Quote:
Originally Posted by prinţesă nină  or they may hail from someplace other than the usa. |
They could - but as soon as they wish to attract American consumers, they're going to need to worry about US laws.
Take gambling, for example. Sure, you could build up an
SL competitor in, say, Austrailia. But if that Austrailian company got pegged by the US Governement as offering gambling services, US Banks would be unable to legally transfer funds to that Austrailian company: making it very difficult for US residents to pay for the service.
Personally, I think we wont see a viable competitor in the near future for other reasons other than the legal/political issues over content. The big issue I see, is that Linden hasn't yet demonstrated that this whole thing is profitable.
A Google or a Microsoft may posess all the technical skill & buisness acumen to 'Do' Second Life better. But if they can't do it better while simultaneously showing a profit - the value proposition is going to be a tough sell.