Free OpenSim Assets! I've decided to make some of the assets I've built for my OpenSim regions available for download and use in any OpenSim without restriction. However, please do not transfer, sell or use these assets in SecondLife or on any Linden owned Grid. By downloading these assets you agree to abide by these conditions. These assets are distrubuted in OAR file format, please refer to the documentation at http://www.opensimulator.org for more information on how to load these assets into your OpenSim. Should you wish to purchase these assets to use in Secondlife, please go to www.xstreetsl.com and search for the merchant name of Dangerously Moody.
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What is OpenSim?

OpenSim (or OpenSimulator - to give it its full title), is a project which aims to develop a free virtual world server, similar to SecondLife. The OpenSim project was started in 2007, just after Linden Labs released the source code for their SecondLife viewer program. This was an important milestone, as it enabled the clever developers at OpenSim to see how the viewer program worked, which in turn led them to begin programming a compatible virtual world server, called OpenSim Since then, OpenSim has developed rapidly, to such an extent that it's now used to host many independent virtual worlds, which are not run or owned by Linden Labs, but look and behave, for the most part (virtually!) identically.

Tower Bridge built by Loki Rexroth, in the Integrated Technologies OpenSim server

Well, I almost understood that, but what's does it all mean?

The ramifications of this are, to say the very least somewhat revolutionary! As the OpenSim project is an Open Source one, anyone can (and is encouraged to) download their server program and use it. This will be of great benefit, as it allows schools, universities, businesses and anyone who wants to, to effectively run their own virtual world, for their friends, family, students or business associates. Of course, there is still much to be done to make the OpenSim server, and hence it's virtual world as diverse, functional and content rich as Linden's SecondLife one, but that will come, as the OpenSim project develops and matures, in the fullness of time.

That sounds great, but what are the drawbacks?

You can log into OpenSim's virtual worlds using your normal SecondLife program, create an avatar, change it's appearance, own land, build buildings and structures, upload textures and create and use simple scripts and animations, with the following limitations. Currently, OpenSim doesn't support any kind of currency, meaning you can't buy or sell anything while you're in-world. Similarly, not all of the Linden Scripting Language has been implemented, some scripts which work in SecondLife will not work in OpenSim at the moment.

A building being built in the Integrated Technologies OpenSim server

As an agreement is still pending between Linden Labs and OpenSim on how to transfer and share assets, (like avatar shapes, clothes, prims, textures, ect.), nothing can be transferred out of Secondlife into OpenSim, or vice-versa.

So, what's Integrated Technologies involvement in all of this?

Here, at Integrated Technologies we firmly believe that the future of the web as we know it will irrevocably be changed for the better by the widespread adoption and use of virtual worlds, such as SecondLife and OpenSim. Arguably, virtual worlds offer a more natural environment in which people can interact with each other than current social networking web sites, such as facebook, myspace or bebo, etc. Integrated Technologies currently run a private OpenSim server, which allows us to evaluate the viability of the server code for general use, as well as provide valuable feedback to the OpenSim developers. Eventually, when the time is right, we aim to open our OpenSim server to the public.

A humble shack in the Integrated Technologies OpenSim server

This all sounds very interesting, so where can I learn more?

If you'd like to find out more about OpenSim, or visit some of the independent virtual worlds, your first port of call should be the OpenSim home page at: http://www.opensimulator.org There's a wealth of information on the OpenSim web site, including instructions on how to download, install and use your very own OpenSim server, along with a handy list of the independent virtual worlds you might like to visit here: http://opensimulator.org/wiki/OpenSim:Grids If you need additional help on how to connect to the independent grids or virtual worlds, try looking here: http://opensimulator.org/wiki/Connecting