OpenSim: Getting it Right, Again
Adam Frisby has just announced on his blog that OpenSim is being integrated with the Facebook-like open-source social networking web app, elgg. I’ve been asking for a similar feature like this from Linden Lab for years: I’ve always hated the fixed-size search window for finding things like groups, profiles, and more. See Adam’s blog entry for some screen shots to get a better idea.
This has so many benefits. I outlined to Linden Lab years ago that one of their problems are the proprietary GUI widgets they use within the viewer. Getting rid of interfaces like the profile window and the search and replacing them with a web browser driven equivalent would make new users feel much more comfortable with the interface right off the bat, especially if it look similar to popular social networking applications and search tools. Additionally, people could choose whether they prefer to use the internal Mozilla browser in the viewer, or choose to launch their default browser externally. Imagine that: having the viewer on one monitor, with multiple windows for search, groups, friends online, and more on another monitor (or two). For those of us who use multiple monitors, we’re well aware of the increase in productivity which occurs when you use more than one.
It also has the benefit of productivity by being able to access your data and communicate with people from computers with a web browser, that may not have a viewer (Second Life or other) installed. A great move by the OpenSim team, and I can’t wait to see it in action.
[...] interface that actually works like most other applications, closer integration with the web site (OpenSim is far ahead on this with their Elgg integration), and mesh import, which realXtend has also already integrated. It will be interesting to see how [...]