Sun creates virtual worlds for businesses, but graphics lag

Chris Tompkins — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 11:13:10 -0700

It’s called Project Wonderland and it’s a prototype for a virtual environment where business teams can meet and interact, but the environments so far lack polish and are graphically sparse. The project aims to allow team members using multiple forms of communication to collaborate through video conferencing, call-ins, and online avatars. The current demos are something like a graphically dumbed-down version of Second Life, which the team admits isn't much to look at, but the back end is a powerful Java-based engine which coordinates mixed communication into one virtual meeting place.

You can share documents, PowerPoints, and desktops as well, allowing a meeting to pretty much take any form imaginable within the virtual environment.

Sun is also demoing the project in applications beyond simple business meetings. The video currently showing on the project site also show salespeople sharing their products in a virtualized convention. They can use pre-recorded presentations to allow others to peruse the show floor at any time.

Whether or not flashy virtualized environments will catch on in the business world is debatable, but the Java engine which reduces the complexity of managing call-ins, video-streamers, PowerPoints, and document sharing has real potential.

Sun creates virtual worlds for businesses, but graphics lag

Chris Tompkins — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 11:13:10 -0700

You can share documents, PowerPoints, and desktops as well, allowing a meeting to pretty much take any form imaginable within the virtual environment.