[X3D-Public] Virtuality Uber Alles

[GLG]

>When compared with the features of Second-Life/Open-Sim or
>Wonderland any would-be VRML/X3D MU server system faces
>staggering odds.

Hello Russ,

That maybe so. It certainly 'looks' that way from a
short-term perspective. As you know, MU servers are not easy
to build. But don't forget, much investment capital found
its way to VW's. I call that the 'Virtual Worlds Bubble'.
Let's wait until that runs out and dry. See who is still
standing.

Do you remember when proprietary systems such as AOL,
Compuserve, countless BBS's and online business information
databases more or less ruled the world? Most if not all of
them eventually fell flat and had to give way to open
standards, with very few exceptions. I'd say that most
popular virtual worlds today actually ARE the "would-be's" -
simply taking advantage of fast deployment and speed to
market - and I fully expect them to eventually fade away,
being replaced by open standards based worlds (such as with
X3D). I'm definitely not loosing any sleep over this. Unless
complete novice (which is the case for many users in today's
virtual worlds), and especially as the market matures,
people and businesses will want to 'own' their worlds just
like they do their Web sites today, not relegating that kind
of power over to any particular company. Companies have
tried repeatedly to promote various systems and/or
languages, but in the end, open standards win. A few, such
as Sun Microsystems, realized the dilemma and were able to
turn loose their IP (i.e. Java), but I doubt today's
proprietary virtual worlds are in that position, even though
some are trying to do just that. Again, no lost sleep. It
isn't really their game, historically and ultimately THEY
are the copycats, and it is hard for copycats to succeed in
the long run. To each its own; X3D will never die.

Cheers,
Lauren