Metaverse in Mosaic

The metaverse, aka, the real Internet 2.0, is currently at the stage of the Internet at the time of the Mosaic browser circa 1996, e.g.; at the beginning when only techies understand what it is and are using it, before it explodes into mainstream. Right now, there are at minimum several metaverses in the early stages of development, launch and use; it is not clear which of these metaverses could be the big one. Maybe they will all be displaced in the Netscape tradition. There will probably be many metaverses, and we may even be able to have as many of our own metaverses as we like.

The metaverse is an immersive audio visual experience with much richer creation, collaboration, communication and exploration possibilities than in the current and still primarily linear text based Internet. Some of the current builders of metaverse worlds are Second Life, with a purported 60,000 subscribers to the their free world as of October 2005, There, Croquet, and coming soon, a 3-D browser from ManyOne. Second Life is becoming an important platform but is not the only platform. Croquet has some interesting capabilities for creating metaverse worlds with different physics and other attributes.

What will be needed for the widespread deployment and use of the metaverse? Not much, just an imagination, a broadband connection (maybe Google's rumored wireless broadband strategy will be helpful) and a good graphics card.

...and the metaverse may come from China...a very different kind of made in China...