The really big news this week is the departure of Joe Miller (VP Technology & Platform Development).
Absent
- Joe Linden (Joe Miller: VP Technology & Platform Development; 4 years, 8 months)
- Maurice Linden (Support; 3 years, 9 months)
Added
- Groundskeeper Linden (role account for the Linden Memorial Park – not a new account. Just reappearing after a disappearance in Week 40)
Here’s how Linden Lab described Joe Miller:
Joe Miller has been at Linden Lab for 5 years and oversees Second Life client software including Viewer 2, the open development program, technology partnerships, and next generation technologies. He has spent nearly 30 years squarely at the intersection of engaging consumer experiences and interactive technologies, including senior executive positions at Atari, Koala Technologies, Epyx, Convergent, and Sega of America. He was a founder and CEO of the Knowledge Universe Interactive Studio, and President of MindQ Publishing–two companies focused on lifelong learning services and applications. Prior to joining Linden Lab, Miller’s product design company, Perilux Group, was developed several award winning products now offered by LeapFrog, Bright Things, Apple, and Fitniks. His diverse career started at Battelle Memorial Institute, where he created a portion of the developer training curriculum for the PLATO educational network. He also was a co-founder and president of CyberVision, Inc., the developer and manufacturer of the CyberVision home computer.
That brings us to 257 Linden accounts, down 1 from 258 last week.
Disclaimer: The data here is drawn from Linden Lab’s Second Life grid databases. If the information here is incorrect, it’s because Linden Lab isn’t providing correct data.
I am sad to see Joe go. I knew him mostly from back when the Third Party Viewer policy was first being hammered out. I only had a handful of encounters with him, but he struck me as intelligent and capable, yet surprisingly patient and understanding.
Even though parts of the policy were acutely unpopular with the TPV developers, it seemed to me that Joe was acting as mediator, not dictator. He seemed genuinely mindful of our feedback, and I’m certain he fought behind the scenes to have the policy revised to address our biggest concerns. I’m not sure he ever got the thanks he deserves for that.
I’m still not entirely happy about the policy, but Joe earned my deep respect for how he handled the process.
[...] that EA exec Rod Humble is joining Linden Lab as CEO, some rather somber yet unconfirmed news from Tateru Nino is afoot. Joe Miller aka Joe Linden is leaving, or has left, Linden Lab. He’s no longer [...]
[...] technology and platform development no longer appears on the Linden Lab Management page. This was reported by the very astute Tateru Nino, who tracks these changes with the assistance of Linden Lab's Second [...]
Maurice was in a management role, basically acting as a liaison between executives and other managers below him. His departure fits the stated goal of revamping the company hierarchy to be more flat.
The problem that I see with that is that – just a few years ago, now – it was very flat, and this really wasn’t working out.
Joe was one of the only “old” Lindens left. Who’s the oldest Linden now? Is there any Linden who knows SL’s history? There’s Torley, I suppose, but he’s not exactly an executive.
Andrew is the oldest Linden – he was one of the very first employees hired by Philip.
He holds 2 in-world meetings / week and sometimes is willing to share his memories about SL’s history. He’s also very competent about many technical aspects of the platform.
I mostly know Andrew as “The guy who never answered my emails when I was working for the Lab”.
Maybe it was a misconfigured spamfilter!
Seriously, it’s a pity you two are disconnected, because during his meetings Andrew often mentioned some deeply technical topics – stuff that I suspect you would be intrigued to talk about – and you would surely be able to explain it to us in a detailed, still intelligible way.