Today’s 3D Browser Wars: The Battle for Control of the New Internet and Much, Much More

Website design By BotEap.comIt’s 1994 all over again, but this time the stakes are higher. A new battle for the development, acceptance, and control of information delivery is underway in Silicon Valley and around the world. Numerous companies, most of which you have never heard of before, are racing to develop and implement the next generation user interface. Which company will win? What business models are they using? How will the future be? The change in technology will be so great that it will affect the way you use the Internet, how you communicate, and even change the equipment you use to access the Internet.

Website design By BotEap.comIt’s not Netscape and Microsoft this time. Facebook and MySpace have already lost. The new guard is Second Life, Active Worlds, World of Warcaft, IMVU, Shanda, Red 5 Studios and others. Its new landscape isn’t the picturesque two-dimensional renders we’ve grown accustomed to in Explorer, FireFox, and Safari. It is a rich and robust three-dimensional world that can convey information and culture in an effective and engaging way. Within these robust virtual worlds, the only limitation is our own imagination. Virtual technologies are in their infancy, but they are growing faster than anyone anticipated. A confluence of infrastructure, computer technology, and social behavioral theory is spawning powerful new ways to interact and socialize over the Internet. The idea of ​​”gazing wide-eyed into the Metaverse with your personalized Avatar meet and greet” as predicted in the futuristic vision of Neal Stephenson’s novel “Snow Crash” really isn’t far off the mark today.

Website design By BotEap.comSecond Life, World of Warcraft (WoW), and IMVU offer a fabulous glimpse into the future of immersive communications and next-generation browser development. Seeing how people come together to overcome gameplay challenges in WoW has generated interest from social interaction to leadership development academics, as well as the Military. The application of immersive environments in learning and education are limitless. In the future, teamwork and leadership may cease to be a pedagogical exercise contained in sterile classrooms; It will be a fully immersive hands-on learning experience where students will learn skills in various virtual environments and scenarios. The US Army believes in this vision so much that it spent six million dollars on research and development and sponsored the “America’s Army” video game to train our youth before they enter basic training. Ubisoft, the game’s developer, wrote that “America’s Army” was the “deepest, most realistic military game to ever come to consoles.” A small audience by WoW and Shanda standards, the game has more than 30,000 players every day and is available on Xbox, PlayStation, cell phones, and Game Boy. Another and perhaps better use of technology is education. Hiring new MBAs with little real-world experience has always been a pain point for employers, especially with today’s education and talent challenges. How much would companies pay to hire an MBA graduate who had spent a couple hundred real hours in the simulated shoes of Jack Welsh? And we thought EA’s Madden Football was great. In the near future, we will be able to teach, test, and hone key skills to produce better knowledge workers and leaders with advances in new immersive navigation technologies.

Website design By BotEap.comToday, virtual world business models are under development. WoW has a subscription service where you charge about twenty dollars a month to log into the virtual fantasy world. China’s Shanda with its Legend of Mir and other virtual properties have pay-per-use and subscription models. IMVU has a novel model. Its chat environment is so rich and realistic that users pay for virtual clothes for their avatar and virtual gifts for others. Active Worlds has taken a more platform-centric approach by charging for the base app for others to develop. Second Life has virtual money called Linden dollars that is used to pay for goods and services within the virtual world. Linden dollars can be purchased with real currency. Walking around Second Life and seeing all the billboard-style ads reminds me of the early days of the Internet, where ads appeared out of nowhere and there were no usability guidelines or design best practices. But which model will win? There’s room for multiple models, but it’s too early to tell which browser will win.

Website design By BotEap.comI bought my last desktop computer seven years ago and I don’t plan on buying another. Being tied down is no longer an option. Navigating while walking between rooms, booting up at the coffee shop, and logging in at the airport is normal behavior for most of us. However, with new technologies emerging, our computing habits may change even more. myvu and iTheater are creating glasses that project information right in front of your eyes. It’s mostly for iPod movie and game consoles nowadays, but it has potential. In the near future, you may have a pair of glasses that are higher resolution and lighter than your laptop’s LCD screen, as well as providing significantly more privacy while on the plane. Celluon has technology that laser projects a keyboard onto any flat surface, eliminating the need for a physical keyboard. With advances like these, will our computers of the future be more like a soda can connected to glasses than today’s rectangular paperweight? Hardware advances along with developing interactive virtual software will merge to give us a new fully immersive user experience.

Website design By BotEap.comOne drawback is that most virtual worlds require a large download and installation of applications. Each virtual world requires its own application, so if you develop for Second Life, you are limited to Second Life residents and have no access to other audiences. The diversity of applications is a big drawback for the income scale. It dates back to browser interoperability in the 1990s, when companies had three versions of their websites to accommodate differences in browsers. But eventually, there will be a de facto standard, and the winning app will come preloaded on your computer. I am interested to see if this reorganization also produces antitrust litigation.

Website design By BotEap.comThe new battle of 3-D browsers is raging today and the future of interactive communications is at stake. Will Silicon Valley produce the next 3D interactive browser standard or will China? Only time will tell. However, the impact of immersive three-dimensional virtual worlds on communications, social interaction, and education will change our lives as much as the microwave and the remote control… and perhaps TiVo.

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