This new trend of announcing news in Second Life is generally pissing off journalists, who don’t have a lot of time to waste. But Dell is apparently going ahead with plans to host an invite-only press event inside of Second Life on Tuesday morning at 10:15 AM PST to announce that they’ll have an ongoing presence within the virtual world.
The virtual event is under heavy embargo with a select few journalists (we weren’t invited), but one journalist, annoyed that he is being forced to create a Second Life account and log in to see what the announcement is, decided to just pass it on to us to break the news.
There aren’t many details as to exactly what’s being announced, but our guess is that they are launching a virtual, configurable computer store that’s gamer-focused, or something similar.
This isn’t to take away from what Second Life is accomplishing – but Dell should be focused on gaining user trust by building reliable computers (and batteries), not wasting people’s time with this kind of non-news.
Update: They’ve got a new Second Life island where you can buy a virtual or a real PC. Virtual PCs get paid for with Lindens and real PCs get paid for with US dollars and you can order them to your house. The first person to order a computer in Second Life will get it free.
Cool Thanks for the News.
Second Life Should be renamed Get a life.
Dell should definetely stick to building computers. That is their core competency: a streamlined hardware building supply-chain. My guess is that their online presence will have something to do with a holiday season computer give-away contest.
wow, that’s pretty negative.
there’s nothing wrong with dell releasing news in second life and that has little to do with their focus on building reliable computers. if the news is relevant to gamers (generally a very high margin demo), second life is a great place to make the announcement.
if some journalists can’t be bothered to register for an account, well, hey, i’m sure some bloggers will be happy to take their place…
That’s pretty lame… I think Microsoft should start making announcements on a private invite-only World of Warcraft server.
Mike, you should just ditch this story. Don’t waste your time with this crap; If it was a serious announcement, it would be made in the real-world. Let Dell have Second Life, and show them that the tech community doesn’t care.
Lorenz;
My original position was the same as yours. But then I thought about it – Why don’t they just make it an open announcement so the interested people within Second Life can cover it for themselves?
Lame? I think not.
Imagine 2 years from now when Second Life is one of the largest internet commerce enablers on the planet.
Imagine the SL client preloaded on Dell and Alienware computers in the near future.
Next they’ll be putting ads in World of Warcraft aswell
Stuart
http://www.earnersblog.com
no invite. ouch.
is TC on the way down?
In related news, Apple announced the new iPod touchscreen on MySpace under the pseudonym DoobieDude.
I like Dell’s strategy which may not be the current business focus. key lies in whether second life can keep strong growth to make global impact.
You can’t really blame the battery fiasco on Dell, blame Sony, the manufacturer of the shoddy batteries.
Jeff O’Hara
http://blog.zemote.com
The marketing people have to find something to do.
I got an invite. Foolish. Consider who Dell appears to be working with (Boliver Oddfellow and Infinite Vision Comapny)
http://www.3poi...r-in-the-works/
The opinion here doesn’t make any sense at all, nor the comments. What, do you think that the product planners are going to divert their attention to creating virtual computers?
No, of course not, Dell isn’t diverting resources into Second Life (even if they did it wouldn’t be stupid as Second Life revenue would be similar to software sales, which are a key component to computer company’s profitability).
This is simply a Marketing activity and based on other company’s move into Second Life it does generate a lot of press. So let’s tell Dell: Please stop wasting time focusing on promotion and advertising and stick to building quality computers!
“but one journalist, annoyed that he is being forced to create a Second Life account and log in to see what the announcement is, decided to just pass it on to us to break the news.”
He should have just hit delete and saved everyone some time….
“Dell should be focused on gaining user trust by building reliable computers (and batteries), not wasting people’s time with this kind of non-news. ”
So it’s non-news? Well YOU reported on it, so this statement seems somewhat hypocritical if you ask me. ;p
PS: Unless the announcement of non-news is in itself news…
The next Socialtext press conference will be held in World of Warcraft. Bring your character to Elwynn Forest on December 1st, 5pm server time. Questions will only be taken from journalists in PvP mode. Those that live through the experience will get one gold piece and a Socialtext Guild tabard.
Some marketeer didnt have the real world budget… give him a break guys
I like the people at Second Life, the company’s pretty cool. But it’s a huge pain to sign up, download the things needed, etc to get into the “world” – it’s not like signing up for a traditional social network site. I think that makes it a bad idea to have a press conference in it, unless they found a way to streamline registering for the site.
I’m fascinated that a “journalist” finds the registration/login process a barrier to participation.
Would they prefer the cost, time and travel associated with assembling somewhere in meatspace?
What ever the minor burden of SecondLife participation, by comparison with the rigours of air travel, particularly post 9/11, it must be a simpler option.
Critics are, I thin expressing more of their general feelings toward virtual worlds under the guise of discomfort at the difficulty such trivial attendance requirements.
I suggest journalists give thought to getting over themselves on this one, as travel becomes more difficult and costly and video conferencing and virtual worlds improve, it’ll become more and more common.
How one wastes more time in logging on to SecondLife than travelling and attendance, I’m not sure I follow.
Calling Second Life a game is like calling the US elections a circus… no, wait. I mean its like calling George Bush a genius. There we go.
The fact is that Second Life is a huge breakthrough in communications. This is why educational institutions are choosing it as a new form of classroom, and virtual worlds in general will very much be the way of the future for generations to come.
The fact that some overpriced journalist doesn’t know how to use a computer or doesn’t have the creative mindset and/or intelligence needed to explore a new paradigm in reporting that would actually benefit them in the long run is absolutely no excuse to not do it.
Large newspapers had this same problem with the internet. They refused to start producing their news in any other format than paper, and as times changed, so did their number of subscribers. Who needs newspapers when all the news you could ever need is a click away and (for the most part) free?
Virtual meetings online, such as what Second Life offers, is going to be the next thing. Whether you jump on the bandwagon or not is your own perogative.
Open your mind a little bit and stop crying when people choose to use another medium than what you are used to. Its no one’s loss but your own.
yesterday, on the annual meeting of IBM China, Mr. Sam P. showed us IBM’s virtual office in second life and annouced IBM’s commitment to biz innovation. The second life stuff really impressed the local employees and everybody is talking about what their virtual life should be. China has the largest online gaming market. Young people sometimes trust virtual realities more than what they touch physically.
Clarification, i don’t mean second life is only a game. what i mean is, the companies who host online games or those players might be relatively easier to embrace the virtual business world– an enhancement version of second life. 10 millions users will make what ever virtual things become real realities.
Interesting, how long will they keep it though? Seems there will be some decent costs, and who wants to buy their computer through Second Life?
Flying to the moon, or in this case, closer to making technology as accessible as air, has got to start somewhere.
I for one would find it *tremendously* easier on my head if there were pre-configured computers optimized for high-performance with Second Life, whose needs are not those of a typical “game”’s. That has been a frequent pain point, trying to figure out what runs SL well.
Dell already has XPS gamer enthusiast PCs, and I remember when the market for those was comparatively smaller and some people scoffed at the idea. And then it grew and grew.
It’s important to think longform and consider not just “Well, this is a gimmick today”, but after the novelty dies down, the resonance of permanence permeates all our lives who are touched.
I just want to tell everyone who is looking to get original batteries at a good price can get them at http://www.brandbatteries.com I placed the order with these guys and was a bit sceptical thinking that they will send me low quality aftermarket battery, because the cost was so low and once I got it from http://www.brandbatteries.com it was OEM battery at a great price.
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This is all I need to read. It’s at the end of a Dell company Blog.
Dell does not stand by the product they make! nor do they want comments that are negative about their customer service. The ViPs are all out to lunch and counting the money they suckered off the public. My XPS stands for xtra Piece of ____, crimped cables, a Hitachi 500gb(not covered) crashed drive, the LCD monitor has fingerprints and dirt inside the screen, electrical shorts with the media reader, dvdrw that doesn’t work and not recognized the CD writer is in the same sinking cheap part boat. The machine hasn’t worked properly since day one. Sometimes I think they sent me somebody’s return.
No Way in Hell buy a Dell. There’s a saying about the fool and his money, Don’t be a Victim and don’t buy their advertising. The Dell people could care one ioda about the consumer. I thought I was purchasing a top of the line machine and when the drive crashed 10 days out of warranty the tech found a cut cable, when he went into the machine to replace the drive, he also told me he had six XPS’s sitting on the work bench waiting for their shoddy parts to be sent from the factory. SAVE YOURSELF the TROUBLE and purchase a Sony or Compact anything but Dell and don’t say you haven’t been warned. Call customer service and see how your treated, Ill tell you quickly, anyone on the other side of the world could care less about your computer, and the problems your having, any executive from Dell that reads this I do have pity on you, your company stinks, its a good thing you people don’t make airplanes or cars….. Service Tag 2LYPZ71 Tjelen ……………..
Like Mister ‘T’ says ‘I PITTY THE FOOL’
Originally I didn’t get this (my post = http://pourout....-i-dont-get-it/ ), but I’m starting to come around and see some other sides to it.
what can a virtual computer inside second life be used for? will there be an internet within second life? broadband service providers inside broadband service providers?
what is the value/usage scenarios of a virtual machine within the machine?
I bought a Dell original genuine replacement battery from simplemicro.com. Googled it, and it took be to this link:
http://www.simp...00-battery.html
I have an Inspiron 9300, but looks like it is the same battery for the Dell Inspiron 6000, 9200, 9300, 9400, E1705, XPS Gen 2 and XPS M170. Got it overnighted, as I was travelling…got it the next day as promosed. My experience has been very good with these guys.
I think that advertising in Second Life is very interesting, and opens up many possibilites for marketing. I wrote about Second Life my own blog. And now in Second Line there are not only emabassments of companies like Toyota, Reuters etc. but even wholy cities:
Manchester recreates city in Second Life:
http://callfrom...-in-second.html