SpotOn3D, Technology and Children.

So, today, I logged into SpotOn3D. I'd gotten into it after a friend of mine (we'll call her Shammy, since that's a nickname she uses) went there to help create things in privacy. On the surface, it looks a lot like Second Life - indeed, it was built on Second Life. However, many of the facets of the server have been changed, which I won't deny improved stability, and the client (which is based off the 1.21 Second Life viewer) has also had a few improvements which decrease the chances it will crash (the hour or so I was logged in, I had no problems what-so-ever with how the client handled as far as graphics and performance goes, although I couldn't get voice to work, and before anyone says anything about how to fix it, shut up because I don't care).

That's not what pisses me off about it. What pisses me off is one of the people in charge, Tessa, who proceeded to, at length, tell me how much they're not like Second Life, despite the fact they're based DIRECTLY OFF OF SECOND LIFE. Sure, there's improvements and policy changes, but when it comes right down to it, IT'S STILL BASED OFF SECOND LIFE.

Isn't that sort of like saying a screwdriver's nothing like orange juice because it's got vodka in it? Sure, it tastes different, but one of the two primary ingredients is still orange juice.

I'm reminded of a quote by Ian Malcolm from Jurassic Park: "I'll tell you the problem with the scientific power that you're using here: it didn't require any discipline to attain it. You read what others had done and you took the next step. You didn't earn the knowledge for yourselves, so you don't take any responsibility... for it. You stood on the shoulders of geniuses to accomplish something as fast as you could and before you even knew what you had you patented it and packaged it and slapped it on a plastic lunchbox, and now you're selling it, you want to sell it!"

That's exactly what Tessa at SpotOn3D has explained to me, although she's taking the stance of John Hammond, and despite the obvious differences (and there are quite a few, both in client and server), it is still, at the base level, the evolution of Second Life in a closed-source package. I get it - it's different, but fundamentally, it's the same, right down to the graphics engine and server code.

Spraying perfume on a pile of shit, sprinkling diamonds on it and wrapping it in a shiny package does not make it anything else than a diamond-covered pile of shit that smells slightly less nasty than it did before.

While on Skype, listening to Tessa rant and rave about how much better SpotOn3D is than Second Life could ever be (despite the fact that every other program I've ever had EXCEPT SpotOn3D could use my USB headset flawlessly, including every program I've tried on Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows XP, several distributions of Linux and every other operating system and program combination I could think of), I finally decided I'd had enough of both the decrees from on high about how superior SpotOn3D was, and how offended Tessa was getting that I wasn't impressed enough and was still pointing out it was just Second Life in a shiny new wrapper with some new bells and whistles added, closed the viewer and signed out of Skype.

Annoyed, Lacey and I went to Kroger's Marketplace, where, on the way way out, there was a child (I'd say around 7 or so, but they were certainly well over the age of 4 or 5) that threw a hissy fit because he couldn't play with the toy the adults he was with (mother, father, grandmother, grandfather, doesn't matter to me) had bought him. That just reminded me of the days where you could hit a kid and not get arrested for it. Those were the good ol' days - you didn't have to beat them black and blue but you could just slap the little bastard when they got out of line.

So, in short, SpotOn3D may not suck, but a few of the bad apples need to be thrown the hell out before SpotOn3D gets too much of a superiority complex, and don't be afraid to slap a child for being a spoiled brat.