Big goings-on over at Linden Lab this week. I learned about Claudia Linden's leaving yesterday, but I didn't feel like I could or should share it out. Now that Prad Prathivi has blogged a comprehensive list of Linden Lab layoffs (Linden Lab Layoffs: What Now?), along with insightful musings about the future of Second Life, I'm thinking we need to talk.
It's really all about dollars, and more about $ than about $L, at the end of the day.
This day, I'm sure, will be a memorable one for all the Lindens affected by the company's move to downsize. Think of it: Many, if not most, of these folks have been with Linden Lab for years. Prathivi makes the comment that "Up to 30% of Linden Lab’s employees have been laid off, and additional others moved into new roles." but Phillip Rosedale himself, speaking just early this year at NASA's Singularity University, stated that his company employed only around 60 workers. The 32 people in the list at Metaversally Speaking, well, that sounds like Linden Lab has laid off over half their staff. Is my math correct?
But back to my own musings. So these folks have been employed in "virtual jobs" for a real company for quite some time. I just wonder if an office job for some other internet startup, a marketing job for some other industry, or a return to whatever else they might have been doing for Linden Lab is going to satisfy. I wish them all the best. Maybe they'll be working up new models for 3D internet that provide more opportunities for learning and teaching. We can always hope!
I also wonder about the future of virtual environments. Our community members at the ISTE Special Interest Group for Virtual Environments (SIGVE) are facilitating three days of exploration into the value of learning and teaching in Virtual Environments at the end of the month at ISTE 2010 Conference and Exposition in Denver, Colorado and in virtual worlds. I'm sure we'll have even more to talk about now, won't we?
I can tell you that Linden Lab is working on a new concept called the EduHub, a resource for educators both formal and informal, and that if what I hear is correct, there's still promise for Linden Lab's ancillary commitment to education. I say "ancillary" because it's clearer than ever that the Lab's attention to education really relies on its ability to generate more of "what it's all about," and we know what that is, don't we?
We'll see. Fun times.
Read more: http://blog.pradprathivi.com/2010/06/10/linden-layoffs-what-now/#ixzz0qShSPpmN
3 comments:
Linden had 300, and laid off or is laying off something like 100.
I don't know what Philip was talking about with 60 people. (It may be he's working somewhere else besides Linden now? Dunno.)
I didn't see Prospero on that list, dude. Congrats are in order?
Hey! I found your reply to my comment 6 months later. Prospero Linden wasn't on that list because... I was fired a year before the layoffs! I was out of sorts for a few months, did occasional consulting for a few months, then taught at Belmont for a few months, and last summer (shortly after I posted the comment on your blog) moved to Canada, where now I teach at Quest Unviersity Canada.
Post a Comment