If it looks like a duck.....

...and quacks like a duck...then it probably is a duck.

The latest move by LL to double the income from educational and non-profit companies does nothing, a lot of people seem to be saying, to increase the long term participation in SL. That, I think, is agreed by most commentators over the last couple of days. The negative effect of losing these institutions is also, broadly speaking, agreed.

What it does do, however, for an accountant, is to imply an increased revenue for the next financial year.

Why would LL want to project an increased revenue stream...well, obviously to increase the perceived value of the Lab.

The NY Times stated that the number of Virtual World users has now topped 1 Billion, (here) and Microsoft could be looking to buy SL, which would be a good move really as the number of users will no doubt grow, soon enough to 2 billion.

One thing that has people scratching their heads is the question of why.

SL is probably the single largest conglomeration of virtual goods. For the company that took over all the invents of all the users, sorted them out into crap vs. good stuff and then marketed the good stuff it would be way of supplying virtual goods on the sort of scale needed for 2 billion users.

Content... gold in virtual form..

Well, we will see, but it is sounding more and more like a duck with each LL move now-a-days...

:((