In its earliest form, the company struggled to produce a commercial version of "The Rig," which was realized in prototype form as a clunky steel contraption with several computer monitors that users could wear on their shoulders. His initial focus was on the development of hardware that would enable computer users to be fully immersed in a 360 degree virtual reality experience. With the help of a financial windfall that he reaped from his time at RealNetworks, Rosedale formed Linden Lab in 1999. While at RealNetworks, Rosedale's ambition to create a virtual world was resurrected and recharged by technological advances in computing and his attendance at the popular music and arts festival Burning Man.
Rosedale's strong coding skills eventually resulted in the creation of a video compression technology that would later be acquired by RealNetworks, where he was made CTO at the age of 27. The company's transition from scrappy upstart to success is detailed in the book The Making of Second Life written by former employee Wagner James Au.Īlthough many people have assumed that the inspiration for Second Life originated from Rosedale's exposure to Neil Stephenson's novel Snow Crash, he has suggested that his vision of virtual worlds predates that book and that he conducted some early virtual world experiments during his college years at the University of California San Diego, where he studied physics. The company's name comes from Linden Street, where the company was originally based. chairman of Linden Lab, accepted the award.Īlthough Linden Lab's Second Life platform was not the first online virtual world, it has gained a large amount of attention due to its expanding user base and unique policy that allows participants to own the intellectual property rights to the in-world content they create. The award was given at the 59th annual Technology & Engineering Emmy Awards.
In 2008, the company was awarded an Emmy for Second Life in the user-generated content and game modification category. The company's founder and original CEO is Philip Rosedale, a former CTO of RealNetworks, one of Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential People in The World in 2007. The company, founded in 1999, employs numerous established high-tech veterans, including former executives from Electronic Arts, eBay, Disney, Adobe Systems, and Apple.
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