Thursday 10 April 2008

The Times, They Are A-Changin'

I think it was my pal, Xantherus Halberd, who brought this to my attention the other day. Since then I've been mulling it over - though I hasten to point out, not obsessively. By way of an aside, I like to have an array of things to mull; it's healthier and less boring than a single mulling object.

Aaaaanyway... the object of this particular mull is the timezone in S~~~~d L~~~e. Rivetting, huh? Well it is often the little details that help illuminate the big picture. For as long as I have been in this virtual world it has used its own timezone, known as "SLT". It was merely a trick of Fate that this happened to coincide with the timezone in California, home of Linden Lab. The inworld timezone appears at the top of the viewer window, and has been used by meeting and events organisers since the earliest days of the environment (or so I assume).

OK, so what? Well if you look now, it doesn't say "SLT" - it says, "PDT" (Pacific Daylight Time). The change may be simply a calendrical consideration, perhaps introduced in early March, when the clock leapt forward into Summertime. Alternatively, you might see it as an another little detail in the repositioning of this virtual world - moving it away from being the plaything of a small clique of fans, freaks and the technosavvy (choose which categories apply to you).

As with the introduction of the S~~~~d L~~e Grid website, and maybe the much-despised (and misunderstood?) branding thing, this tiny detail moves Linden Lab towards a more generic virtual world metaverse, with themselves as the 3D version of an ISP.

Well, it's a thought. Maybe that's what comes of too much mulling.

By the way - curiously(?) "SLT" seemed to be one of those common terms that does not appear to have fallen into the path of the mighty trademark juggernaut.

8 comments:

Digado said...

"S~~~~d L~~~e"

Sacred Larve? They have times now? The scacred Larves have times and they are changing! What is the world coming to when Sacred Larves have times who they constantly keep changing?! How do we keep track of these Sa...

Oh, Second Life! Yes - well spotted :) Though its hard to speculate on their intentions based on the time indication (it could just be part of the interface 'revamp') I think its nice to see work being done towards creating and preserving the second life platform.

You left out IBMs private grids (which are a big big deal) and Phil 'stepping down' to get more involved with the actual development - also significant steps towards creating a sustainable platform instead of the hype driven software :)

Dale Innis said...

Are you sure it ever said "SLT" up there? I'm looking at a UI screenshot from October 2007, and it says "PDT". So if it's a change, it's not a recent one...

Timbo said...

Dale...

You're probably right. It's just my addled and aged brain misremembering things. Still... it makes for a good theory!

hehe....

Maybe I should add an update to the post to the effect that, it is largely bollox.

Grace McDunnough™ said...

No, there was a time it said "SLT" .. so much for configuration management.

Timbo said...

Thanks Grace... there is hope for my sanity yet, then! :-)

Vidal Tripsa said...

*Giggles* Sorry Al, but I think it actually changed sometime in mid-to-late Summer last year. There may have been a Linden Lab blog about the change. I think you're right still, though - its change did coincide with the influx of First Life companies and presences onto the Grid. I, for one, am very glad not to have had it trademarked yet, though. "1pm SLT" just sounds... nice.

Timbo said...

Hey... I never claimed to be the most observant person in the worlds. Though I'd cite "the influx" as starting in late 2006, personally - or maybe Q1/07. The backlash really got up a full head of steam around June'07 as I picture it.

▓▒░ TORLEY ░▒▓ said...

Friendly greetings everyone... :) Yes, we officially deprecated "SLT" awhile ago — the gradual timeframe of Summer-Fall 2006 is correct, and remaining instances were removed as we came across them. Yes, we did deliberately put "PST/PDT" next to the inworld clock:

» http://blog.secondlife.com/2006/09/27/112112-optional-update-available/

But, I know some Lindens still use "SLT" on the blog and such — gotta keep moving towards consistency.