Bye Bye, M

[Osprey Therian]

On NWN Hamlet says:

"Multiple sources tell me that more major executive changes at Linden Lab are coming very soon. Specifically, that Linden Lab CEO Mark Kingdon, known as M Linden in-world, is leaving the company, and Second Life founder Philip Rosedale, known as Philip Linden in-world, is returning to the company he founded to take a managerial position. These are unconfirmed reports, I hasten to say, so I'm checking with the company and other sources now. Perhaps related to this news (or not), Mark Kingdon was scheduled to speak in-world at the 7th anniversary of Second Life's launch today, but abruptly cancelled due to an unstated "emergency". Philip Linden appeared in his place."

[Monna]

*sigh*

[prinţesă nina]

im not as happy about this as most will be.
it wasnt until m arrived that ll made any visible attempt to address issues of bugs, etc. i full well remember phils style, and i dont recall it being a very happy place.

[Roxie]

The rat is deserting the ship? Who is next?

This could be a bad sign.

[Osprey Therian]

I have never been anti-M (Auntie Em! Auntie Em!) but he's made some strange blunders that it seems the company and the customers are paying dearly for.

Philip is eccentric in management style, but at least he seems motivated by out-of-the-ordinary aspirations.

I'd rather follow the dreamer any day than a pragmatic corporation. Likely he'll find someone else once things are stable, and this time it might be a better choice.

[Lias]

This is not going to end well. There seems to be some powerplay going on at the Board of Director's level. I think all of that serial firing backfired on M.

[Roxie]

I have never been anti-M (Auntie Em! Auntie Em!) but he's made some strange blunders that it seems the company and the customers are paying dearly for.

Philip is eccentric in management style, but at least he seems motivated by out-of-the-ordinary aspirations.

I'd rather follow the dreamer any day than a pragmatic corporation. Likely he'll find someone else once things are stable, and this time it might be a better choice.


Second Life always felt different after Philip stepped out of the way.
I can't put my finger on what it was. The one thing I do hope if he is
coming back to man the tiller. it will start to get it's old feeling back.

[Rev Eponym]

I think Kingdon was the guy they brought in to 'bring real-life business into SL'. We all knew how well that would turn out. Hell, my RL-job company had a meeting in-world with M as a speaker, and it was all the same line of drab bullshit that didn't address the real shortcomings of SL as a communications tool.

So, now that his inevitable failure is evident, he's out.

[Sarah Nerd]

I'll take the dude in chaps over the suit any day.

[Gabe Lippmann]

Philip is eccentric in management style, but at least he seems motivated by out-of-the-ordinary aspirations.

I think personal gain, notoriety and the fawning of the masses is pretty ordinary motivation.

[Gabe Lippmann]

The internal functioning of the company under The King was as backwards and fail worthy as any I've ever come across that wasn't family owned.




EDIT: The King references Phil, BTW. I always called him that and just realized it could be confusing.

[Jen]

Sounds like someone who "reads his own press", as my musician friends used to call it. Messes with one's ego-balancing abilities.

[Forest]

Just another sign of the impending zombie apocalypse.

[Marianne McCann]

To me, it's interesting to note the *reaction* to the rumor. Most have reacted very positively to the very notion, even jubilantly. Even many who are unsure about Phil's style of leadership seem ready to toss M overboard.

I know that for me *personally* it makes me feel more confident about Second Life as a whole. As Os put it, I'd really rather follow the dreamer.

[Kristian]

Quote from a friend this morning: "Why do I suddenly feel more comfortable with the idea of going premium again?"

[Govi]

Apple booted Jobs, brought in a Pepsi exec--an unimaginative by-the-numbers CEO with no feel for Apple's business--and nearly hit the ropes. Then Apple's board fired Mr. Bricks-for-brains and brought Jobs back in. The rest is legendary Win.

M has no feel for what SL was, is, might be. Another by-the-numbers CEO. I hope this story is true, because M put LL on the ropes faster than did Apple's Sculley, and LL could use a return to its original and successful vision.

[Roxie]

Apple booted Jobs, brought in a Pepsi exec--an unimaginative by-the-numbers CEO with no feel for Apple's business--and nearly hit the ropes. Then Apple's board fired Mr. Bricks-for-brains and brought Jobs back in. The rest is legendary Win.

M has no feel for what SL was, is, might be. Another by-the-numbers CEO. I hope this story is true, because M put LL on the ropes faster than did Apple's Sculley, and LL could use a return to its original and successful vision.

I have never been happy when I see a company push it's creator out the door.

It's like they are separating the soul from the brain.


I hope the rumor is true and he is coming back.

[Forest]

Apple booted Jobs, brought in a Pepsi exec--an unimaginative by-the-numbers CEO with no feel for Apple's business--and nearly hit the ropes. Then Apple's board fired Mr. Bricks-for-brains and brought Jobs back in. The rest is legendary Win.

M has no feel for what SL was, is, might be. Another by-the-numbers CEO. I hope this story is true, because M put LL on the ropes faster than did Apple's Sculley, and LL could use a return to its original and successful vision.

There is no doubt of the truth of your post but it's also true that American business history is littered with great creative minds that have destroyed their company because their skills were in creating not maintaining the business. I don't buy it but there is good argument that Apple survived BECAUSE they removed Jobs and then again because they brought him back. It never would have made it with Woz in charge.

Don't dismiss someone because they have business acumen, criticize them for their lack of creativity.

[Govi]

Exactly! Businesses need both business acumen and creativity--a feel for the business that no school can teach.

Think on GM, Ford, Chrysler. Their problems have been due--every time--to a loss of respect for their customers and a failure to look forward in their business, to cast lots on the future. They have all imagined the 50s as their Golden Age, when any piece of tin with fins would sell with enough marketing (unless it was an Edsel). They've been on a downward slope by sticking too much to their 50s formula for success. Of course, there is also the model of the founder with vision who nearly wrecked a company that seemed destined to take over the world: Henry Ford I.

[Cocoanut Koala]

They probably can't afford his salary.

[Sansarya]

It's official, Philip is named "interim CEO" though, which is interesting.

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/linden-lab-announces-management-changes-97074779.html

Linden Lab Announces Management Changes

SAN FRANCISCO, June 24 /PRNewswire/ -- Linden Lab®, creator of 3D virtual world Second Life®, announced today that company founder Philip Rosedale has been named interim CEO, and CFO Bob Komin has assumed the additional role of COO. Linden Lab also announced that Mark Kingdon is stepping down as CEO.
"On behalf of the board, I thank Mark for all of his contributions during his tenure with Linden Lab which include growing our user base and revenue, increasing the stability of the platform, and nurturing and helping build a world class team," said Rosedale, who will continue to serve on Linden Lab's board of directors.

[Cocoanut Koala]

And all us little people cheer like they did in that Twilight Zone episode when they toppled the statue they'd been forced to make of the (now dead) giant human who'd invaded their planet!

If we ARE gonna go down, I'd much rather do it with Philip back at the helm!

Onward, through the fog!

:coco:

[Roxie]

A little traveling music for departed Dear Leader


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8Tiz6INF7I

[Sansarya]

Here's Lordfly's music for returning Phil :D :

http://www.sluniverse.com/php/vb/961827-post18.html

[GradyE]

:lol: win!

[Phoenix Psaltery]

THE KING(DON) IS DEAD! LONG LIVE KING PHILIP!

P2

[Lucifer Baphomet]

I'd be convinced if Philip had sacked Kingdon, and retaken the helm long before Kingdon not only ran the ship aground, but hacked it up and used the hull for firewood.

Too little too late.

[Io Zeno]

The internal functioning of the company under The King was as backwards and fail worthy as any I've ever come across that wasn't family owned.




EDIT: The King references Phil, BTW. I always called him that and just realized it could be confusing.

:word:

LL just lurches from one Fail to another then back again to Old Fail.

[Sansarya]

I don't think Old SL was fail. It was a baby taking its first steps, which is some fail, but not all fail. Nobody had done anything like SL before, so there was bound to be some fail. I think they've learned a lot in the meantime, but there will still be fail. As long as it continues (which wasn't certain even two weeks ago) it's not fail.

[Io Zeno]

Ok, wait a minute.

How long has M been in charge? Not very long.

The list of complaints, fuckups, outrages about SL have been going on and getting worse as long as I've been there. The corporate angle and fucking over residents to kiss their asses, all that happened under "hippie" Phil. Who did we write the Open Letter to, it sure wasn't M.

[Lucifer Baphomet]

Prediction...

Philip will be in the driving seat for as short a time as possible, and will make a couple of "concessions" to the userbase...

Then they'll find another suit to do the dirty work, piss everyone off, then they'll step down, and Phil will step in as interim CEO to much adulation..

Rinse wash repeat.

[Roxie]

Ok, wait a minute.

How long has M been in charge? Not very long.

The list of complaints, fuckups, outrages about SL have been going on and getting worse as long as I've been there. The corporate angle and fucking over residents to kiss their asses, all that happened under "hippie" Phil. Who did we write the Open Letter to, it sure wasn't M.

Second Life was much more fun before the corporate greed mode took over.

[Jorus]

Ok, wait a minute.

How long has M been in charge? Not very long.

The list of complaints, fuckups, outrages about SL have been going on and getting worse as long as I've been there. The corporate angle and fucking over residents to kiss their asses, all that happened under "hippie" Phil. Who did we write the Open Letter to, it sure wasn't M.

Standard glory days mentality. We all do it :p

[Sansarya]

Ok, wait a minute.

How long has M been in charge? Not very long.

The list of complaints, fuckups, outrages about SL have been going on and getting worse as long as I've been there. The corporate angle and fucking over residents to kiss their asses, all that happened under "hippie" Phil. Who did we write the Open Letter to, it sure wasn't M.

Ok, I think the fail under M was bigger than the fail under Philip (because it felt like a soulless corporation more than it did under Philip), and nobody bothered to Open Letter M because at that point people had run right into apathy after a lot of the changes M made. There was a little discussion about doing another Open Letter on SLU about a week or so ago, and the response was pretty much, "meh."

[Io Zeno]

Second Life was much more fun before the corporate greed mode took over.

Philip coded "corporate greed" right into SL, it was *his* plan to begin with, am I the only one who remembers the rending of clothing over the "sellout" of SL to the corporates under Philip?

[Phoenix Psaltery]

Ok, wait a minute.

How long has M been in charge? Not very long.

It's been longer than I realized.

From the SL Wiki:

Philip Rosedale announced to step back from CEO in mid March 2008 and introduced new CEO Mark D. Kingdon (M Linden) one month later. Philip is still an integral part of the company and became chairman of the board.


So it's been over two years.

Yeah, SL has had its issues, especially since 6/6/6, but at least it seemed as though they were listening/were trying. Since M had been at the helm it seemed as though we were praying to a sky of brass.

P2

[Io Zeno]

Listening and trying?

That is what we learned was the Big Lie after Open Letter, remember?

Ok, never mind, if people want to remember all that time as sunshine and lollipops now, I'm not going to change any minds.

[Phoenix Psaltery]

Standard glory days mentality. We all do it :p

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VsEkhy7fGLw

P2

[Vengence Opus]

Who?

[Phoenix Psaltery]

Listening and trying?

That is what we learned was the Big Lie after Open Letter, remember?

Ok, never mind, if people want to remember all that time as sunshine and lollipops now, I'm not going to change any minds.

Everything is relative. I think things were bad under Philip, but far worse under M.

I assume that by "the Big Lie," you are referring to how LL responded to Project Open Letter by reassuring us that they were listening and would be doing some things to make SL better...?

Well, as Sans just remarked to me, "They did do something. They did M."

Which makes me think of the adage, "Be careful what you wish for. You might get it."

P2

[Gabe Lippmann]

It was glorious. I can't wait. I never laugh as hard at the current incompetence as I did with Phil.

[Phoenix Psaltery]

Who?

No, not The Who... Springsteen.

P2

[Gabe Lippmann]

Everything is relative. I think things were bad under Philip, but far worse under M.

I assume that by "the Big Lie," you are referring to how LL responded to Project Open Letter by reassuring us that they were listening and would be doing some things to make SL better...?

Well, as Sans just remarked to me, "They did do something. They did M."

Which makes me think of the adage, "Be careful what you wish for. You might get it."

P2

What they did was try to change from a gloriously inept shitpile of pie-in-the-sky shenanigans into an actual business with some kind of plan and some kind of structure.

[GradyE]

I find your passion admirable.

[Cocoanut Koala]

Standard glory days mentality. We all do it :p

Personalities play a huge role here. Compare Philip to M: Who would you rather have up there?

Somebody somewhere (maybe on SLU) said something about, "I remember when everyone hated Philip."

Well, I don't remember when anyone hated Philip. They hated some of the stuff he did, but how could you hate the guy himself?

Whereas M was every bit as much an enigma as was his name. A cipher. And had all the coloration of a slug. The things he wrote could have been written by anyone with a little guidebook for how suits are supposed to talk.

Philip was, is, real.

We'd much rather fight with him!

So in that sense, Philip was the glory days, in a way M never could be.

[Sansarya]

In the past eighteen months, Second Life has expanded, growing from a small community of early adopters to a platform supporting millions of users. Linden Lab has created a world that inspires a deep level of passion in its users and provides unprecedented opportunities to share creatively, socially, and financially.

With explosive levels of growth often come unexpected problems. In keeping with your company's policy and rich history of resident involvement, we the undersigned would like to take this opportunity to address some concerns that we feel have gone unanswered for too long.

There are some consistent, ongoing problems that are getting worse under heavy load, not better, and are not simply irritants but problems that are causing financial loss in some cases, which is unacceptable. Here is a brief list of the main concerns:

* Inventory loss - this is a devastating problem that is worsening. We have no ability to protect our own inventories through backups, and are trusting you to protect that data. This is the highest priority. Sensible inventory limits (on non-verified accounts only), combined with better management tools and ways to protect our inventory ourselves would help to mitigate the problem as well. Regardless, this cannot continue - we will not accept financial loss as a feature of Second Life. It is your responsibility as service provider to ensure our data is not lost, and you are failing us.

* Problems with Find and Friends List - we continue to see search outages on a far too regular basis. It is bad enough trying to get anywhere without being able to use search, but many users are also paying money for classified ads. Our friends lists just do not work reliably any longer, after years without an issue with them. If America Online/MSN/Yahoo can provide presence information for hundreds of millions of users, surely there is a way to make our friends lists work again.

* Grid stability and performance - teleports fail quite regularly, especially under heavy load. Attachments end up in places they did not start out in, and sim performance varies wildly. None of this makes for a very pleasant experience for users. Long promised improvement to physics and scripting would help dramatically to reduce these problems, but there are a lot of other scalability issues as well. It often feels like the grid is coming apart at the seams. The promised use of limiting logins of non-verified accounts during peak load has been severely lacking. This would be an effective interim solution to load issues, but Linden Lab seems unwilling to use it.

* Build tool problems - the importance of build tools that actually work as promised cannot be overstated enough - we rely on them to create content. Prim drift, disappearing prims, imprecise placement, problems with linking and other issues with the tools need to be addressed. Too much time is being spent trying to work around the problems.

* Transaction problems - inventory deliveries are failing with an alarming (and annoying) frequency, leaving merchants with the burden of replacing missing content and having to try to confim the transaction in the first place. We trust that our L$ balances are accurate, but given recent problems, that is a cause for concern as well, and one we place our full trust in you to ensure its accuracy.

We remain fully supportive of Second Life and are more than willing to continue doing our part to help, but our confidence is steadily being eroded due to a general lack of communication and the apparent failure to successfully address the many issues detailed above. What we are asking for is that these problems are addressed immediately, ahead of new features, and that we are able to see tangible improvements. We accept that this will not happen overnight but it also cannot be allowed to continue indefinitely either.

Thank you for taking the time to read this letter.

Sincerely,

The Undersigned

I think almost all of these problems persist. They get fixed, then they write a new viewer and the bugs come back because they didn't write the patches into the new viewer. Since Kingdon has been CEO we've seen SL go in a really bad direction though, with the 2.0 viewer, the Enterprise thing, Zindra, SLExchange buyout (and I do remember saying at the time it was LL GOMing SLexchange, and yes, I do remember GOM was under Phil's leadership), and then the fiasco that would have been trying to make SL into Facebook (which Kingdon blogged about only two weeks ago). I'm glad Philip is back because he's not going in new directions. Twice this week he's talked about concentrating on what they've got, stabilizing the platform and focusing on current users. I'll take that over the facebook SL.

(and I have to go do the Payday Path right now, so can't respond more till later :) )

[GradyE]

I seriously doubt that Philip is going to pull off a "Steve Jobs" here. I think he is going to sit in long enough to find another CEO to get SL to the next screen, whatever that screen may be.

[Gabe Lippmann]

I would prefer M. Sadly, he failed in his task.

Phil wasn't real.

[Roxie]

Personalities play a huge role here. Compare Philip to M: Who would you rather have up there?

Somebody somewhere (maybe on SLU) said something about, "I remember when everyone hated Philip."

Well, I don't remember when anyone hated Philip. They hated some of the stuff he did, but how could you hate the guy himself?

Whereas M was every bit as much an enigma as was his name. A cipher. And had all the coloration of a slug. The things he wrote could have been written by anyone with a little guidebook for how suits are supposed to talk.

Philip was, is, real.

We'd much rather fight with him!

So in that sense, Philip was the glory days, in a way M never could be.


This may sound idealistic. With Philip in charge I could give him a pass if something didn't work. He created it. it was his baby and I know as well as anyone. Nothing ever works 100% from the start. I shared his passion and vision when he would give talks at town halls about how this is the future of the internet. If it broke, no worries let's give the guy a break. He stepped aside and M came in. No vision no passion. Just hype and spin. Everyone yelled that 2.0 sucked. What do they do. Add more useless shit to it. Instead of listening to why people hated it.

I am still behind Philip. I like rooting for the inventor types in our society.

Not to say I agree with everything he does. I am willing to give him another chance.

[GradyE]

I would prefer M. Sadly, he failed in his task.

Phil wasn't real.

s'ok, neither is SL. :readnews:

[Lucifer Baphomet]

Phil was a good guy...

We could relate to him...

OK he might not be best for the job, but he SPEAKS to us, in a language we understand.

Substitute Sarah Palin for Phil, and this thread starts to sound like tea partiers waxing lyrical about Sarah Palin

[Roxie]

Phil was a good guy...

We could relate to him...

OK he might not be best for the job, but he SPEAKS to us, in a language we understand.

Substitute Pjhil for Sarah Palin, and this thread starts to sound like tea partiers waxing lyrical about Sarah Palin.

You hit the nail on the head. I remember meeting Philip in world when I was stumping for Second Life Magazine *RIP*. He was so excited that someone wanted to talk to him about Second Life and his passion. He gave me his cell phone number. I never used it but he was that kind of guy. Talk to anyone.

I bet he answers his own phone too:)

I can forgive a lot of sins in a person if they just communicate.
Okay something broke or it's not going as planed. Talk to me, Don't put up a wall of bullshit ala M and his spin doctors did.

[Lucifer Baphomet]

Yes, Phil was so commuted to communication he closed down General and off-topic, the business parts of the old forums.

It's far better to be lied to directly by the CrEatOr than by his monkey in a suit

[Lucifer Baphomet]

Don't get me wrong, I'm not sorry to see M go.

I just don't get the adulation and fawning over Philip's return

[Gabe Lippmann]

Phil communicates like a champ unless you want to know something important.

but he had a big smile and a useless working phil-osophy and we love his enthuuusiasm,

I will stop. I don't want to make the big guy supersad.

[Io Zeno]

See, I never had any love for Rosedale. I viewed him as a CEO of a company and as such, he was laughable. Remember the Tao of Linden? I never felt he cared, he was too spaced out to care, he was like either in lala land or pimping LL to corporates like it was going to save the day.

"It had to be fun.... at first."

Who said that? Philip Rosedale. Back then we all agreed he used the residents to build the content he needed to sell LL to the corporates and everyone else, free labor, fuck Phil.

Now its: We love you, man.

:shrug:

[GradyE]

See, I never had any love for Rosedale. I viewed him as a CEO of a company and as such, he was laughable. Remember the Tao of Linden? I never felt he cared, he was too spaced out to care, he was like either in lala land or pimping LL to corporates like it was going to save the day.

"It had to be fun.... at first."

Who said that? Philip Rosedale. Back then we all agreed he used the residents to build the content he needed to sell LL to the corporates and everyone else, free labor, fuck Phil.

Now its: We love you, man.

:shrug:

Hey, people welcomed Stank back to this forum with open arms. Go figure. :shrug:

[Io Zeno]

You hit the nail on the head. I remember meeting Philip in world when I was stumping for Second Life Magazine *RIP*. He was so excited that someone wanted to talk to him about Second Life and his passion. He gave me his cell phone number. I never used it but he was that kind of guy. Talk to anyone.

I bet he answers his own phone too:)

I can forgive a lot of sins in a person if they just communicate.
Okay something broke or it's not going as planed. Talk to me, Don't put up a wall of bullshit ala M and his spin doctors did.

I'm sure he's a great guy, everyone says so.

Everyone also said, *back then*, SL was falling apart and selling out and it was his doing.

I have very creative friends I love, that doesn't mean they should be running companies.

And yeah, what about closing down the forums? Didn't we all view that as Proof Positive that LL were done with us and didn't give a shit what we had to say? Wasn't that under Phil?

Why does he get a pass, because it was his idea? Didn't that become moot when he was taking your money? Do you care if the CEO of a car company loves his cars if yours falls apart?

Ok I'm done. :p

[Io Zeno]

He also has Crazy Eyes, it's just a fact.

http://www.shinyshiny.tv/Philip%20Rosedale,%20creator%20of%20Second%20Life% 20(an%20avatar%20has%20never%20looked%20this%20goo d).jpg

[Lucifer Baphomet]

He also has Crazy Eyes, it's just a fact.

http://www.shinyshiny.tv/Philip%20Rosedale,%20creator%20of%20Second%20Life% 20(an%20avatar%20has%20never%20looked%20this%20goo d).jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2124/2435142048_ddcfe11423_o.gif

[Roxie]

I

Why does he get a pass, because it was his idea? Didn't that become moot when he was taking your money? Do you care if the CEO of a car company loves his cars if yours falls apart?

Ok I'm done. :p

Invent your own creation from scratch that serves the great unwashed and untutored. We will talk in 7 years.

[Io Zeno]

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2124/2435142048_ddcfe11423_o.gif

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_1FRY654d-9w/Sxi66ZnevPI/AAAAAAAACPw/hjpNW6Un4w0/s320/prryan.jpg

[Io Zeno]

Invent your own creation from scratch that serves the great unwashed and untutored. We will talk in 7 years.

Oh, please.

[Io Zeno]

I'm going to tell you a big secret:

I never thought SL was that great, I was ready to leave when I started to make friends.

*That* is what I will thank Phillip for: His platform attracted great people.

And extremely patient ones, who, dealing with all sorts of limitations and problems, created great content for him to show off to the investors who are probably calling the shots today.

[Roxie]

Oh, please.

No really I have the scars from working for a start up ISP back in the day when people didn't know what a mouse was, let alone a web page.

Charting unknown territory, trying to do the impossible with the tools at hand.
Let the damm mail server hiccup and it was "oh you guys suck".

Yes I give Philip a pass because on a smaller scale I have been there.

Or as I told one customer who was upset that we dared to take the news server down at 4 AM to update the software. "I will be happy to sell you a T-1 line and you can start your own damm ISP"


In other words if you can do better.

[Jorus]

Oh, please.

No really I have the scars from working for a start up ISP back in the day when people didn't know what a mouse was, let alone a web page.

Charting unknown territory, trying to do the impossible with the tools at hand.
Let the damm mail server hiccup and it was "oh you guys suck".

Yes I give Philip a pass because on a smaller scale I have been there.

Or as I told one customer who was upset that we dared to take the news server down at 4 AM to update the software. "I will be happy to sell you a T-1 line and you can start your own damm ISP"


In other words if you can do better.

Funny, the reason I don't give him a pass is because I've "Been there"

[Gabe Lippmann]

He's selling a service. It is no longer a funny little thing he came up with and didn't know how to manage.

OK, it still is that second part.

[Lexxi]

Bye Linden guy that liked fondling women's breasts. :(

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3459/3279021715_9db1ef56d8.jpg

*pets bear*
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3384/3281602964_63a41296fd.jpg

[Cocoanut Koala]

Yeah, he had the stupid Tao of love and all that stuff.

But - I ask you: Who would you rather go to bed with, Philip or M?

Well, that's an obvious answer! Philip is sex on a stick!

But let's cut to the chase here.

The real reason we are happy to have Philip back is he's. . .

. . . One of us! One of us!

http://static.flickr.com/76/219105434_5d12b07c08_o.jpg

You know it's true!

:coco:

[Io Zeno]

Crazy eyes or alien eyes?

Neither, thanks. :p

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3317/3326826915_46d0a2a53d.jpg

[Govi]

The reason Apple's Board fired Jobs and hired Sculley is because Jobs was not cutting it. It's all a gamble; one can say that this decision was right or wrong only in hindsight. I like this gamble, it has precedent of winning sometimes (Jobs was hired back). It has better precedent than a CEO who was taking LL operations further and further from their existing customer base. Now, if Philip has learned from his own mistakes and brings to the business the good qualities he has, then this decision is a good one. Only time will tell.

Philip has to understand the business aspects of LL better, meaning he has to appreciate and anticipate the effects of bad decisions like the homestead sim price change fiasco. It didn't touch me personally, but it was devastating to many people.

M has done one good thing: he has unintentionally caused LL's competitors to have a better chance of surviving.

[Cocoanut Koala]

It's only temporary, y'all.

:coco:

[23rdDjin]

Or as I told one customer who was upset that we dared to take the news server down at 4 AM to update the software. "I will be happy to sell you a T-1 line and you can start your own damm ISP"


In other words if you can do better.

heh... i remember when similar words were once used in regard to SC and it's "residents"... the apoplexy was near apocalyptic...

[Fatz]

Guys,

When a 1/3rd of the company is let go and the CEO resigns/is fired the end is near. I can't think of a single example of a company in this situation that wasn't in drastic trouble.

My guess is /some/ chicken came home to roost that sealed the company as not viable. Investors pulling funds or more likely cashing out.

It's just not good at all. I can't think of any company that came back from something like this.

[Govi]

Obvious counter-example should be obvious, Fatz:
Dr. Amelio was the CEO of Apple for some 15 months in 1996 and 1997, having taken over after taking over from Mike "the Diesel" Spindler. Dr. Amelio was brought to Apple as a turn around artist and succeeded in making sweeping changes to the company including massive (and much needed) layoffs and several restructurings. He also trimmed the product line and tried to bring discipline to Apple's legendary engineering staff. Dr. Amelio also killed Apple's ill-fated Copland project that was attempting to make a new operating system to replace the Mac OS. His solution was to buy NeXT Computer, whose founder, Steve Jobs, was Apple's cofounder. Mr. Jobs came on to Apple as an advisor to Dr. Amelio, and the rest is history.
Former Apple CEO Gil Amelio Lands A New CEO Job (http://www.macobserver.com/article/2001/02/06.13.shtml)

[Io Zeno]

But Apple was a real company. :p

[Jorus]

Day one under the renewed rule of King Phil.

Can't teleport anywhere. Can't do anything.

[Govi]

Le sigh.

[Charlemagne Allen]

I would prefer M. Sadly, he failed in his task.

Phil wasn't real.

I don't know about that. SL was a quixotic enough project for the persona to be reality...

:thinking:

[clio]

my only preference is..when i did my clown nose project Phillip made a appointment to come in world to have his picture taken..and when i was doing the 2nd clown nose project M never responded...soooooooooo
:thinking:

[Spaceman Opus]

Oh crap...this means I have one less friend on my Avatars United account...that I last checked a couple days after I friended M :)

[Osprey Therian]

Partly it's that although we know it's moonshine and fairy dust we are willing to accept that from Philip; since businesses are affected by people's moods to a great degree, SL may pull out of a nosedive in part because of Philip's glamour and its effect.

[Jorus]

Guys,

When a 1/3rd of the company is let go and the CEO resigns/is fired the end is near. I can't think of a single example of a company in this situation that wasn't in drastic trouble.

My guess is /some/ chicken came home to roost that sealed the company as not viable. Investors pulling funds or more likely cashing out.

It's just not good at all. I can't think of any company that came back from something like this.

Not too familiar with the tech sector huh? Almost every major manufacturer (IBM most notably does this roughly every 3 years or so) has done this, and most hosting companies have done this in the last two.

[Forest]

Carly Fiorina did this for HP

[Govi]

I'm under the impression that Carly--seemingly all by herself--put HP on the ropes, then performed the cuts that that necessitated. Women execs are often brought in as a desperation move by Boards, at the last moment, thus making it that no man's reputation might be sullied if things go bust. Not so with Carly, she bollixed things all by herself.

[Forest]

No, HP was in trouble without her. The purchase of Compaq made no sense. She wasn't competent but she was not solely to blame

[Gabe Lippmann]

Nobody ever is.

[Jorus]

No, HP was in trouble without her. The purchase of Compaq made no sense. She wasn't competent but she was not solely to blame

As a consumer, in my eyes the brand has definitely changed for the better recently. I actually like my HP PC. Now when it comes to servers I prefer Dell/IBM.

[Roxie]

As a consumer, in my eyes the brand has definitely changed for the better recently. I actually like my HP PC. Now when it comes to servers I prefer Dell/IBM.

My daughter purchased an HP. She hated it. It never lived up to the hype.
It was hard to upgrade. Open the case, it looked like the engineer was on LSD.

I will stick to HP Printers they do very well with those.

[Jorus]

As a consumer, in my eyes the brand has definitely changed for the better recently. I actually like my HP PC. Now when it comes to servers I prefer Dell/IBM.

My daughter purchased an HP. She hated it. It never lived up to the hype.
It was hard to upgrade. Open the case, it looked like the engineer was on LSD.

I will stick to HP Printers they do very well with those.

I should probably note that I removed most of the internal structure (all that media bay shit no one uses.) to make room for a large video card. I meant I was pleased overall with it from an operational standpoint. Case design and build can never match home built.

[Troy Vogel]

I actually read this thread omg. Lots of good points and relevant opinions. Well done everyone.


I fear what I am going to say is not that original a point of view but if anyone cares to hear it, here it is.

Phililip is a pretty poster boy who is more an idea guy rather than a project manager. He is good with people and one to one relations buts sucks at communicating mission critical information. He is the winner of the linden idol contest but like the American idol winners his album is likely to flop. Liking someone and having them be a good project manager are two different things.

More than likely good project managers are actually not well liked but respected. M Linden in my head fit the criterion of the good project manager. And the platform is orders of magnitude more stable than it was in 2007 . Change management is very well done now. Disaster aversion and mitigation is done much better. They also tried some new tngs like the linden hones, providing a controlled shopping experience, a socai l networking portal in addition to trying a new viewer. The viewer was badly received by the content authors who are very vocal while it was well received by content consumers who outnumber the authors but don't care to kick and scream.

It is true that the viewer two has some pretty bad user interface mistakes but it also represents a good step in the rightt direction in terms of moving away from the client being an authoring tool to a client that is meant for users -- the majority.

I eonder if plip would be as well received if he had come on bored and be the person firing 30% of the staff.

Our mistake as a community is, we mix our feelings with business we expect things like someone to log into SL on a regularar basis for them to be a good Linden Lab employee. We hold grudges, we kick and scream, we buy into the linden bullshit about how we are reside ts and we have a say. When your bank tells you your business matters to them do you expect to show up to the monthly board of directors meetings.? Hardly. It is fascinating how we expect same things with Linden Lab.

On one hand it is a testament to the brand, the alluring nature of what Linden Lab has been able to create -- a world people feel vested in. Kudos to that.

Philip coming back can be a good thing. If he learned anything from his absence.

If he is back to ruin the code change management, stability of the platform and keep making dog gone it stupid decisions and then selling them to us on. Silver platter than oh boy we are in for Rough ride.

As for M linden, i do not envy his position. He was a set to fail. He is the Obama of SL.... Yes he is. Acorporate jerk, a cold business man, a nonBS guy --- these things do not appeal to masses but they sure help in getting a product stble and working once again. Too bad al of this did not happen back in 2007 when it all actually mattered.

The stability of SL came too let, it missed the media blitz, the hype, and the masas interest. SL makes everyone smirk when i bring it up in professional or social circles - it makes them check put pf the conversation while I tell them about SL. Why? Because SL fucked it up back in 2006 - 2007.

One thing I must admit about M linden's tenure that i did not like is how everything turned to be punishable by some fee or tax or some other financial crap. This administration made prims more valuable than they were when we had a thousand sims. They made residents move out, they made estates crash down with expenses, they made businesses like mine go belly up due to all the double triple dipping they did with fees.

All the linden drama of the past years translated to bad business and we all suffered, many good stores closed down.

Where do we go from here? I don't know. I am once again at the verge of closing my store, i seem to hit this point every summer....

Thanks for listening.....

[Forest]

As for M linden, i do not envy his position. He was a set to fail. He is the Obama of SL.... Yes he is. Acorporate jerk, a cold business man, a nonBS guy --- these things do not appeal to masses but they sure help in getting a product stble and working once again. Too bad al of this did not happen back in 2007 when it all actually mattered.

You think he could fix the oil leak in the gulf?

:scratchhead:

[Osprey Therian]

M Linden in my head fit the criterion of the good project manager.

M didn't understand SL.
Philip handed over LL in good working order, and M proceeded to squander money and customer good will whilst doing a goose-that-laid-the-golden-eggs thing with SL.

LL should provide a stable platform, and should not compete with its customers.
They were making money from land and from the Lindex, but instead of seeing that they needed to be satisfied with those aspects of SL they expanded their grasp. The platform is unstable and they are horning in on everything to such a degree that people are leaving.
If they had just let the population grow, rl businesses would've been attracted eventually.

Philip had a rather eccentric management style, and there's no telling what will happen now, but M was worse. I hope Philip chooses a successor who is competent this time.

In part it was too soon to force the big business decisions, but in another way SL needs nurturing as a place, a place requiring continuity, ritual, repetition. It is selling it short to force things upon it for the sake of business.

As I said in my blob:
Placeness
There's a translation between LL and SL that isn't working at all, since the two identities are mixed up together. LL needs to be a company concerned with staying afloat in a harsh economy, but it would be more useful to customers if SL had some placeness to it, and wasn't just LL with a sheepskin tied on its back.

Disconnect
There should be great deliberation in altering the world's rules and laws since that's what people build their plans upon. There should also be care taken in the way LL interfaces with its customers, in particular that the messages should not conflict and forward-facing LL employees who, after all, are part of the placeness, part of SL to us, should not be part of cost-cutting layoffs. The good will and relationships they have built up are part of SL, not LL, and if LL doesn't value those - then it needs to make a buffer government or something, as it doesn't understand its customers needs. Right now everything is jumbled up and it's no wonder there is confusion.

Blood-Brain Barrier
I can see it work if there were a forward-facing cadre of people interacting between LL and SL's customers, but only if they have some degree of independence - a blood-brain barrier. Maybe they'd be paid according to Supply Linden's financial success, or something, like base pay but automatic bonuses when Supply made above X.

Another thing: that entire agility concept as applied to business is the opposite of what is needed to foster placeness - it's the opposite of what SL requires. Placeness is fostered by ritual, deliberation, repetition, value built over time, growth over time. Agility says you can lay off one-third of your employees, that it's us versus them, instantaneous change, I'm-all-right-Jack. Agility is fine for LL if it can keep its identity separate from that of SL, but it has never done that.

[Gabe Lippmann]

I can't go back and read the thread portions I missed because of environmental factors, but if nobody posted this (http://ordinalmalaprop.com/engine/2010/06/24/initial-reaction-departure-mr-m-and-interim-return-rosedale-context-recent-shenanigans) before, I just did it now. If someone already did, then I did it again.

[Osprey Therian]

Is that pic from when Philip came to Darkmere?

[Phoenix Psaltery]

Is that pic from when Philip came to Darkmere?

I do believe it is. :)

http://ordinalmalaprop.com/engine/sites/default/files/philip_musical.jpg

P2

[Osprey Therian]

That was fun.

[Troy Vogel]

BTW... sorry about all the pseudo typos. I was typing all of that after lunch on my ipad in a cafe and anyone who got their hands on an ipad knows, the typing sucks ass and not in the good exhilarating way....

[Troy Vogel]

One more Clarification:
When I said, double triple dipping in terms of charges, I meant that I do not understand why I have to pay a premium account fee, on top of a full island fee, and classifieds fee, and parcel fee, and xstreet posting fee, and sl exchange market fee, and paypal fee and fee fee and your ass is not cute enough fee.

These people are worse than the phone company and cable company combined.... they are pure evil and STILL losing money. What are they doing over there in the LL offices? Handing out free tubs of elbow grease and giant butt plugs? Where is our money going???

LOL

And I know the answer to that question: Free account holders from Brazil who are setting up night clubs in my sandbox when I am not looking. That's where our money is going as content creators. We are funding the frolicking of thousands of free loaders with the money we generate.

[Sansarya]

Free account holders from Brazil who are setting up night clubs in my sandbox when I am not looking.

Really? That reminds me of Madagascar's traveling night club. We'd be rocking out on dance balls while crossing a sim, then next thing you know, SIM CROSSING! CRASH! and everyone would go flying. TP back, rinse, repeat :D

[Troy Vogel]

Really? That reminds me of Madagascar's traveling night club. We'd be rocking out on dance balls while crossing a sim, then next thing you know, SIM CROSSING! CRASH! and everyone would go flying. TP back, rinse, repeat :D

now I would dig that.... but don't tell anyone... shhhhh....

[reeneebob Birmingham]

He also has Crazy Eyes, it's just a fact.

http://www.shinyshiny.tv/Philip%20Rosedale,%20creator%20of%20Second%20Life% 20(an%20avatar%20has%20never%20looked%20this%20goo d).jpg

I openly admit - I have a geekcrush on him.

Crazy eyes or no, I'd get on a pose ball with him.
:blush: