Goodbye Lively...

Google Lively posted this today http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/11/lively-no-more.html

I have to say, despite my issues with what they chose to do and how they managed telling their user community about it, that I think it's a pity Google have chosen to close lively.

Whilst it wasn't the revolution that we were all hoping for, in my opinion it did have it's niche.

What I would hope is that this isn't the end of Google's interest in virtual worlds. We need another big player to step in here and create some diversity with a decent budget behind it, and no, in my opinion that doesn't mean we need another mirror world. What we need is something that can realistically compete with Second Life. Something that can encompass user created content (from within the VW engine), with rights management and a workable economy, and better media and web content integration.

In my opinion there are only a few companies capable of doing this. Google, Apple, Microsoft, and the larger games companies.

Google: please don't let one failed project keep you out of this sector for long, and if you want some advice on how to position your next offering ...