Perhaps at Linden Lab they did not expect this outcome, when they released the source code of the Second Life viewer last year…

The OpenSimulator team has somewhat reverse-engineered the server part as well, and released its code – so everybody could now be able to download it and launch his own private 3D world (or add a region to a public grid). Here is mine, running on my laptop (the server console is on the left, the viewer on the right):

It made me relive the emotion I felt more than 10 years ago, when I ran a web server for development purposes on my computer for the first time. Or when, as a schoolboy, I unwrapped a new folder of drawing sheets: it was there, in front of me, waiting to be filled with whatever I had liked…

boring disclaimer: Linden Lab and Second Life are trademarks of Linden Research, Inc.