My Review
On Tuesday 18th February 2014 I was invited to a small invitation-only meeting with Pete Linden and Ebbe Linden who is the new CEO of Linden Lab. The meeting took place at PR island in a nice meeting area just north of the region. This was my first visit to PR island to meet the new CEO so I was pretty much excited. It was just 8 of us at the meeting using voice and text chat.
The meeting started later than planned from 9:40am SLT to about 10:55am SLT. Drax managed to record the meeting and at the end of the meeting I managed to copy the transcript. IM me inworld for a copy and check out my Flickr stream for snapshots.
The first meet and greet meeting with Ebbe Linden went extremely well and everyone had a few questions to ask Ebbe. Ebbe talked about the past, current and the future of Second Life which was very interesting.
After the meeting today Ebbe Linden posted Hello from Linden Lab’s New CEO on the official Second Life blog and answered questions from the SL community via Twitter/SL Forums. It’s a good start so far and I hope there will be more meetings like this with more members of the news media of Second Life soon.
Meeting timeline of events
- Invited over to the PR island and then SL press arrived
- Pete Linden and Ebbe Linden gave an opening introduction. The new CEO then said that he’s been in Second Life for a week or so meeting with employees, understanding the basics and he is very excited about being part of Second Life
- SL press members gave a brief introduction about themselves (8 avs attended the meeting)
- Pete and Ebbe opened the floor to questions one by one with a few prepared questions
- Final wrap up questions and goodbyes
Questions and Answers
Draxtor first asked Ebbe why he took the job at Linden Lab
Ebbe said that he’s known SL since the early beginning, he was an early beta user and that, his son was very involved very early on with Second Life. Ebbe has always known about Second Life. Ebbe hopes to create an environment where teens and adults can come together more than ever before.
Jo asked Ebbe about his first time as a newbie in Second Life, when he joined up, what he thinks about the experience for new users and how he plans to change this to improve user retention.
Ebbe said that it’s difficult and and that he knows of the previous registration methods that either worked/failed. Ebbe mentions that he wants to learn more about the new user experience and look into user testing with new ideas. Finally saying that he wants to make the on-boarding easier for new users.
Mal asked Ebbe about some of SL’s other products and possibilities
Ebbe said that some decisions have been made about simplifying the lab’s product portfolio and there will be some news on that later this week. The news will be focusing on Linden Lab offering. Also he wants to make Second Life more easier to visit in the near future. Ebbe is very interested in Blocksworld.
Saffia asked if Ebbe was going to continue trying to attract non profit and educational organisations to Second Life.
Ebbe said that it makes alot of sense to continue and he would love to meet with educational communities in Second Life soon.
I asked What plans do you have for the future of Second Life ? and what are you most excited about in the short-time/long-term? Thank you! 🙂
Ebbe said that Second Life is just at the beginning of something huge and he hopes to make the online world more engaging and more social. He wants Second Life to be more appealing to a larger audience and to have a massive scale of users using Second Life in the long-term.
Ebbe goes on to say the long-term plans including understanding the talent at the lab, making it more focused, creating a clear path and looking at the organisation as a whole. Ebbe hopes to raise the bar in focus and have a clear vision.
Saffia asked about if he played any sports in Second Life ?
Ebbe would like to learn more about sports in Second Life
Jo asked Ebbe how excited he was about the Oculus Rift and Virtual Reality going big and if he tried it yet.
Ebbe said that he did use the Oculus Rift last Friday afternoon, he knows of an early version of the hardware and he’s interested in leap motion. Ebbe understands the hype about Second Life and that he’s looking forward to discover Second Life for what it is really like.
10:55am SLT the meeting finished
Expect more coverage this Friday when Drax will be talking about the meeting during his weekly radio hour. I hope that more meetings like this will be set up in the near future with more news media folks.
Daniel Voyager 