Google kills Lively

[Tito]

Well, for those of you that don't know yet, after launching their very own 3D chat platform last July called "Lively", the mighty Google has finally read the proverbial writing on the wall and has decided to put an end to it's still in beta multi-user web3D project. For Lively, it all comes to an end on December 31, 2008. I myself remember when I first heard about Lively, I jump on it right away thinking it could be the best 3D chat yet, since it is a Google product, and Google cant do any wrong. Boy was I wrong! The one thing that really threw me off was the over bloated interface. The other thing, was the avatar navigation, just not what I am used to. And last but not least, Lively as a platform for developers was just way too proprietorial, meaning you could not use your own, non-Lively made avatars and you could not create from scratch your own "rooms" without using Lively's online room editor. It was their way, or the highway. And as a final note to this post, the strangest thing about the Lively browser plug-in, was the fact that Lively being a Google creation, was not compatible with Chrome, Google's brand new browser. Very strange indeed how two products from the same company are incompatible with each other. You can read more on Lively's demise here: Lively no more.

[Bruce Lehmann]

Just be grateful it was propriatary. Their statement 'Between now and the end of the year we encourage you to capture all your hard work by taking videos and screenshots of your rooms" makes me thank God I didn't have content built and saved on it. A lousey way to thank their supporters. Kind of why I like VRML/X3D, your content is at least portable and yours to keep and re-use.

[Larry Rosenthal]

"Just be grateful it was propriatary. Their statement 'Between now and the end of the year we encourage you to capture all your hard work by taking videos and screenshots of your rooms" makes me thank God I didn't have content built and saved on it. A lousey way to thank their supporters. Kind of why I like VRML/X3D, your content is at least portable and yours to keep and re-use"

lol.. atmosphere and adobe anyone?
then again, what is the commercially viable open standards solution for web3d non platform/ browser developers anyway?:)

before the replies.. "key to what i said is "commercially viable for the content developer's primary commercial interests".... now try to answer.;)

c3

[Bruce Lehmann]

Larry Rosenthal said:

"Just be grateful it was propriatary. Their statement 'Between now and the end of the year we encourage you to capture all your hard work by taking videos and screenshots of your rooms" makes me thank God I didn't have content built and saved on it. A lousey way to thank their supporters. Kind of why I like VRML/X3D, your content is at least portable and yours to keep and re-use"

lol.. atmosphere and adobe anyone?
then again, what is the commercially viable open standards solution for web3d non platform/ browser developers anyway?:)

before the replies.. "key to what i said is "commercially viable for the content developer's primary commercial interests".... now try to answer.;)

c3

I remember Atmosphere. Just about the time I really got interested in it it went away. just thought it "awfully nice" of them to tell you to collect screenshots an videos. And I am NOT going to touch "commercially viable". I also get annoyed at the articles that claim that Google was making a SL competitor. It wasn't even close.

[fabricator]

As someone on another forum put it, Lively is just like Vivity, only not open standards based. At the end of the day though, lack of compelling content and moderation issues would be what killed off Google's creation.

That google haven't even stated the reasons why they killed off development says something, maybe google don't want to admit they don't understand online 3d.

[Tito]

Actually Fabricator, Google did put a reason for shutting down Lively. This is exactly on how they put it, quote: "It has been a tough decision, but we want to ensure that we prioritize our resources and focus more on our core search, ads and apps business." Sure, it sounds more like a last minute excuse, but it is still their reason they are giving for now. If you have not done so yet, I recommend you read Hiperia3d News's report on this story titled "Lively Disappears", it gets more in to details than it does here.

[Hiperia3D - Jordi R Cardona]

I wrote about this (http://news.hiperia3d.com/2008/11/lively-disappears.html). I think that if they had returned to closed beta they may have kept on trying, but they did not see any benefit on this.

I also agree with Omind, it's a shame that worldbuilders lost their creations because what they did for Lively is not usable anywhere else.

[oriste]

The Livelyzens (Lively users) are coming together to appeal to Google to keep Lively alive.

Lively is a great platform for interaction as well as creativity. It is easy to use, browser based, embeddable on webpages to bring a 3D experience right on your website. While Lively has been in beta and has limited capability in terms of the objects and avatars available, the Livelyzens have been able to come up with very creative ways to create art from what is available. All this in a "clean" 3D world thanks to Google's vigilance in getting rid of rooms with inappropriate content. More than anything, Lively has become a place to make friends for life – from all over the world with wonderful people.

Please visit our website http://livelyzens.com and participate in the Lively Machinima contest we are conducting to show the creative potential of Google Lively. Please also sign our online petition http://livelyzens.com/petition.aspx

We kindly request netizens to support us in reviving a wonderful 3D world that is a kid friendly and a creative space for art and interaction amongst adults.

[Hiperia3D - Jordi R Cardona]

This is great. I hope you succeed in making Lively persevere. Don't forget to send many emails to Google support or the Lively team. Maybe, if they're going to close it, they may release it as opensource, so you could run your own servers.

[Bruce Lehmann]

Hiperia3D - Jordi R Cardona said:

This is great. I hope you succeed in making Lively persevere. Don't forget to send many emails to Google support or the Lively team. Maybe, if they're going to close it, they may release it as opensource, so you could run your own servers.

That is the biggest crime when this sort of thing happens. The whole thing goes away, and what could have been a good idea simply dissappears. Remember Atmosphere.

[Larry Rosenthal]

isnt the 3d engine a license?. i dont think there is an open source possibility for Lively unless Google buys out, and offers the technology as open source.

lol.. "dont want to touch commercially viable",,, well , then i guess all this blogging is really meant to just feed the tech makers, and the content makers do it all for fun....

well, maybe thats why there is no web3d INDUSTRY that will come again from the current bubble "leaders" whom time aftet time forget that NOONE pays to see a Panavasion or 70mm movie. They pay to see Batman or Mickey Mouse. But do any web3d tech makers offer any real equitable efforts for the partners they truly need to survive another tech bubble? (one that seems just about spent--again)




back to your show.
c3



Hiperia3D - Jordi R Cardona said:

This is great. I hope you succeed in making Lively persevere. Don't forget to send many emails to Google support or the Lively team. Maybe, if they're going to close it, they may release it as opensource, so you could run your own servers.

[Bruce Lehmann]

"dont want to touch commercially viable" I meant touch the subject. I play and sometimes build content and I do it for fun. I can't and wouldn't speak for others and don't consider myself qualified to say what is or is not viable. From where I sit/have sat I often wonder how alot of these platforms stay online.


Interesting article on this kind of thing
http://terranova.blogs.com/terra_nova/2008/07/do-virtual-worl.html

[fabricator]

Google were right to pull the plug on this, although its a lot of money to spend on a mistake.

Claims by the Livelyzens that Liverly was unique aren't really true. There are plenty of basic 3d chatrooms which have the same basic "avatars+room decorating+chat" formula, case in point the x3d based Vivaty. And like most x3d plugins you can embed content in webpages.

People tried to save Abobe Atmosphere, and I think that was better than Google's effort.