Linden Bear digs grave

At first glace of the free teddy bear and gravestone from Linden Lab, you could be forgiven for thinking that Linden Lab has finally done it and killed off Second Life.

But relax, its just the death of something else, the merchant outbox, signalling that Linden Lab have changed the way merchants upload their wares to the Market Place, which in itself has largely killed off in-world stores and hundreds upon hundreds of regions.

When Linden Lab announced a year ago that there is a new grid in development to succeed Second Life, many of us thought, surely it must be near completion.  No company with an ounce of marketing sense would so dismissively herald the end of their one and only flagship, thus immediately poisoning the well of investors, without having something extremely impressive to wow us with... and quickly.

Yet here we are, a full year later, still waiting for the other shoe to drop.  Still no sign, or single pixel of our new paradise has been released into the wild.  Nothing to wet our appetite.

Meanwhile, some master of merchandise and promotions has put on their front page of market place, a Linden Bear, digging a grave.

Nice one Linden Lab.  You inspire our confidence with your expert branding.