Una “Segunda Vida” de fuente abierta para Linden Labs

Tina Gasperson publicó esta noche en Linux.com una nota bien interesante sobre Open Source y Second Life: An open source “Second Life” for Linden Lab. La nota recorre un poco la historia de las partes abiertas de SL y algo de la filosofía de Linden Labs. Recomiendo su lectura; aporta buenos fragmentos de entrevistas a algunos de los responsables de SL. Puntualmente, describe el enfoque y algunas vicisitudes al pensar un modelo de negocio basado en código abierto. Me gustó la frase de Rob Lanphier, director de desarrollo open source de Second Life:

“We could try to create lock-in effects at every level, but we’re better off creating a really broad ecosystem that others can build on top of. One of the things that struck me as being very interesting and unique about Linden as opposed to other companies that are doing this is that Linden is taking its core product, at the time that it is in a market-leading position, and open-sourcing it. Most companies tend to do that when they’re the scrappy underdog, or trying to recapture the magic. But here there’s a general sense that five to 10 years from now there will a significant open source piece to all of this, therefore why not make ours the open source piece and save everybody else the hassle.”