Rosedale: You can't do it
Linden Lab Chairman, Philip Rosedale and freshly-minted CEO Mark Kingdon gave an introductory speech at 10AM Pacific time to open Second Life's fifth anniversary for 23 June, 2008. While some have considered the speech to be somewhat bland and uninspired/uninspiring, it was pretty much what you'd expect, and you can still smell Rosedale's passion through his anecdotes.
Interestingly, Rosedale referred (with characteristic Linden Lab not-actually-mentioning-it-directly obliqueness) to the troubles that arose from Linden Lab's takeover of the anniverary event from resident-organizers.
'Even to attempt to make a kind of cultural... or any kind of a celebration that makes a presentation of what Second Life is kind of bound to not work in some sense -- because what we're doing here together is outside the bounds of possibility,' said Rosedale.
'When you try to paint a picture of it in one time and one place, you fail,' he added, referring to the vast depth and breadth of diversity and creativity in the virtual world, 'You can't do it, and I just think that's ... I don't know ... moving.'
Obviously, Rosedale doesn't get around and about in Second Life quite as much as he perhaps should, because users have certainly demonstrated that it can be done, or at least done better. It's pure PR gold, though, stepping neatly around Linden Lab's previous statements of legal fears, and the circumstances that seemed to convert the community event to a corporate showcase.
We'll let that pass, but the strongest impression we came away with from the opening ceremony was that the event was more about Linden Lab and what they have accomplished and rather less about Second Life, or its users.
That's just our opinion, though, and you should form one of your own. The audio is available here, and the video is embedded below.
Got a different opinion? Let us know what and why!
