Today, less than an hour ago, SL Go stopped working.
I’m very sad to see this service go because it allowed me to run Second Life on my 6 (!) year old MacBook with ultra graphics, something no other service can do, at this moment anyway.
I loved using SL Go to enjoy Second Life the way it should be enjoyed, seeing the virtual worlds the way they should be seen and be able to make amazing pictures of what I was seeing.
Yet, I am lucky.
I have another laptop that can handle SL even though it pretty much freezes when I turn Advanced Lighting and Shadows on.
So I am back to a virtual world that is just not as good looking as it should be.
But for quite a few people their Second Life ends today.
I’ve heard their upsetting stories in the SL Go group, people who had returned to SL after being away for a while because of computer issues or those who suddenly realised how amazing SL can look and were delighted to be able to actually go and leave their sims and explore without all the lag.
I was hoping that by now we’d have a replacement, perhaps a little naïve of me, but one can dream.
People are working on a replacement and already making lots of progress, Bright Canopy is looking very promising.
But will it allow me to run SL even on my ancient MacBook?
Will it be affordable?
Only time will tell.
I still think Linden Lab should try and find a way to offer us a similar service.
With all their servers and with the talented people of SL Go now looking for jobs, there is a golden opportunity for LL to try and stream SL.
Imagine everyone being able to enjoy SL with ultra graphics, all the time.
I would pay extra for that.
And imagine how impressive that could make Second Life Next Generation look…
Till something like that happens, we’re stuck in lag world without shadows.
For now, I’ll be missing SL Go, a lot.
Jo Yardley's Second Life 