I have my doubts about virtual worlds becoming mainstream anytime soon – mainstream as in being used on an almost daily basis by a majority of internet users. There are of course very neat demonstrations of how virtual environments can be used for demonstration and communication purposes. On SecondLifeUpdate.com I found this video about the IBM Virtual Green Data Center:
However, at the end of the video, it’s explained that the virtual environment allows to video the whole virtual green data center, for “those who might not be used to enter a 3D virtual environment.” That video had quite some success… in other words, while the 3D environment may allow for demonstrating concepts and tools, it’s necessary to capture this on video in order to put it on the 2D web.
In the meantime, over at the New World Notes, there is a survey about Second Life Enterprise, the 55,000 dollar Second Life behind-the-firewall product. Some positive points and some negative are given.
There is for instance the brand name Second Life, on the other side there are other solutions on the market. The 55,000 sounds a lot for individuals and small companies, but as is pointed out in the comments, the license fees many companies have to pay for many other solutions are not cheap either.
However, what struck me in the article is this:
Looking at the larger market, the existing user base of consumers active in 3D immersive non-game virtual worlds is still relatively small (probably under a million total), which means an organization which chooses to invest in SLE will not only have to pay $55K+, but plan for a long learning and adoption phase.
That, in my humble opinion, is the key point. In order to go for a corporate solution, you need a company which believes in the value of 3D virtual environments. In my experience many companies work on office computers which even don’t have the necessary graphics to run Second Life. Of course, even office computers get better, but still you need people in the company who see the benefit of having better graphics and using the possibilities of those better graphics.
But then again, let’s not despair too much. SL Enterprise was mentioned on many sites and blogs which are not specialized in virtual environments, which can only help to make companies more aware of the possibilities, especially in times of cost-cutting, ecological awareness and H1N1 fear. Disruptive technology takes its time to get accepted, as we realize looking at this picture (http://www.flickr.com/photos/djahughes/ / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0):
As I’m reading on Next Nature:
For all we know 19th century philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche was inspired by the developments in lighting technology when he wrote that “in the end, every second nature becomes the first”.
Roland Legrand