ViOS
Encyclopedia
ViOS was a client-server software system designed by Julian Lombardi
in the mid-1990s and built by a team he led at ViOS Inc. from 1999-2001 as a way of spatially organizing all Internet
-deliverable resources (including web pages) into a massively scaled multiuser 3D environment with users of the system represented as customizable avatars. The basic concept behind the "ViOS 3D Internet Viewer" was to take the virtual world of the entire Internet
and adapt it to a physical representation of large virtual landscape, complete with mountains, rivers and cities. This approach was taken because of the belief that virtual landscapes resembling our physical world are more conducive to exploration and social interaction than the flat and abstracted world of the current document-based Internet
.
-based World Wide Web
exploration. ViOS users could travel directly to cities/areas of interest through special 3D portals, maps, or by using keyword initiated spatial navigation. Objects within the ViOS world were usually pointers to World Wide Web
-deliverable resources. When users of the system interacted with such objects, they would initiate the load and caching
of an associated webpage that was viewable via an instance of the Internet Explorer
web browser. In this way, the ViOS GUI
could be used as a way of accessing the World Wide Web
as well as being a means by which Internet
bookmarks could be organized as shared objects within a massively scaled multiuser online space.
The ViOS world was initially seeded with 420 cities and communities that appeared as navigable 3D locations. Each of these was populated with approximately 15,000 visually rich objects representing what at the time were the best and most trafficked sites of the World Wide Web
. It is important to note that all existing web sites (as well as other Internet
-deliverable resources) were available at some place on the vast ViOS landscape, but their location may not have been close to these initial communities.
Use of ViOS was completely free to end-user
s. The company's business model
was based on the desire for owners of already present outlying sites to relocate their site's representation to “better” locations within ViOS in order to gain traffic to those sites (traffic that was driven by seeded sites and that was measurable within the system). In this way, the economics of location and commercial density could be transitioned to the online ViOS world because of its representation of a physical space. Private individuals and businesses could easily publish to unique locations in the ViOS world by leasing
locations and constructing custom objects at those locations.
A key concept of ViOS was that it enabled representations of Internet
-deliverable information to self-organize and optimize through the decentralized activities of its participants. In other words, owners of web sites could relocate objects pointing to their sites and thereby build meaningful communities. Such communities made it easy and enjoyable for end-user
s to explore specific areas of content and information while at the same time opening themselves up to the delights of serendipitous discovery within an ever changing landscape of people and resources.
The ViOS experiment can be thought of as what might now be called a type of 3D wiki
, and owing to its built-in text-based chat, and customization capabilities, it anticipated current server-based massively multiplayer online game
(MMOG) systems such as Second Life
and annotatable virtual contexts such as Google Earth
. Unfortunately, the company was unable to secure a planned second round of venture financing due to bursting of the dot-com bubble
and associated lack of investor interest in continued financing of technology companies reliant on advertising
-based revenue models. Lacking needed resources, the company was therefore unable to market to advertisers or effectively maintain its server infrastructure and functionality to support continued positive user experiences. Within a few weeks of the public launch in February 2001, the company's website
and application servers were brought down by a rapidly growing user-base of well over 15,000 unique subscriber-users http://discuss.extremetech.com/forums/249002001/ShowPost.aspxhttp://www.transfert.net/La-navigation-a-vue.
Julian Lombardi
Julian Lombardi is an American inventor, author, educator, and computer scientist known for his work with socio-computational systems, scalable virtual world technologies, and in the design and deployment of deeply collaborative virtual learning environments.- Biography :Lombardi was born to a...
in the mid-1990s and built by a team he led at ViOS Inc. from 1999-2001 as a way of spatially organizing all Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
-deliverable resources (including web pages) into a massively scaled multiuser 3D environment with users of the system represented as customizable avatars. The basic concept behind the "ViOS 3D Internet Viewer" was to take the virtual world of the entire Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
and adapt it to a physical representation of large virtual landscape, complete with mountains, rivers and cities. This approach was taken because of the belief that virtual landscapes resembling our physical world are more conducive to exploration and social interaction than the flat and abstracted world of the current document-based Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
.
Access to Rich Content
By organizing virtual cities and specialized regions with particular themes in a very large contiguous simulated space, ViOS users could discover relevant in-world 3D resources, web sites, and like-minded people that they might never have found through conventional web browserWeb browser
A web browser is a software application for retrieving, presenting, and traversing information resources on the World Wide Web. An information resource is identified by a Uniform Resource Identifier and may be a web page, image, video, or other piece of content...
-based World Wide Web
World Wide Web
The World Wide Web is a system of interlinked hypertext documents accessed via the Internet...
exploration. ViOS users could travel directly to cities/areas of interest through special 3D portals, maps, or by using keyword initiated spatial navigation. Objects within the ViOS world were usually pointers to World Wide Web
World Wide Web
The World Wide Web is a system of interlinked hypertext documents accessed via the Internet...
-deliverable resources. When users of the system interacted with such objects, they would initiate the load and caching
Cache
In computer engineering, a cache is a component that transparently stores data so that future requests for that data can be served faster. The data that is stored within a cache might be values that have been computed earlier or duplicates of original values that are stored elsewhere...
of an associated webpage that was viewable via an instance of the Internet Explorer
Internet Explorer
Windows Internet Explorer is a series of graphical web browsers developed by Microsoft and included as part of the Microsoft Windows line of operating systems, starting in 1995. It was first released as part of the add-on package Plus! for Windows 95 that year...
web browser. In this way, the ViOS GUI
Gui
Gui or guee is a generic term to refer to grilled dishes in Korean cuisine. These most commonly have meat or fish as their primary ingredient, but may in some cases also comprise grilled vegetables or other vegetarian ingredients. The term derives from the verb, "gupda" in Korean, which literally...
could be used as a way of accessing the World Wide Web
World Wide Web
The World Wide Web is a system of interlinked hypertext documents accessed via the Internet...
as well as being a means by which Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
bookmarks could be organized as shared objects within a massively scaled multiuser online space.
The ViOS world was initially seeded with 420 cities and communities that appeared as navigable 3D locations. Each of these was populated with approximately 15,000 visually rich objects representing what at the time were the best and most trafficked sites of the World Wide Web
World Wide Web
The World Wide Web is a system of interlinked hypertext documents accessed via the Internet...
. It is important to note that all existing web sites (as well as other Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
-deliverable resources) were available at some place on the vast ViOS landscape, but their location may not have been close to these initial communities.
Business model
End-user
Economics and commerce define an end user as the person who uses a product. The end user or consumer may differ from the person who purchases the product...
s. The company's business model
Business model
A business model describes the rationale of how an organization creates, delivers, and captures value...
was based on the desire for owners of already present outlying sites to relocate their site's representation to “better” locations within ViOS in order to gain traffic to those sites (traffic that was driven by seeded sites and that was measurable within the system). In this way, the economics of location and commercial density could be transitioned to the online ViOS world because of its representation of a physical space. Private individuals and businesses could easily publish to unique locations in the ViOS world by leasing
Leasing
Leasing is a process by which a firm can obtain the use of a certain fixed assets for which it must pay a series of contractual, periodic, tax deductible payments....
locations and constructing custom objects at those locations.
A Self Organizing Metaverse
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
-deliverable information to self-organize and optimize through the decentralized activities of its participants. In other words, owners of web sites could relocate objects pointing to their sites and thereby build meaningful communities. Such communities made it easy and enjoyable for end-user
End-user
Economics and commerce define an end user as the person who uses a product. The end user or consumer may differ from the person who purchases the product...
s to explore specific areas of content and information while at the same time opening themselves up to the delights of serendipitous discovery within an ever changing landscape of people and resources.
An Early Avatar-Mediated 3D Wiki
Wiki
A wiki is a website that allows the creation and editing of any number of interlinked web pages via a web browser using a simplified markup language or a WYSIWYG text editor. Wikis are typically powered by wiki software and are often used collaboratively by multiple users. Examples include...
, and owing to its built-in text-based chat, and customization capabilities, it anticipated current server-based massively multiplayer online game
Massively multiplayer online game
A massively multiplayer online game is a multiplayer video game which is capable of supporting hundreds or thousands of players simultaneously. By necessity, they are played on the Internet, and usually feature at least one persistent world. They are, however, not necessarily games played on...
(MMOG) systems such as Second Life
Second Life
Second Life is an online virtual world developed by Linden Lab. It was launched on June 23, 2003. A number of free client programs, or Viewers, enable Second Life users, called Residents, to interact with each other through avatars...
and annotatable virtual contexts such as Google Earth
Google Earth
Google Earth is a virtual globe, map and geographical information program that was originally called EarthViewer 3D, and was created by Keyhole, Inc, a Central Intelligence Agency funded company acquired by Google in 2004 . It maps the Earth by the superimposition of images obtained from satellite...
. Unfortunately, the company was unable to secure a planned second round of venture financing due to bursting of the dot-com bubble
Dot-com bubble
The dot-com bubble was a speculative bubble covering roughly 1995–2000 during which stock markets in industrialized nations saw their equity value rise rapidly from growth in the more...
and associated lack of investor interest in continued financing of technology companies reliant on advertising
Advertising
Advertising is a form of communication used to persuade an audience to take some action with respect to products, ideas, or services. Most commonly, the desired result is to drive consumer behavior with respect to a commercial offering, although political and ideological advertising is also common...
-based revenue models. Lacking needed resources, the company was therefore unable to market to advertisers or effectively maintain its server infrastructure and functionality to support continued positive user experiences. Within a few weeks of the public launch in February 2001, the company's website
Website
A website, also written as Web site, web site, or simply site, is a collection of related web pages containing images, videos or other digital assets. A website is hosted on at least one web server, accessible via a network such as the Internet or a private local area network through an Internet...
and application servers were brought down by a rapidly growing user-base of well over 15,000 unique subscriber-users http://discuss.extremetech.com/forums/249002001/ShowPost.aspxhttp://www.transfert.net/La-navigation-a-vue.