I'm hearing from several members of the ICANN community that the Second Life software doesn't run on their computers. At the same time, I've heard from others that Ninca Island is a terrific idea for a virtual place to gather for those who aren't attending ICANN meetings in person. For the time being, I'm painfully aware that many ICANN participants will be locked out of Second Life because of bandwidth and/or hardware issues. Believe me, you won't be missing anything. This isn't -- yet* -- an official ICANN venue, and it's still very experimental. I expect lots of computer crashes and frustration. I think we can learn a lot about remote participation through the SL experiment, however, so I hope that those who can get SL to work will join in.

I've given several in world private tours over the last few days. If you'd like to arrange a meeting inside Second Life to receive a personal tour of the facilities and learn a few tips about how to maximize the SL experience, drop me a note. I'm not just your Ninca Island bartender, I also provide guided tours.
-----
* Yes, I said "yet." I am hopeful that we (as in the collective ICANN community "we") can demonstrate that virtual world participation is not only possible but productive and cost-effective. I hope that, down the road, ICANN can adopt something like Ninca Island for real meetings. Looking into my crystal ball, however, I'd say that the reality of productive, virtual world conferencing is at least two years away. So it you're not on this bleeding edge of experimentation, don't worry. We'll catch up to you down the road.