This weekend, I have been experimenting with replacing OpenSimWI with open source social networking software – Elgg. For those who haven’t used or seen Elgg before, it is very similar to things like Facebook – user profiles, groups, etc.
The key with what we are aiming to do however, is eliminate the duplicated data. That is, if you have a group “inworld”, the exact same data should be used on the website. Join a group on the website – it should show up in world. The way we have done this has been to rewrite the Elgg database layer so that it reads and writes from the same databases the OpenSim Grid Servers do.
The result is you can participate in the grid, without needing to be logged in. Grab an RSS feed of your group notices or send someone an offline IM from the OSGrid website.
Custom Profile Pages (Editing)
A Sample Profile
Friends List (Detail)
Group Listings (Popularity Tab)
Group View
When?
There is no deadline for when this will be launched, but we’re hoping to do so within the month.
What about using PHPFOX?
Kai Ludwig
16 May 09 at 8:55 pm
Adam,
this is great !
I remeber this as a question since SL (have a look into inworld messaging using “just” a webbroswer etc).
The RSS feed make group notices interesting for the first time, allmost.
cheers,
Ralf
Ralf Haifisch
16 May 09 at 10:56 pm
¡Great!, really is going to be a big bridge between 2D social media and the virtual world
Albert Revolution
17 May 09 at 1:26 am
Wow, this is absolutely fantastic; I was hoping for years that Linden Lab would do something like this. In fact, I was hoping they’d get rid of most of their interface, and just use the in-viewer Mozilla browser more effectively, which would also have the upside of being able to launch the Mozilla browser externally, which would be a big win for people with multiple monitors.
FlipperPA
17 May 09 at 1:00 pm
I’ve posted more thoughts on this here: http://www.peregrinesalon.com/2009/05/17/opensim-elgg/ Great job!
FlipperPA
17 May 09 at 1:15 pm
@Kai: PHPFOX isnt open source, and doesn’t look easy to integrate – with Elgg I just ripped out the DB access classes for users, groups, etc, and replaced them with custom ones that recognize the backend OpenSim schemas.
@Flip: I’m building this one out for OSGrid specifically, but it will go up on the OpenSim forge eventually with all the other custom code I’ve written for osgrid. It definetely will be a bit more work to install than the old OSWI was though.
Adam Frisby
17 May 09 at 6:07 pm
Fantastic, thanks for the update. Who is that handsome devil on your friend’s list, top row, second from the right?
FlipperPA
17 May 09 at 11:47 pm
Elgg is the ideal platform to integrate 2d and 3d world’s. http://www.opensimulator.it (italian opensim community) is ellg based and integrating Elgg users with cyberlandia users ( http://www.cyberlandia.net )
Each time a new user register on cyberlandia through wiredux automatically add an account on Elgg.
Very interesting your work, join groups, friendlist and messages between opensim and Elgg will the next step
Carlos Roundel
22 May 09 at 9:19 am
Will this have a similar feature set as opensimwi(redux)?
Frans
7 Jun 09 at 8:10 pm
What is the status of this project?
S
1 Sep 09 at 2:29 am
Went live months ago. http://www.osgrid.org – login with your avatar username on the website.
Adam Frisby
8 Sep 09 at 10:53 am
First of all congratulation Adam for your work. I really apreciate all usefull information from your website. About the Elgg and his implementation in osgrid to work with opensim grid platform is exactly what i was trying to do some time ago with a social network platform but stop the project… no free time this year with my new job… I still wait from you the custom code you have written to make Elgg work with a opensim grid server. It will be a BIG step ahead from the usual opensim REDUX web interface to Elgg platform and a BIG step for OpenSimulator project! Thank you for all Adam, enjoy your work and i wait a reply to this!
Cecil Gudkov
18 Mar 10 at 6:25 pm