Opensimulator + Firestormviewer + Namecoin = Internet 2.0? | Hacker News Reader

Opensimulator + Firestormviewer + Namecoin = Internet 2.0?

forum.namecoin.info

65 pointskushti24 comments

More like Second Life 2.0, and still as graphically taxing, horrendously slow and poorly designed.

SL's problem is it is a game-like product written by people who have no idea how to make games.

SecondLife will not get a second life. Affirming TazeTSchnitzel opinion that SL was poorly designed to start. I have been building virtual worlds for 14 years, and my mesh based platform is one of the world most successful. Problem with mesh based platforms is users can't create content, they can only manipulate it (ok, a very small percentage can, but not enough). If you look at what Phillip Rosen is doing now, he is trying to make a voxel platform. Plus 3D is not good for 99% of information. I suspect the future will be more along the lines of "Rainbow's end"

Just to be clear, you're suggesting that the best VR is one where we overlay our new constructs on top of real world constructs that already exist? Not disagreeing, just making sure I'm understanding your point.

My idea is that replicating real life concepts in a virtual system is just an intermediate step to make newcomers feel at home (The most significant example being "the desktop"). Then it becomes more and more abstract. "Real world concepts fully copied within a virtual world", therefore, in my opinion, can't be named "Internet 2.0".

VR worlds are the ultimate skeuomorphism, yes.

I had a similar idea where you'd use some blockchain (Bitcoin, Namecoin, whatever) to keep track of your important assets in a decentralized virtual world, as well as your location.

Bitcoin solves the double spend problem, and you could think of your presence at a particular point in a virtual world as "spending" your time. You could use Bitcoin to ensure no user is in two places at once.

I thought the 3D web died in 1999 when people realised that VRML was rubbish, and 3d interfaces are generally as hateful as flash.

VRML wasn't rubbish; the hardware to implement it was (at the time).

As for 3D interfaces, what do you call a RL coffee mug, door handle, gear shift, or paper book? We use 3D interfaces so much in everyday life that they dissolve into the background.

A real-life door handle is not comparable to a CG "3D" interface - a more sensible comparison would be a photo of a door handle that you have to poke in the right way to get the door to open...

Why couldn't an actual, physical door handle be used in places where a virtual world calls for a door handle? Just move it into position at the appropriate time...

"door handle, gear shift, or paper book" are antiquated ideas that people either have gotten rid of or are in the process of removing in RL now that the tech exists.

Coffees cups, yes currently they'll be around for a while longer. To much culture attached ATM.

Give me a break; there are billions of door handles in the world. They most certainly aren't going away.

As for the "death of paper books," guess what? Ebook market share has stopped growing. It will never get anywhere near 100%. Paper books have many advantages over ebooks. Just try flipping quickly through an ebook, or passing it on to your children as an heirloom.

What replaces cups, pray tell?

Did you ever use VRML? Its grand if you only have 4 polygons, anything else and its a nasty mess.

We use 3d interfaces in the real world. They do not translate to the 2d world.

real 3D widgets are there to save time, or provide a service that isn't possible without them. In the computer world, they just get in the way. When starting from scratch, why hobble your self with something designed for a world we don't control?

They are similar to animated transitions, sure they look good, but they eat time. (apple spaces really Pisses me off, why the fuck do you want to slow me down? you can tell the designer never uses them.)

Suppose I'm maneuvering around a 3D virtual world, viewed with a 3D headset. Suppose I come up to an old wooden door with a doorknob. What's the most natural, intuitive way for me to open that door? Reaching down, turning the doorknob, and pulling sounds fairly intuitive. Forget about UI and context menus and all that other crap. A toddler could figure it out.

3D interfaces on a two-dimensional plane doesn't make much sense, but new hardware like Oculus Rift has the potential to revive the concept.

Lets add brain computer interface and Oculus Rift to get Matrix 0.1.

I am a bit worried about the efficiency of using "internet 2.0" instead of today's internet.

Imagine controlling your character to find that video, you cannot recall the name of on some video server. In 3D.

Although it sounds like a very tasty project to work on.

"Secondlife is a great system to browse information in 3D - some people are saying this would be the new Internet one day. The problem is: it is centralized."

No, the problem is text (amongst many other media) has only disadvantage in 3D. Second life has many more problems than centralization... Most people don't care about such matters and notice SL has basically zero impact on the world right now.

I've actually wanted to build something like this for a while, but with something a bit more.. modern than secondlife/opensim. Firestorm is a great project, but second life is so badly engineered at its core that using opensim seems like a terrible idea.

The biggest stepping stone is interfacing into a virtual 3D world. Unless you can make the "controls" as seamless as possible, it's not going to catch on. This involves finding ways to access information quickly and making the experience intuitive and not clunky.

There's no inherent bonus in actually 'surrfing' the wen, 3D visuals do not necessarily convey information in a better medium than the flat web we have today.

Reminds me of the smalltalk version: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Cobalt

hey guys! Very interesting this project. Do you guys intend to integrate it with real world construction frameworks? Like IFC? I could work on it. Would fit like a charm with our project.

This would truly be the second realm.

WCAG?

Reply on news.ycombinator.com