression that by raising money and paying someone 
to do some things you want done, those things will automatically be a 
part of the OpenSimulator core distribution. They may or they may not 
be, depending on many factors. Some things, as useful as they may be, 
don't belong in the OpenSimulator core distribution; they belong in 
people's open or closed extensions and in alternative distributions that 
target specific usage scenarios.

So before you go out raising money like those 4 kids in NYC, I strongly 
suggest you sit down and think what it is that you would like to see 
done that is not done yet. Then think what's the best mechanism for 
making those things come to life. (those 4 kids could have used the same 
advice...)

Your emails show a slight expectation drift, which may cause some grief 
in the future. Besides the standalone simulator, the OpenSimulator 
project is not meant to produce an out-of-the-box anything. People 
wanting to develop applications and services on top of OpenSim must 
invest a lot of extra effort to make those applications and services 
come to life. If you are waiting for OpenSim to enable an offer to your 
clients without effort on your part, you are in for a big disappointment.

As Karen pointed here, there are many ways that non coders can help the 
project. Freely distributable content is one area where we are clearly 
in need of good Samaritans.

On 7/8/2010 2:20 PM, Drew Hart wrote:
> I will contact you offlist Wordfromthe Wise.  And what was said makes 
> sense.  I guess my only concern, and I am serious about doing some 
> serious fundraising, is the use of the name Open Simulator.  I guess 
> if I raised money and laid out my position, that I am an independent 
> third party interested in hiring coders to contribute to OpenSim, that 
> should make using the name okay (people would know I am not officially 
> conected)?  Also, we would need some independent "observer/accountant" 
> to make sure everything is cool and the money spent wisely, but I know 
> several that would volunteer their time to do that 
> (attorneys/accountants).  So if anyone else wants to work on 
> fundraising, etc., contact me at drewehart at gmail.com 
> <mailto:drewehart at gmail.com>.  Or if anyone has other ideas on how 
> non-programmers can help the code move along, I am open to anything.  
> Even if some of the experts want to hold some training sessions so we 
> can learn coding - though I am not sure if that is practicable.  Thanks,
>
> On Thu, Jul 8, 2010 at 1:02 PM, Michael Cerquoni 
> <nebadon2025 at gmail.com <mailto:nebadon2025 at gmail.com>> wrote:
>
>     One of the problems with OpenSimulator project doing this, is it
>     is not an established company.  There is no central office or
>     managers for this project.  That aside if you wanted to try to
>     raise funds to hire programmers who will submit their code you
>     could certainly do that, you do not need OpenSimulator project to
>     do this for you.  You could also ask some of the OpenSim
>     developers directly if they are interested in working for bounty
>     if you can raise the funds.  Another problem right now is most of
>     the developers are way to busy to organize fund raising events,
>     and from my experience Money doesnt always solve problems, and can
>     tend to complicate things to the point they never actually get
>     done, because once the funds run out work just flat out stops and
>     is very difficult to get going again.   One thing you do not
>     mention is what you would like to see finished or what you feel is
>     missing or incomplete.  OpenSimulator is a very open ended project
>     and will likely always be morphing and changing, there will likely
>     never be an end to its development, unlike a facebook website
>     which has very limited purpose to its goals.  I am going to assume
>     you mean Second Life compatibility, this is really just a small
>     piece of opensimulator and I will think that you will find that
>     most of the people directly involved in OpenSimulator are not that
>     interested in recreating second life, there are many avenues being
>     pursued right now that look nothing like Second Life, one of the
>     major factors really holding this project back is the lack of a
>     Open-Source viewer that the OpenSimulator developers can work on
>     that is in a usable state, the Second Life viewer source code is
>     off limits to OpenSimulator developers and because of this making
>     OpenSimulator be second life compatible is not always easy or even
>     possible at all in some cases.  I think once we see viewers like
>     Realxtend Naali and others become more usable you will see
>     OpenSimulator move even further from trying to be a second life
>     clone.  But these are just some of the reasons that I see
>     OpenSimulator is taking as long as it has, and it will likely
>     continue to take just as long no matter how much money you throw
>     at it, but like i said, anyone who has the desire can raise funds
>     and hire developers to get involved and contribute the code to
>     this project, so please do not wait for the OpenSimulator
>     developers to do this for you, as some of the developers that work
>     for Intel Corp and IBM Corp, and others like Melanie and Justin
>     have been paid to develop and create patches as well as for profit
>     grids like Reaction Grid, so its not like this is really something
>     that is not currently happening.  Hope this helps to explain
>     atleast a little of why things are the way they are.
>
>     On Thu, Jul 8, 2010 at 7:38 AM, Drew Hart <drewehart at gmail.com
>     <mailto:drewehart at gmail.com>> wrote:
>
>         Okay, that was my catchy title that in no way means any
>         disrespect.  I love OpenSim, have used it for years, tell
>         everyone I meet about it and am a huge fan and supporter. 
>         Recently a question was asked about a roadmap and progress.  I
>         would like to expand on that.  OpenSim has now been around for
>         a while - like years.  Yet I can't really use it for clients. 
>         So here is my question.  As a non-coder, how can others help. 
>         For example, I would gladly donate some decent money if there
>         were a coordinated fundraising event and a plan to hire a
>         couple of full-time, very qualified developers to really move
>         this along.
>         Please, please, please don't take this the wrong way.  This is
>         NOT a criticism.  I know this is done by volunteers and I know
>         that this is more ambitious than Second Life, but have we
>         looked at other solutions to move the process along.  I think
>         there are a lot of people like me who would contribute.  But,
>         and I stress this.  Me donating say $1,000 by myself isn't
>         going to do anything.  We would need a serious fundraising
>         drive, and specific and talented people that we could hire
>         full-time as consultants/coders to really move this along.
>         I would imagine I am not the first to suggest this.  But every
>         day I see this awesome product I want to use, yet it seems
>         months or years away from stable wide-spread use.
>         There are now several web sites that help in fundraising.  I
>         am sure many of you read about the NYU students that raised
>         several hundred thousand dollars in a short time so they could
>         spend their summer coding a Facebook clone (sort of).  Now
>         if 4 undergrads can get that kind of money for a Facebook
>         clone, why hasn't OpenSim tried something similar.  These
>         fundraising sites are hot right now - let's take advantage of
>         them!
>         Please read:
>         http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/12/nyregion/12about.html
>         The article was written before they raised much more money.
>         Drew
>
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>
>
>
>     -- 
>     Michael Emory Cerquoni - Nebadon Izumi @ http://osgrid.org
>     <http://osgrid.org/>
>
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