Fujitsu Siemens Computers

It's been a while since we had a new computer manufacturer come in to Second Life, but today I heard that Fujitsu Siemens Computers had just opened an island, so it seemed churlish not to take the opportunity to pop along for a butcher's*.

There is a predominantly green theme to the island. At least, that is the intention - though more a pale teal in my book. Fujitsu have create a special website to accompany the build, which they describe as their "green island", stating "Our guiding idea of 'we make sure' and the resulting idea of responsibility with respect to the community and the environment are apparent here." Certainly they make a big play of their energy efficiency and other green (or as green as it can reasonably get) credentials. At one point you can watch a couple of Fujitsu (actually, given the heavy German accents, more likely Siemens) people clunk their way through a movie in which they explain their greenitude. To add a frisson to proceedings, you can win a new AMILO Si 2636 Notebook - a machine that's so spanky new I can't even find it on the website - by collecting or solving clues apparently dotted around the island. I didn't spend any time on this, so the likelihood of me winning in zilch.

The island itself I will arbitrarily divide into 2 zones. The first zone consists of 2 immense, shiny buildings, only one of which is currently open. Inside you can pick up your freebie T-shirt and visit a number of themed rooms, including a kid's play area. As you will see from the pictures below, something horrid has happened to this poor teddy bear. The second zone is the island landscape, which is dotted with giant computers: desktops and notebooks. Out over the lake is a nice retro touch - a game of "pong." There is also the most peremptory of orientation zones, consisting of just 4 noticeboards.

The first zone:


Teddy does a Trotsky impersonation:


The second zone:


The notebook you can win, plus the orientation "zone" and "pong":


Now here's a little poser for you. If you looked at the image below, could you take a stab at the country of origin of the builders?


Those who guessed Germany would be correct. Those who deduced it from the picture can award themselves a gold star. The build appears to be the work of Munich-based Metamatix. If you have followed this blog for some time, you might recall that German build companies seem to have something of a penchant for contrast-free expanses of white, and simplified colour schemes.

It's a funny old build this one. Inside the building is rich in texture, including shadow effects, and looks almost Sheep-like in its styling. Outside, as I intimated above, it is far more flat and lifeless (not unlike my remaining hair). The giant computers I suppose are a must-have, but we have seen them before at Dell and Lenovo. The competition, too, is something of a must-have, but again it's been done before, by AMD for example. And what's with the seating? Why build benches you can't actually sit on?! No doubt this last whinge can and will be addressed as the build moves into its next phase. The Orientation Zone, a rather grand term for it in my view, looks like an after-thought and could even be dispensed with.

Oh... you can get a map on this web page.

Thanks for the tip must go to my favourite attitudinous ocelet who tweeted this on twitter.

* From rhyming slang: butcher's hook = look.