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Rare Tour of Sun Microsystems' "Wonderland"

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the back-to-dumb-terminals dept.

Surinder Kahai writes "Last week I had the rare opportunity to see an emerging virtual world called Wonderland, the product of an open source project, Project Wonderland, sponsored by Sun Microsystems. The tour was given by Nicole Yankelovich, Principal Investigator of the Collaborative Environments Project at Sun Microsystems. Some of the key aspects of this dynamic virtual world are voice communication with distance attenuation, the ability to join a Wonderland meeting through a regular phone if a computer is not handy, and the sharing of applications such as Open Office. Wonderland is currently being used by educational facilities and can be used by other organizations for virtual collaboration. Since the project is an Open Source project, users can tweak the tools available to suit their particular purpose."

26 of 83 comments (clear)

  1. Why? by clang_jangle · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Aside from the obvious fact that the name is more "theme park" than business-like, what can it really do that can't be done (with fewer resources) via teleconferencing, and/or chat, and/or version control? Seems to me it's just teleconferencing with eye candy.

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    1. Re:Why? by Kingrames · · Score: 3, Informative

      That sounds pretty useful to me. It'd be nice to be able to show 3d images in a business presentation, and that's something videoconferencing doesn't quite get down right.

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    2. Re:Why? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Yeah, and Firefox pretty much does the same thing as Internet Explorer, and Ubuntu pretty much does the same thing as Vista. People should stop making the same things over and over again! It's just a waste of time and nobody gets anything out of it! I've been working feverishly on Duke Nukem Forever, getting mighty close to release, but now you've made me think. Why should I spend my time on DNF, when other Duke Nukem games already exist? Hey, as long as people can somehow accomplish something similar to what they might want to do, that's close enough, right?

      The fact that some people have obviously spend a good deal of time working on this (and Sun has invested in it) is a fairly good indicator that some people think there is something missing from currently available tools. And even if you don't think there is a good reason for it- guess what, they're not going to force you to use it! Unless they can get you into a teleconference with them and convince you to point this ray gun at your head...

    3. Re:Why? by psbrogna · · Score: 3, Interesting
      Hey I'm the first one to scoff at complexity creep. It's usually bad news for business. But some percentage of today's tech toys are tomorrow's sine qua non's... I gotta say I'm feelin' this one.

      A lot of people laughed at the concept of a commercial web not too long ago...

    4. Re:Why? by palegray.net · · Score: 2, Funny

      I've been working feverishly on Duke Nukem Forever, getting mighty close to release ...

      I was 100% on board with you until that part, at which point Steve Jobs ran past me and the reality distortion field overwhelmed my senses.

      --
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    5. Re:Why? by jank1887 · · Score: 2, Funny

      your body is a wonderland...

    6. Re:Why? by benevixit · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The big reason for 3d virtual worlds in business is the same as for gaming: They have the potential to be a richer, more natural and engaging user experience. Imagine trying to sustain participants' attention in a 30-minute SMS business meeting.

    7. Re:Why? by Jon_E · · Score: 3, Funny

      i think you're confusing this with neverland ranch you perv ..

    8. Re:Why? by lostmongoose · · Score: 4, Funny

      Your use of the word 'almost' has me both disturbed and curious at the same time...

    9. Re:Why? by hitmark · · Score: 2, Interesting

      thats where the jack comes in, direct neural interface. basically you fake every sensory input, this includes a override on the nerves going from the inner ear to the brain.

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      comment first, facts later. http://chem.tufts.edu/AnswersInScience/RelativityofWrong.htm
  2. huh? by larry+bagina · · Score: 2, Interesting

    If it's open source, why is seeing it rare?

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    These aren't the 'roids you're looking for.

    1. Re:huh? by nathan.fulton · · Score: 3, Informative

      It's been in early development, and many people view it as a futile waste of time. It's not inaccessible though, you can download it here: https://lg3d-wonderland.dev.java.net/binary-builds.html There are also links to extensive documentation on that page.

  3. oh joy by ILuvRamen · · Score: 5, Interesting

    You know, people might have said this was a ridiculous waste of time a couple years ago cuz you might as well just do it all in real life. But these days if you can have a Stargate convention in a virtual world without having to spend $700 on travel or having to leave your house or having to put on clothes, that's a good idea :D

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    1. Re:oh joy by PrescriptionWarning · · Score: 3, Funny

      well you could hitchhike your way there naked, but it might be weird

    2. Re:oh joy by vertinox · · Score: 4, Insightful

      You know, people might have said this was a ridiculous waste of time a couple years ago cuz you might as well just do it all in real life.

      Considering the increasing costs of driving and airline tickets, teleconferencing is going to get real popular real soon for many people.

      --
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      -Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor (1368-1437)
    3. Re:oh joy by ILuvRamen · · Score: 2, Funny

      You got that right. Ever notice how on CNN they put a giant, 90 degree rotated plasma or LCD right next to the real people who are sitting there and show someone who's far away on it like they're there too. It's like freakin star wars! If they can do it, everyone can soon enough. Ooh speaking of that, I gotta get me one of those million dollar multitouch magic screens too :D

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      Google's Super Secret Search Algorithm: SELECT @search_results FROM internet WHERE @search_results = 'good'
  4. no way this is going to be used as intended by JazzyMusicMan · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I work at a software firm and a good chunk of the QA staff and even some product strategy folk can't work LiveMeeting and you're trying to tell me that this is easier and more intuitive to the point of wide adoption?

    1. Re:no way this is going to be used as intended by zappepcs · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Bad news for your company. Have you seen the people that are able to use SecondLife? If your product strategy people can't do LiveMeeting or SL... you need to be looking for another place to work IMO.

      --
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  5. JAVA by kellyb9 · · Score: 2, Funny

    I wonder if Wonderland runs JAVA. I'd be by the time they got the thing Virtual World started it was time to go.

    1. Re:JAVA by mhall119 · · Score: 3, Informative

      For those interested, Wonderland is written in Java.

      And presumably you'd only need to start the Virtual World once. It's not like we'll have to flood the servers and start all over from scratch.

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      http://www.mhall119.com
    2. Re:JAVA by myowntrueself · · Score: 3, Funny

      For those interested, Wonderland is written in Java.

      and will go down in history as the first virtual world which requires all the RAM in the known universe.

      --
      In the free world the media isn't government run; the government is media run.
  6. Next Stop Wonderland by fahrbot-bot · · Score: 2, Informative

    I've been there. Boston, the T, Blue Line. Good chow, nice Aquarium...

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    It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
  7. Reminds me of the movie Disclosure by xquark · · Score: 2, Informative

    Now where is that angel that kept on appearing?

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  8. how many of you by jacquesm · · Score: 5, Funny

    clicked the bio link to see if she's hot and didn't bother to click the article ?

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  9. If you're interested in this... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    If you're interested in 3d virtual collaboration, you should check out opencroquet.org. Strangely, QWAQ was mentioned in the article, but not opencroquet.org (which QWAQ is built on top of).

    The best part is that Croquet has a very unrestrictive license if you're interested in developing commercial applications.

  10. Re:A Wonder by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    I take it you just grab whatever hogwash was true when you hated the company and continue to spout it off. Sun actually booked a PROFIT last year, they had revenues up 6.2% (13.87 Billion) and a better than expected 8.5% operating margin.