Tag: LL Departures

Good Luck Oz Linden

Posted on by Daniel Voyager

On Friday 26th February Oz Linden and Grumpity Linden appeared on Lab Gab episode 44 hosted by Strawberry Linden to chat about Second Life and the latest news on AWS. The live streamed episode ran for 58 minutes and 20 seconds. If you have not watched the show then its a must watch as its very informative and most interesting for sure. In the final part of the show Oz was teleported to one final gathering where the Second Life community celebrated his years at the lab.

Here are some of newer updates that were mentioned during the show below…

  • Map tiles are being worked on. There is some work going on with stitching tile images together when zooming out on the map.
  • The Second Life Mobile app has taken longer than expected and its not yet known when the app will be available
  • The Land Store was turned on again as of 25th February
  • Linden Lab is working on the migration process improving performance and glitches on AWS
  • Brad Oberwager has been added to the Linden Lab management page

Check out this lovely tribute to Oz Linden from Second Life staff this week.

Farewell Oz and good luck.

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Oz Linden Leaving Linden Lab On 26th February

Posted on by Daniel Voyager

On Tuesday 16th February Oz Linden who is the Vice President of Engineering at Linden Lab announced on the Second Life Forums that he would be leaving Linden Lab on Friday 26th February 2021. Oz joined Linden Lab back in 2010 and Oz has done so much to make Second Life better over the years.

Oz has been thinking about retirement for some time and now that Second Life has moved into the cloud Oz has decided it’s the right time to move on. Oz mentions that in strong possible terms that his decision has nothing at all to do with the change of ownership of the lab.

See below for Oz Linden farewell thread post via the Second Life Forums…

Posted 
About 11 years ago I was working for a big multinational that had acquired the startup where I’d been for several years, and decided I needed a job with more fun and more job satisfaction. I put out the word on my professional network and got a response from a colleague who was a Linden at the time. I interviewed with several people at the Lab (half my interviews were in-world using an account I’d had for some years), and after much thought I joined the Lab as the Director of Open Source. It turned out to be one of the best career decisions I ever made.

My job evolved over the years, but through it all I got to work with brilliant, passionate, and committed people and got to know many residents. I’ve never worked anywhere that was as much fun (a Linden who returned to SL after some time away said recently that he’d forgotten how often the SL team laughs in the course of a normal day). More importantly, I got to work on a product users really enjoy using and that makes a big difference in the lives of many of its users – for me there’s no greater source of job satisfaction.

Some time ago, I reached the point that I could afford to think about retiring but decided to stay to finish moving SL to its new cloud platform. I can’t imagine a better last act in my working life than ensuring that Second Life has this better platform for its future growth. Now that project is done (well, except for a few loose ends), and it’s time for me to move on to the next phase of my life. 

I want to emphasize in the strongest possible terms: my decision has nothing at all to do with the change in ownership of the Lab; the timing really is a coincidence. If anything, I regret that I have overlapped with them for only a few weeks; in that time (and in the time leading up to the change) I have come to respect and appreciate the skills and energy they bring to the company.

There aren’t many jobs that come with a new nickname; this got me one I’ll always cherish, but it’s time for me to set aside my Linden last name. I leave Second Life in great hands, and have every confidence that it has a great future. 
 
– Oz
PS. My official last day is Feb 26th.

Oz Linden will be deeply be missed for sure and personally I wish him the very best for the future.

Torley Linden Left Linden Lab Last Month

Posted on by Daniel Voyager

Torley’s LinkedIn account page

According to New World Notes it appears that Torley Linden left Linden Lab last month. It’s unclear if it was to do with the recent Sansar layoffs or to do with something else at this stage.

Friendly greetings! We — for simplicity’s sake — I am Torley-favicon.png Torley Linden, and I amplify your awesome.

Torley will be deeply missed by the Second Life community. I enjoyed watching his video tutorials and I liked it when he attended big events including office hours.

It looks like Torley regions went off the grid sometime during mid February 2020 around the time of the Sansar layoffs.

  • Torley & Is & Here – Regions! 

I loved seeing his latest amazing snapshots on his Flickr photostream which actually inspired me to go on to do grid wide adventures. I loved his passion for making Second Life more amazing. 

Who are Lindens ?

Torley actually wrote this Flickr testimonial for me back in early October 2008 just a few months before I transferred to the main grid on my 18th birthday.

  • Torley Linden attends the snowball fight 2015
Torley attended huge snowball fight back in 2015

I wish Torley the best of luck for the future and thanks for making Second Life more awesome.

Pete Linden Leaves Linden Lab After 9 Years

Posted on by Daniel Voyager

Pete Linden leaves Linden Lab after 9 years – 2016

Breaking News

According to Inara Pey & New World Notes it looks like Pete Linden (Peter Gray  known in real life) has decided to depart Linden Lab after nine years. Peter Gray was Linden Lab’s Senior Director of Global Communications. Pete will be moving on to a new role with the communications team at Facebook AI Research. Pete is going to be missed by all members of the press in Second Life, the wider Second Life community and the lab most importantly.

Pete Linden has served under four Second Life CEOs including Philip Rosedale, Mark Kingdon, Rod Humble and currently Ebbe Altberg. Pete Linden has made special appearances over the years at well-known Second Life events including VWBPE annual conferences, the Second Life birthday celebrations and taking questions from audiences at the Meet the Linden interviews which have all been hugely successful. Pete was involved with Blocksworld and Sansar in recent years too.

The big question now is who is going to replace Peter Gray to deal with Linden Lab communications ?

I wish him all the very best in his new role at Facebook and I would like to say thanks to him for the past nine years.

Pete Linden and Ebbe Linden – 2014

Pete Linden & Rodvik Linden – 2011

Good luck Peter 🙂