The $10,000USD buy off?

" Announcing the $10,000 Linden Prize
I am very excited to announce the inaugural Linden Prize.
The Linden Prize will award one Second Life Resident or team with $10,000 USD, paid in Linden dollars, for an innovative inworld project that improves the way people work, learn and communicate in their daily lives outside of the virtual world. The award is intended to align with Linden Lab’s company mission–to connect all people to an online world that advances the human condition."

With all the furor regarding the openspaces Linden Lab obviously thinks we need a pacifier and offers Residents a chance to win this prize!
Don't get me wrong its a great initiative and the award itself is a good idea but right now its another slap in the face for angry, frustrated residents living in the Lindens' virtual world.
Not only has M Linden angered many, he has also snubbed any attempts at two way communications. The Lindens asked for and received feedback in the 'hidden away from the world' forums with initially 3000+ posts and many good ideas for fixing the problem Linden lab had caused.
Linden Lab made a pretence of listening to feedback. I say a pretence because the end result of 'listening' is far worse for most residents, with only educational facilities better off, than the original change proposed.
After the second 'Letter to residents' M Linden again took it to the 'hidden from the world' forums and asked for feedback. To date there are over 2500 responses with not a single response from M Linden and I believe only about 4 other Linden replies - Is that listening? Is that communicating? Is that building trust in Linden Lab?

This prize can now only be seen as a weak attempt to divert attention from the issue that has affected most of Linden Labs' staunchest supporters!
A lot of the residents and estate owners, I personally have spoken to, have all said the same thing - Linden Lab were perfectly aware of the use the openspaces were being used for and actively encouraged those uses, leading many to accuse Linden Lab of a 'Bait and Switch' manoeuvre by taking a working product and substituting a second rate product or, of course, paying extra for the same product (with more restrictions) that you originally bought.
With this and the forum snub from M Linden many residents are abandoning their sims, both openspace and full, and flocking to other developing grids.
Dana Vanmoer

M(ark) Lindens letter to residents:

In A Letter to Second Life Residents M Linden outlines the new plans for Openspaces and some at least can breath a little easier.
Places like the sailing communities that use the openspaces the way they were originally intended.
But on the whole adding the new homesteads is not much of a change you will still have to pay more for your home but this charge will be stepped - going to $95 in January and then to $125 by July and scripts and avatars will also be limited on these sims - so although you will be paying more for your current openspace you will be getting less for your money.

I zipped around the grid to get immediate reactions:
IntLibber BnT: "I am deeply offended to see M Linden speaking at a breast cancer convention on the same day he released this rapacious policy, when so many residents of SL started their businesses in SL because they or a family member was homebound due to having to cope with cancer striking their lives. Linden Lab policy has steadily been destroying the businesses that these people depend upon for their livings. This is the worst sort of predation upon the most fragile members of our society.I launched my own business in SL to help pay for my fathers cancer treatments, as I was homebound to care for him and my disabled mother. His cancer may be returning to strike his colon. If LL continues these policies, his blood is on their hands.
While the real world has elected new leadership with Hope For Change, the best we can do in SL is hope for spare change after LL robs us of everything we earn and drives our residents away from our businesses."

Other residents on the D'Alliez estate are confused and looking for answers which of course will take some explaining - renters are, of course, harder to sort out especially on an estate as large as Alliez Mysterios'
Alliez Mysterio: I still have to go over it again but it seem like LL is trying. They have given options but overall not much has changed for renters the price will still go up and they will be more limited in what they can do on the openspaces they have and if you rent them out you will be homesteaded.

I also Spoke to Charlene Trudeau of Skybeam Estates and asked for her reaction:
Charlene Trudeau: The slower increase is good for people needing to adjust to the new pricing. It will still force some large scale changes in structure on the new Homestead product, however, especially for those who rented them out to more than one tenant per region. For my own estates, I am glad that my moves to adjust to the initial changes have not be negated, they are still prudent decisions for a long term outlook. Short term, more of my OS regions might have been retained for a time by their occupants, but this gets the painful adjustments over with sooner
dana Vanmoer: so it is still going to be a painful experience, what could LL have done to negate this and is there anything you would have liked to have seen?
Charlene Trudeau: I would have liked the plan that is in place now to have been thought out thoroughly from the beginning. And the only thing I would have liked to see in addition to the current is a willingness to also waive *move* fees in situations where a region is left floating remote from areas that were part of the contiguous estate before. Other than that, the new changes solve most of my major concerns. The pain comes far more from watching residents who have built so much have to tear down because they can't afford the increases.
I was heartsick as I helped everyone tear apart their lives. I've moved on into a 'looking towards tomorrow' mindset now. In fact, I've named my two newest regions based on that theme :)

At first glance the post looks positive and in the short term it is a change for the better BUT overall nothing has changed except the timescale for most openspace owners.

The best place to find out whether you are affected and what you will have to pay is in the SUPPORT PORTAL where a detailed explanation and table are shown BUT again although it say scripts will be limited on homesteads it does not say how much.
Hopefully we can expect more technical details in the near future.
More responses can be seen in the FORUM created for this purpose.
Dana Vanmoer

Sarah Lashes out and is suspended

Last Tuesday when Linden Lab announced the price hike to the openspace sims feelings ran extremely high - from renters who would never be able to own their own sim or island to big estate owners and land barons.
One of Linden labs biggest supporters has always been Sarah Nerd even when LL dropped the prices and caused most land owners to re-evaluate Sarah still supported them and adapted her business plans accordingly. The price decrease left most estate owners gasping back then and struggling to make ends meet - after all their business had been devalued overnight.
With this new increase in tier payments for ALL - not just new islands - everyone who bought into the Linden lie are angry and disillusioned.
I must admit to being shocked when I heard Sarah had been suspended for voicing her anger, not because she said 'F*** you Linden Lab' but because Linden Lab had the gall to suspend her for doing so. Talk about wanting to make an example - well LL if you want to do that there is nothing like attacking a staunch supporter!
In her blog on Your 2nd Place Sarah tells us how she felt and reading it is a moving experience:
"I was ashamed of myself. Not because I said f***, but because it was the realization that the game I love, had no love for me."
This one sentence sums up how many are feeling about Linden Lab and Secondlife right now more so than anything else I have heard said about the whole mess.
At the time of her suspension Sarah said:
"I was worried because the next 3 days I'll be working on a contract with a major university on a presentation for next week to help show the benefits of investing in SL for educational purposes."
I must admit I would not be promoting SL to anyone if I were in Sarah's shoes, but I guess she is a model resident which makes Linden Labs treatment of her even worse.
"In RL I talk about how wonderful Second Life is to anyone who listens. Even when I am angry at them, I still love the game and the people. I couldn't believe that moments after they made an announcement that I knew probably meant the end of my estate business I was suspended for voicing my anger with a group of my peers. Did they expect everyone to be quiet and take it? Is it because I used the word f***? I wasn't the only one who did but I was singled out for it. The answer to me saying "F*** You LL" was to take away my ability to do the work that allows me to pay them thousands of dollars in tier??"
The temporary ban was lifted after an appeal to live help who believed Sarah had been treated harshly - What an understatement!
By Dana Vanmoer
Quotes used with permission

Does M making the announcement make it more official?

Openspace Announcement Due Tomorrow

Over the last week we have been listening to your feedback and working hard to revisit the original announcement. This blog post is just a short message to let everyone know that we’re now close to being able to share our thinking more fully with you.
Tomorrow M will post to the blog. The post will be our response to all of the great feedback you have provided and will include details about how we intend to proceed regarding Openspaces.
Immediately after the post tomorrow, we will open another forum thread where we will do our best to answer your questions. We understand that many of you are anxious for news, and so I wanted to be sure to let you know that the waiting is almost over.

source:http://blog.secondlife.com/

Jack responds - and shifts the blame!

In the post Jack Linden tells us that he is listening and reading all the feedback - which is good news, but then he goes on to explain something we all apparently missed (including the Lindens themselves):

Update regarding the Openspaces announcement:
I wanted to clarify one issue. As mentioned in the post, Openspaces were intended for space, empty areas of ocean or forest. Take a look at the Knowledgebase article description here. By that criteria, the large majority of Openspaces have more going on than was the original intent. We are not suggesting this is a bad thing, and of course we’re delighted that people have found them to be so useful. And we’re not saying that everyone is abusing resources. We are saying that the use has changed, and continues to do so as people find more creative ways to use them. So the revised pricing is about recognising that change of use and the additional costs and value associated with it.

I would like to ask Jack if he has visited the Nautilus sims? or some of the other well know openspaces owned by Linden Lab as showcases of what they can look like and what use they can be put to. Residents look to Linden Lab for guidelines and examples - Look to yourselves Jack and we will follow - set us Limits we will (in general; there are always some that will push) keep within them - give us prims and land to use as we wish and we will do exactly that.
Why raise the prim limit if you don't want people to live or build on these openspaces?

In this post Jack has basically said the price rise is due to the 'change of use' although in the previous post it was put down to more technical issues - either way Residents are hurt, angry and disillusioned and those not already packing up are planning on selling what land they do have before the price rises take effect, many will lose hundreds of USD with no way to recoup their losses. Already the demonstrations far outstrip the ones that happened due to the gambling ban as this hurts even the little people.
In an already failing SL economy - can it survive this latest blow? Only time will tell.
One thing that has been made obvious is that sign up rates for Openlife Grid are up to a phenomenal rate - residents are looking for alternatives. Without a quick reasonable solution to this issue we could be looking at the death of Secondlife as we know it. After all who wants to be in a world of newbies when everyone else has gone elsewhere to live their dream.
Dana Vanmoer

Protests heat up the grid

Several places today crashed on the grid as protests continue against the tyranny of Linden Lab.
Office hours were quickly over run with protesters, but also with those looking to help solve the problems without hitting those that have supported LL throughout all the previous changes like the recent land price drop.
Unless Linden Lab finds a solution that does NOT involve a price rise then I am very much afraid for the future of Secondlife.
Lots of Residents - not just the big land barons - but the little people who saved for months, some for years to be able to afford their own paradise are being engulfed in this mess. How would you feel if you bought a house and a month later your mortgage company told you 'sorry but its now going to cost you 66.6666% more a month'?
Linden Lab listen to your Residents - just for once - in this there are alternatives many solutions have been presented at office hours and on the JIRA - open your ears and listen to your Residents the people that have made this secondlife what it is today. The amazing content creators, designers and builders, the sim designers, landscapers and dreamers that have made the grid (minus the mainland) a beautiful place to be, a place that you show off to the world, a place you are proud of - now you want to rip it all away! YOU made a mistake - YOU messed up - YOU mismanaged the openspaces - WHY do we have to pay for your mistakes?
Find a way Linden Lab - Find a way!

A very sad
Dana Vanmoer