Google Shuts Down Lively

The recent and controversial Linden Labs Openspace Policy Change may be one of several moves that Linden Labs is making, both in Second Life and Real Life, to make themselves more attractive to an acquisition by Google.

Google's November 19th announcement to the discontinuing of Lively going into 2009 also may affirm this rumor.

"In July we launched Lively in Google Labs because we wanted users to be able to interact with their friends and express themselves online in new ways. Google has always been supportive of this kind of experimentation because we believe it's the best way to create groundbreaking products that make a difference to people's lives. But we've also always accepted that when you take these kinds of risks not every bet is going to pay off.

"That's why, despite all the virtual high fives and creative rooms everyone has enjoyed in the last four and a half months, we've decided to shut Lively down at the end of the year. It has been a tough decision, but we want to ensure that we prioritize our resources and focus more on our core search, ads and apps business. Lively.com will be discontinued at the end of December, and everyone who has worked on the project will then move on to other teams.

"We'd encourage all Lively users to capture your hard work by taking videos and screenshots of your rooms."

Whether formal or informal talks have taken place between Linden Labs and Google is not yet clear, the Openspace Policy Change may be an attempt by Linden Labs to solidify their books prior to a merger or acquisition. Google may be one of a handful of big internet companies willing to take Second Life under their umbrella of media assets.