woohoo! it looks like about 130 unique downloads of Diva’s latest D2 OpenSim 0.7.1 build on sim-on-a-stick have occurred since it went up last sunday night!
there have been 336 unique visitors to simonastick.com in that same time period (4 full days). if sim-on-a-stick worked for Macs, you’d probably have another 30 or so downloads because 25% of peeps visiting simonastick.com were Macs!
i don’t remember where i saw the number but about six months ago something like 37% of OpenSim users are on a Mac
there have been several requests here for a sim-on-a-stick version that will run on Macs and three different people (including our awesome Dream Walker – i may be slightly biased toward her) have tried to get OpenSim to work on a stick for Macs but no such luck (don’t look at me, i still have to follow Roger’s video tutorial and pause it for almost each step!) =p
i am unable to find definitive numbers but see things like 10% to 20% of the market is Mac. even if it was only 5% that is way too big a number to marginalize. to help me keep how big a number that is in perspective i think about the 10,000 SL signups a day and even at just 5% that would be over 180,000 people a year! 20% would make that almost three quarters of a million people per year! dang!
that market share number can be tossed out the window if you start thinking of things like the iPad. it’s no secret that idon’t like the iPad . . . well, it’s not that i dislike them, it’s that Mr. Jobs decided Flash is not important. i do a lot of eLearning multimedia work and it is all in Flash and you simply can’t effectively create software simulations with the HTML5 Canvas tag. for video, i think Flash is a poor choice but it’s way more than just video for the eLearning community. apart from that, i think the iPad is brilliant and you can’t argue about its popularity and massive adoption by not just regular people but also by corporations and education (last october, the CIO of Hilton handed out 2,500 iPads to hotel owners) o_O
so the bigger issue than Mac vs. PC is probably the iPad. both subQ and i have discussed that before and many of you have too and do use iPads (i don’t have one yet but i have to have a chip on my shoulder about something!). while dopes like me hold out for a decent Android tablet (what a train wreck that is, they are just coming out soooo slowly and not quite up to par) the iPad share keeps growing quickly and is shaping content
by “shaping content” i mean that the device is dictating how content is made rather than the “normal” model of content pushing the development of hardware. Second Life and OpenSim are great examples of content forcing hardware improvements – better graphics cards, faster broadband, better CPUs, and even additional user controls (like the Space Navigator). the iPad turned that on it’s head! it forces others to build to it and simplifies things (a finger? really? i guess it is nature’s built-in pointing device eh?)
ignoring the iPad is more than just ignoring the Mac market – it pushes Second Life and OpenSim into an even more of a niche thing
i know that some smart people are working on browser-based access and even iPad access and i would think that, in time, some very good viewers will emerge but i would think it could even be on the scale of years before we see something
but imagine what that will mean to your use of virtual worlds =)
students will be able to access them (so many schools are moving towards iPads being mandatory), business will be able to maximize them for meetings (how cool would that be to have your iPad cam make a hybrid meeting of real-time video with virtual world aspects), and you and i will be able to share something or maybe even tweak something from our iPads while drinking a beer and waiting for a friend at a restaurant – hmm, maybe drinking beer and creating stuff is not such a great idea) =D
browsers hitting simonastick.com & iliveisl.com
On average, over the years, my readers are about 37% Mac users.
I think there’s a few new technologies in the pipelines that will make VW’s on a Pad possible…but I think it’ll be a few years til it is up to scratch. Intels new chip (‘tri-gate’) comes to mind…. and the ISP….hmmm…. there’s a lot of roads need digging up round my way…
soror Nishi
14 May 11 at 11:57 am
Another consideration is the use of Mac in education. Not sure what the stats are today but I’m in one of the largest school district’s in the US and we are bi-platform with a dominance in Mac. Mac has always done well with educators.
I agree with you on the Flash issue – get over it Mr. Jobs.
Grid Jumper
14 May 11 at 11:59 am
Ener –
You forgot Unity 3D. Unity runs on the iPad, and Tipodean’s new BuiltBuyMe viewer (I hope they change that name!) is built on Unity 3D. So, eventually, it should happily run on an iPad.
– Maria
Maria Korolov
14 May 11 at 12:33 pm
My understanding is that OpenSimulator should run on Intel based Mac’s can you please let us know what is not working?
Nebadon Izumi
14 May 11 at 12:34 pm
Also in terms of the iPad it should be noted that iPad only has 256mb of ram, this will really limit any viewer capabilities on the iPad itself and there is absolutely no way OpenSim will run well on an iPad.
Nebadon Izumi
14 May 11 at 12:37 pm
Mac is certainly big in ed use and Google is trying to get a foothold in the ed market with their CR48 cloud laptop but iPad is here in a bug way
good point Maria and i have yet to try an OpenSim world via Unity 3D (that is possible isn’t it?)
i have a mental block about Unity since it’s a view only type thing but the “view only” part would work very well for Encl;ave Harbour (it might actually be preferable)
hi Nebadon =) you are correct, many educators reading this blog do use OpenSim with Macs. in this context it’s the sim-on-a-stick version that no one can get to run on a Mac. if i had a Mac, i would try following Diva’s Mac instructions because i have a feeling that compiling the sim-on-a-stick via a PC causes some issues. i don’t know anything at all about Macs except that some people have an interest in the USB stick approach
super point about the inherent capabilities of an iPad (and Android-based tablets) – they are not full blown machines and meant more as consuming tools and not creative ones
Ener Hax
14 May 11 at 2:48 pm
ahhh, MoWeS is specific for Windows and thus won’t run on a Mac! so there must be some similar alternative for Mac OS? it needs MySQL, Apache, and PHP
now we need someone Mac-techie! =)
Ener Hax
14 May 11 at 4:08 pm
Hi Ener
If you are developing for a Mac you need to use a Mac to develop on really as that is the only way to get it working properly.
Something that might fit your requirement on someone that would like to develop for the Mac might try this might even be a mowes replacement.
http://www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp.html
P.S. David Braben of Elite fame is beating us to our idea.
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2385055,00.asp
I say we just sit back and get them four horseman saddled up ready. ;)
Lateral Thinking
14 May 11 at 5:17 pm
hey Lateral, DreamWalker told me about that little Linux machine and the video is pretty compelling! and $25!!! hard to beat!
good point on the Mac, i messed with a Mac tonight for about 30 minutes and it was a learning experience (i had never ever been on one)
tonite’s post touches on it but like you said, i really need my own to do this
Ener Hax
14 May 11 at 8:16 pm