Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Cory Linden Voted Off the Island

Ok, so I really don't know how Linden Lab runs itself, but I have had the good fortune to meet a few of the Lindens including both Phillip and Cory. They are both tremendous guys; they are brilliant visionaries.

We have all heard the news: Cory is leaving Linden Lab at the end of the year. He may have been fired; he may have quit. Who knows? All mothers know this truth: it doesn't matter who pushes first when someone hits his head on the fish tank. OK, maybe only I know that.

Why do we care that Cory is leaving? Well, for one, we never hear about anything ever happening over there at Linden Lab. They are soooo quiet. Seven years and no scandals. We have been itching for SOME life form. The Lindens are generally inaccessible; they don't party much with the natives, or at least this native. There are some exceptions, of course. Claudia Linden has always been super responsive, Blue Linden is a true super hero on the teen grid, Iridium Linden is a trooper community goddess, and Glenn Linden is just awesome with his business development stuff. I also like Chadrick Linden a lot; he is cute as a button, and he almost got me a ride in a San Franciscan ambulance. That's what happens when you karaoke with Desi.

But, enough about that. Cory's leaving is quite big news; he is, after all, the guy who designed the Linden Scripting Language. He is one smart cookie.

But, Robert Frost said it best...sometimes there are two roads to travel. If one person wants to go one way and the other wants to go the other, they either have to flip a coin or decide to go their own ways. I am not sure which road is better or who is taking which path, but I have faith. Cory is off to big and better things, and Phillip wants to change and save the world. Having met Phillip, I truly believe his heart is in the right place. He is sincere. Cory is professional Navy; this isn't a bad thing or anything, but I think he might be slightly more practical. But, again, I don't know these two guys, and I am just guessing.

I was a HUGE survivor fan the first season (after that it totally became road kill). But, here is the thing...Phillip gets the final vote. It is his island, after all. Now, Cory gets the chance to go to the tiki bar and drink up and shower and imagine his amazing talents in a place with a company like Wii or something (ye gads, I have no clue what these brilliant peeps go off to do).

I wish them all happiness in whatever it is they are trying to do for good in this world, and I hope that people like Prokofy don't capitalize on assumed misery (to his credit, he did predict this would happen). We have no idea what the circumstances are, and as I see it (based on the posts to and fro from the hands of both Phillip and Cory), everyone is being super duper professional about it.

5 comments:

Unknown said...

I hope Cory doesn't defect to the Chinese.

Chadrick Linden left the Lab last Friday, without any comment, but I've confirmed it.

Prokofy

Unknown said...

Oh, and I have no idea what that nasty swipe is about "people like Pokofy don't capitalize on assumed misery". Why would you think I would do such a thing? I'm not one of those bloggers constantly lying in wait to slam Linden Lab and gloating at its misery. I would challenge you to find a post like that. I do criticize LL stringently, as well I should, given the awesome consequences of what they are doing.

I predicted it, yes, merely because founding fathers always end up quarrelling about vision at some point, I've seen him happen many times in organizations as they grow larger and older.

Super-duper professional or not, Beth, they need to grow up and say in plain layman's terms *what* these differences basically sum up as. Is it about Google? Open source? The Grid? What? We need to know this, as it affects our own business and other use of SL.

Prokofy

Beth Ritter-Guth said...

Dear Prokofy (I corrected the spelling of your name in the original post; my apologies):

I don't know you, but I do read your blog, and, of any person in SL, I believe you are most vocal about the happenings of the Lindens and the FIC. Admittedly, your posts deal more with criticism and less with praise, but, nonetheless, I support your rights to free speech. As a journalist trained by some of the greatest on earth, you will surely uncover many roots in this case, and I hope that you will employ all efforts to maintain journalistic ethics in reporting what you find.

All the best,
Beth

piper said...

Well.....!

I hope Cory takes time to step back and think before taking the first wads of dollars waved at him.
Here's what I hope for - he uses his experience of SL, good or bad, to re-evaluate the whole idea and then comes up with SL2 or Third Life as a competitor to LLabs. What an opportunity for him to put things right and start over. I doubt whether he'll get any problems funding it and damn sure it'll be better. I for one will sign up.

Unknown said...

Beth, I fail to see your point. Again, your swipe is misplaced, and again, you should be challenged on your idea that I'd be gloating over any misery for the Lindens; I would be doing no such thing. And I'm not "on" this story of why Cory Linden would leave SL. To cover this story, you'd have to be very much an LL insider, like the writers at massively.com, or know Cory, or know his friends, or have some sort of proximity. I can only analyze it from outside, I've already done that, based on whatever news has been gathered, and I don't imagine there will be much more to say about it until Cory himself gives an interview or shows up at a competitor.

Prokofy