Terrence Linden discussing the new Second Life browser at VWBPE conference. I was in a session with Terrence Linden (SL) that had over 70 attendees and the session that Tony O'Driscoll (RL) and I conducted had about that many attendees as well. Terrence Linden discussing the fact that 60% of top universities are in Second Life. If you missed the Virtual Worlds' Best Practices in Education Conference , you missed not only a great conference with really good content and presentations, you missed a glimpse into the future of conferences. The community is so lively and active. MORE >>

First, it looks as though Linden Labs, the developers behind Second Life, may be downsizing their corporate efforts ( Second Life Enterprise Edition ). Two sources indicate that Linden may actually be shutting down their Enterprise operations. The story seems to have broken in a number of places, Virtual Worlds News reports that Linden Lab Lays Off 30 Perfect Of Staff. Additionally, sources inside the industry indicate that Linden seems to be more focused on its customer-focused 3D environment than its business-to-business efforts. This can't be making IBM happy. MORE >>

Linden Labs, makers of Second Life, announce the list of the Top Ten: 2010 Linden Prize Finalists. Last week a lot of 3D news occurred, here is a round up of some of the highlights: I stopped by the ASTD booth of Digitell, Inc. and met James A. Parker, the President, who said his booth was buzzing the entire conference and a lot of people were interested in 3D webinars. Digitell is company that owns VirtualU a 3D virtual immersive environment that has been used for everything from meetings to rock concerts. Learn more about their 3D solution here. Stronger ROI. MORE >>

It has been described as a lot more than Cisco’s WebEx meeting platform, and a lot less than Linden Labs’ Second Life virtual world. Virtual world provider, VenueGen , recently came out of private Beta to a public Beta (whatever that means) and loudly announced their virtual meeting platform. They call it both visually appealing and easy to use. man and his avatar. An interesting as aspect of the platform is that you can create a 3D avatar by loading a picture of yourself and the avatar will tend to look like you as shown above. To get started in VenueGen, you don't need a download. MORE >>

OpenSim options are far less expensive and can either be deployed through a virtual world hosting company or deployed on the institution’s own hardware (as opposed to Linden Lab’s yearly $55K option for a private Second Life setup). Does Linden Lab have those people? With the loss of Pathfinder Linden and the abhorrent treatment of Jokay it would seem that the educational focus is over. Many universities are using Second Life as a learning tool. However, the place to watch for longevity as a true tool is in OpenSim deployed worlds. Only time will tell. MORE >>