I’m starting to put the picture together but there is still a lot I am missing.
Today KirstenLee Cinquetti announced she is getting out of the viewer development business, which has its own interesting implications for open source licensing in general. But then I noticed something.
Today I was really begrudging the work it is to bring my own work out of Second Life and into my own OpenSim region to contribute for preparation, which I will post elsewhere (still no sign of the product I purchased for $40 even though I swore I never would). Anyway, while there I read this page explaining why Second Inventory does not work with OpenLife grid, something that made me chuckle earlier.
You will remember a while ago there was some buzz around OpenLife’s move to only allow its own home grown browser to connect. I heard about it by way of people complaining about Second Inventory not working. I connected the dots, I think. Kirsten’s browser is the OpenLife browser, at least as far as I can gather. Now that leaves me with a lot of questions about what is happening behind the scenes.
- Sakai from OpenLife announces no browser but their browser.
- Second Inventory breaks in OpenLife and people squawk
- Someone gives Kristen enough GPL grief about the browser she has been working on to cause her to delete her blog and give it up.
- OpenLife makes no change to their web site and still requires you download and use one of their browsers, no SL, no Hippo.
Am I missing something? If the SI explanation of the OpenLife situation is to be trusted, then that would make Kristen, who is now caving to GPL harrassment for one browser, the most likely author of the OpenLife custom browser, right? And would not the OpenLife browser, which it likely a near replica of the browser Kristen abandonned come under the same GPL scrutiny? Can we see the full source of the OpenLife browser? That is, if it is indeed a derivation of the GPL SL viewer code.
Stay Clear of OpenLife Grid
Ya know. I really don’t care about the browser thing. They are certainly free to do what they feel is best. But one thing is for sure. I won’t be suggesting anyone use OpenLife grid at least until there are more answers about this stuff. Give ReactionGrid a try instead. Or, better yet, fire up your own grid and link it to the emerging HyperGrid.
