Thursday, December 13, 2007

The Sun doesn't always shine in Second Life

Going through some blogs, I noticed that Linden Lab is not always keeping the information internally. Sometimes, just when they don't need to, they bring out some news, that isn't suppose to come out in the public, even though we would have known it after all.
Originally the news was read at Massively about Linden Lab CTO, Cory Linden, being fired or quitting his job at the company. Apparently the ideas of Cory were not exactly the same as those from Philip Rosedale. (LL's CEO).

Philip wrote an email to all employees, and here is a part of it:
"Cory and I have differences in how we think Linden should be run, differences that in the past few months have become irreconcilable. These are tensions that were more manageable when we were smaller, and there have been times that they have helped us do great work together. But now, as we change and grow as a company, I feel that we need a different set of strengths in engineering leadership. I strongly believe that this is the right decision, although not without pain, for both LL and Cory. "

Cory's reaction to his departure from LL was also written in an email:
" I continue to believe in both Second Life and Linden Lab, but Philip and my visions for the future of Linden Lab are divergent enough that he decided to lead in his own way. While I will miss all of you, I have confidence in engineering - in all of you - to adapt and excel going forward. You are a phenomenal collection of talents and I know that both Linden Lab and Second Life will be hugely successful."

Taturo Nino wrote a comment on this issue, what Cory Ondrejka's departure would mean for Second Life:
"If you asked me this-morning, "Who can Linden Lab least afford to lose" my answer would have been simple: Cory Ondrejka and Robin Harper. At least (sitting on the outside here), every other member of staff seems to be replaceable."

It seems that LL and Second Life will face a whole new future, and it still remains unclear what is going to happen next. With the departure of Cory, LL lost a very important contributor to Second life, as we know it now.
So, 2008 will be perhaps the most important year in Second Life's history, a year of significant decisions and leading it to the future, with competitors already knocking on the door.

2 comments:

Raul Crimson said...

This information somehow makes me worry. Of course, as Tateru says, every one is replaceable, but Cory was for a long time kinda a symbol of Linden Lab. Anyway i'm sure he will find a good job (maybe in one new virtual world like There or something?). The thing that really make me worry is that "differences", lately Philip is doing some weird declarations.

Looker Lumet said...

Indeed Raul, that is why I decided to blog this. But.....if second life does not work out anymore...than we look for a third life...;)), where Cory is working perhaps?;)