Breen, an insightful commentator here, made a great observation about OpenSim versus Second Life region changes the other day. i like reading Maria’s stats on OpenSim growth (now including that ab fab Enclave Harbour) and events like Linden Lab dropping the educational discount result in OpenSim growth. and it is easy to imagine that a school or non-profit that had one sim in Second Life would likely get one sim with OpenSim
Breen pointed out that it’s not necessarily a one-to-one relationship with all SL refugees and the growth in OpenSim regions. a person expanding out from, or leaving, Second Life may or may not have land inSL. many won’t have a full sim
for what a 4096 sm parcel costs inSL, you can get a hosted full sim (region) in OpenSim. for close to half the cost of a full SL sim, you can get a setup like we have – a mini-grid with total freedom that you can connect with the OSGrid if you like by hypergridding
what might be 16 people from one sim in Second Life could easily become 16 sims or more with OpenSim. having a parcel in Second Life is vastly different from having a sim or mini-grid. what you lose in accessibility to content in Second Life you gain in having more land, more prims, and greater freedom with an OpenSim alternative (or supplement)
because of the greater number of prims, plus the need to use fewer for large expanses, this means that you can do more. quite a bit more – whether it’s more details like rivets for a bridge truss or additional components in your builds
last night subQuark highlighted how one of our builds, the desalination plant, which will be used in a workbook
if this was Second Life there would be fewer details for that build. it would concentrate on the bare minimum to get the point across
since we have the prims (and hardware to back them, remember, prims do use resources, but you certainly can have more with the right server setup) i added electric-powered scissor jack openers for a skylight to serve as a discussion point about architecture using its natural environment rather than fully closed buildings in which no windows open (regardless of actual regional climate, many buildings do not have opening windows – it’s cheaper to build even though it is more expensive for the building owner to operate it, both from a cost and environmental standpoint – and let’s not forget the human factor! isn’t it nice to be able to open the windows occasionally?) =\
another thing i added, and the reason for this post’s title, is a block and tackle for maintenance. there is no way i would have “splurged” for that in Second Life (sure, if we had 16 sims inSL, maybe then, but that would also cost 30 times more than what we have with SimHost!) o_O
not having to be ever prim conscious, creativity is a bit more unbridled and rewarding. it was not necessary to include something like the hoist or jacks in order to create this activity, but since we have the prims, why not leverage the build into several activities?
so now this activity can include two physics exercises in addition to its environmental one – now that’s leverage! =)
simple machines - scissors jack (inclined plane) and block & tackle
walkway canopy is aqueduct inspired - go Romans!
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18 Oct 10 at 11:28 pm
I love those detalils! Its them that makes the difference. I wouldnt go back to Second life for a million years. Im too spoiled as I am inWorldz now =)
Mera Kranfel
19 Oct 10 at 1:51 am
Amen
Shang Cheng
19 Oct 10 at 7:45 am
InWorldz is obviously giving residents what they want and doing a great job of it. And since they have in-world money, they should continue to grow very well. Everyone says nice things about them like you do and i wish them all the very best
i need to check it out one day eh? =D
Ener Hax
19 Oct 10 at 8:10 am