A very controversial and hot topic at the moment is the Linden Lab acquisition of Xstreet SL and OnRez. Arguably I think that this manoeuvre by the owners of Second Life could prove to either be on of the best (or worst) things they have done.

Apotheus Silverman the owner of Xstreet SL, along with 8 members of his staff, will be employed directly by Linden Lab to integrate the Xstreet platform into Second Life. On February 11th trading on OnRez (originally developed and maintained by The Electric Sheep Company) will cease and the site will close. All OnRez only merchants are urged to create Xstreet accounts asap to make the changeover as easy as possible.

With approximately 120,000 avatars registered on Xstreet SL (formerly SL Exchange) and an undisclosed (yet considered smaller) number of OnRez users this move affects the majority of Second Life merchants and web shoppers.

All of the preceding information is fact. From here on in, the facts are mixed with my opinion, as a Second Life/ Xstreet SL/ OnRez shopper.

One of the most common complaints about this development is the stronghold monopoly situation that LL now appears to have. I don’t personally subscribe to this opinion, as Linden Lab did not have (until now) any web based merchant system in place. Encompassing the largest sites under their wing is a sound move by Linden Lab, to offer web based shopping (which we know as a popular alternative method to teleporting and visiting shops). Indication stands that OnRez would be closing in February as The Electric Sheep company continues to withdraw it’s prescence in Second Life, therefore for the purposes of the monopoly analysis, OnRez should be therefore discounted. Alternatives are in place for those who don’t want to use the integrated machine that Linden Lab will no doubt build. On the shopping side, smaller popular sites like apez.biz should be able to capitalise on being a truly independent site. Predicting a new ‘all worlds’ merchant site isn’t too far fetched either, considering XStreet SL themselves investigated coverage of other worlds, and one would certainly think if there was a ‘good’ time to launch it, that time would be now. Lastly, the forums on Xstreet have quite an avid following, I would expect them to become a casualty of this buyout since their independence is lost, however sites like SLUniverse should bear witness to a rejuvenation of their forums.

Speculation surrounding Xstreet SL of late has been that the site was troubled. With falling sales and commissions the site was deemed, by many, to be in trouble. Perhaps these rumours had more weight than many of us thought. If Xstreet SL had collapsed it would have caused a cataclysmic wave in the economy of Second Life. If this conjecture is true, Linden Lab may have stepped in to stop this from happening.

Xstreet SL, and OnRez were well known and respected institutions in-world, with good coverage on many sims with terminals, and box hosting sites popping up left, right and centre. One institution with more coverage than these two companies put together has to be of course Linden Lab. Once the initial furore has calmed, providing Linden Lab put the necessary resources behind Xstreet SL, this site with the in-world backup could increase users, items and ease of use immensely.

Talking about ease of use, I perceive the biggest advantage of this development as being the potential to streamline the systems. One problem many ‘high users’ had with this site was the time it took to list items online. With a Linden Lab incorporated Xstreet SL, merchants, may, find selling their items get easier. Currently deliveries depend on the blackbox/dropbox systems, which of course rely on the hosting sims of these boxes being online and responsive. With the potential for streamlining and direct inventory transfers the future of these sales is an interesting and greatly anticipated one. It’s also been cited on the SL Blog, that the potential for sharable wish lists and, I’m sure popular, scheduled deliveries are amongst some of the possibilities for future innovation.

It would be business suicide for merchants listed on these sites to leave, therefore without a mass exodus; everyone will sit back and watch the developments unfold with great interest. One of the biggest areas to watch will be the future of Xstreet’s own Linden Currency Exchange, although Linden Lab promised nothing will happen to this until they watch the intricacies of this system in the coming months, I suspect this will be the biggest casualty of this buyout.

This of course is my personal opinion about this matter, it is based from facts, but the opinions formed are mine. In a world where we all see different angles and perspectives I have invited Peter Stindberg, owner of Babel Translations (Second Life’s premier translation company), co-owner of GREENE Concept sculpt furniture and also the business analyst for ~flirt~ fine jewellery, to give us his take on these events. (A merchant's view: SLX, OnRez and the alternatives)