To
Mel Guymon
Head of 3D Operations
Google Inc.
Dear Mr. Guymon,
My name is JMichael a local artist and a small business owner in Chicago,IL. on November 19th 2008 I was devastated to find find the words " Lively is shutting down" on my lively home page. Fallowed by these words on The Official Google Blog:
Posted by The Lively Team
"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 screen shots of your rooms."
Personally I find this to be a bit confusing. If Google is supportive of this kind of experimentation and believe it's the best way to create groundbreaking products that make a difference to people's lives. Why is it that they have decided to shut down lively? Google has successfully made a difference in my life and countless other Livelyzens lives with this groundbreaking product. It has been a life long endeavor of mine to make friends from all corners world. Lively has not only made that possible but meaningful and easy.I strongly believe that the bonds and friendships I have made in Lively will remain with me for the rest of my life' assume for other many other Livelyzens as well. Lively has not only achieved its goal in "giving us a new way to interact".It has exceeded far beyond what any of us ever thought it could be. Do not measure the success of lively in data bits.Rather what it has done for us few given the chance, continue to make that difference for many more come. Give the time it needs to grow and the chance it deserves.
As for focus on your products Lively has been a catalyst for the use of your products.I immediately being a business owner I recognised Lively's potential to impact the small business and the independent artist in new and dynamic ways. Previous to Lively my use of Youtube, Gtalk, Google docs,picasa and Google groups was rare, it wasn't something I gave a second thought. I didn't even know google groups existed until lively or that picasa had a web upload. Once i started using lively I added all my lively friends along with my real world to Gtalk and started crawling over Youtube for music and videos to share with my new found friends. I also started using picasa along with your search engine to find pictures for my lively picture gadgets. We used Google groups to put together an artisan group of fellow lively artisans to sharing our common interest in building and creation of true lively art. We used lively as a tool to promote and support each others individual artistic works.It was Lively combined with your other Google that assisted us in building a strong,diverse and vibrant virtual community.The Irony in all of this is that it is your Google products we are using to make our appeal to keep lively alive. How does this make any sense?
I ask you,would you not find it a bit of an insult to say that after 12 hrs strait of building a fireplace using tables and dressers.countless hours and days building a model of the Eiffel tower out of cupboards (Inspired by another lively artizen... woot Master Pony) not even mentioning countless other projects.Would you not be a bit put off at the fact you had been ask to just snap pictures! Please, If your going to destroy our world give it to us so that we may live on and build it into the world we all know it could be. Open source lively and give it to us. At very least consider giving us our room files we have so painstakingly pieced together one object at a time .... ( begs using the avatar action /plead) If there s an kind of compassion in you give us our room files we have worked tirelessly to create. Our lively rooms are more then just a pile of tables and chairs.They are a fragmented sea of individual Artistic expressions a personal piece of each livelyzen .The day you murder lively a small piece of all of us will die along with it.
If my plea to save my rooms and the rooms of others is not enough. I ask you to wonder the halls of lively these are links to all of my lively artistic endevors:
Personal projects
Contributing projects
So please Mr Guymon,when next you find your self at "Charlies Place" sitting down at whatever table has an opening and enjoying conversations with your fellow Googlers from all different departments. Topics range from the trivial to the technical,computer game,encryption or ad serving software. I implore you,remember the ambition's of those who once sat beside you and shared those tables with you.Lively is our virtual Charlies Place they envisioned and created for us. Where we sit at our computer desks or nestled mountain of pillows eating lucky charms and stale pop tarts having our trivial and technical discussions. Lively has been an incredible source of new ideas,creative expression and inspiration a community we are all proud to call our own.Isn't that what google is all about? Inspiring,nurturing, cultivating all of these priceless qualities our real world seems to be in such short supply of ? Lively is more then just rooms full of 3d objects and meaningless chat. Lively evokes us all to be who ever it is we aspire to be. http://www.google.com/corporate/culture.html
Lastly Google I must ask you to honor your pledge to us the Google loyal Patrons. Up hold your own code of conduct
"Don't be evil."
Googlers generally apply those words to how we serve our users. But "Don't be evil" is much more than that. Yes, it's about providing our users unbiased access to information, focusing on their needs and giving them the best products and services that we can. But it's also about doing the right thing more generally - following the law, acting honorably and treating each other with respect. "Don't be evil." Googlers generally apply those words to how we serve our users. But "Don't be evil" is much more than that. Yes, it's about providing our users unbiased access to information, focusing on their needs and giving them the best products and services that we can. But it's also about doing the right thing more generally - following the law, acting honorably and treating each other with respect. http://investor.google.com/conduct.html
Be the Google we have all entrusted you to be.Respect our efforts and will to live out our lively years . Google,"its about doing the right thing" you've made it so clear in your own words!
"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 screen shots of your rooms."
Personally I find this to be a bit confusing. If Google is supportive of this kind of experimentation and believe it's the best way to create groundbreaking products that make a difference to people's lives. Why is it that they have decided to shut down lively? Google has successfully made a difference in my life and countless other Livelyzens lives with this groundbreaking product. It has been a life long endeavor of mine to make friends from all corners world. Lively has not only made that possible but meaningful and easy.I strongly believe that the bonds and friendships I have made in Lively will remain with me for the rest of my life' assume for other many other Livelyzens as well. Lively has not only achieved its goal in "giving us a new way to interact".It has exceeded far beyond what any of us ever thought it could be. Do not measure the success of lively in data bits.Rather what it has done for us few given the chance, continue to make that difference for many more come. Give the time it needs to grow and the chance it deserves.
As for focus on your products Lively has been a catalyst for the use of your products.I immediately being a business owner I recognised Lively's potential to impact the small business and the independent artist in new and dynamic ways. Previous to Lively my use of Youtube, Gtalk, Google docs,picasa and Google groups was rare, it wasn't something I gave a second thought. I didn't even know google groups existed until lively or that picasa had a web upload. Once i started using lively I added all my lively friends along with my real world to Gtalk and started crawling over Youtube for music and videos to share with my new found friends. I also started using picasa along with your search engine to find pictures for my lively picture gadgets. We used Google groups to put together an artisan group of fellow lively artisans to sharing our common interest in building and creation of true lively art. We used lively as a tool to promote and support each others individual artistic works.It was Lively combined with your other Google that assisted us in building a strong,diverse and vibrant virtual community.The Irony in all of this is that it is your Google products we are using to make our appeal to keep lively alive. How does this make any sense?
I ask you,would you not find it a bit of an insult to say that after 12 hrs strait of building a fireplace using tables and dressers.countless hours and days building a model of the Eiffel tower out of cupboards (Inspired by another lively artizen... woot Master Pony) not even mentioning countless other projects.Would you not be a bit put off at the fact you had been ask to just snap pictures! Please, If your going to destroy our world give it to us so that we may live on and build it into the world we all know it could be. Open source lively and give it to us. At very least consider giving us our room files we have so painstakingly pieced together one object at a time .... ( begs using the avatar action /plead) If there s an kind of compassion in you give us our room files we have worked tirelessly to create. Our lively rooms are more then just a pile of tables and chairs.They are a fragmented sea of individual Artistic expressions a personal piece of each livelyzen .The day you murder lively a small piece of all of us will die along with it.
If my plea to save my rooms and the rooms of others is not enough. I ask you to wonder the halls of lively these are links to all of my lively artistic endevors:
Personal projects
FireSide http://www.lively.com/dr?rid=-4806329254871212812
The Garden of Void http://www.lively.com/dr?rid=-4806329254871212812
The Sculpt http://www.lively.com/dr?rid=-4806329254871212812
StarGroove http://www.lively.com/dr?rid=-2655903534619548571
Adventatious Dreamer http://www.lively.com/dr?rid=8820008623544262360
The Garden of Void http://www.lively.com/dr?rid=-4806329254871212812
The Sculpt http://www.lively.com/dr?rid=-4806329254871212812
StarGroove http://www.lively.com/dr?rid=-2655903534619548571
Adventatious Dreamer http://www.lively.com/dr?rid=8820008623544262360
Contributing projects
Lag Lounge ( The Lagsters Cafe ) http://www.lively.com/dr?rid=6265850896041135501
Findom ( Fireplace ) http://www.lively.com/dr?rid=-8658538666141288584
Sculptures ( The Rossenator ) http://www.lively.com/dr?rid=8327370811961010756
Findom ( Fireplace ) http://www.lively.com/dr?rid=-8658538666141288584
Sculptures ( The Rossenator ) http://www.lively.com/dr?rid=8327370811961010756
So please Mr Guymon,when next you find your self at "Charlies Place" sitting down at whatever table has an opening and enjoying conversations with your fellow Googlers from all different departments. Topics range from the trivial to the technical,computer game,encryption or ad serving software. I implore you,remember the ambition's of those who once sat beside you and shared those tables with you.Lively is our virtual Charlies Place they envisioned and created for us. Where we sit at our computer desks or nestled mountain of pillows eating lucky charms and stale pop tarts having our trivial and technical discussions. Lively has been an incredible source of new ideas,creative expression and inspiration a community we are all proud to call our own.Isn't that what google is all about? Inspiring,nurturing, cultivating all of these priceless qualities our real world seems to be in such short supply of ? Lively is more then just rooms full of 3d objects and meaningless chat. Lively evokes us all to be who ever it is we aspire to be. http://www.google.com/corporate/culture.html
Lastly Google I must ask you to honor your pledge to us the Google loyal Patrons. Up hold your own code of conduct
"Don't be evil."
Googlers generally apply those words to how we serve our users. But "Don't be evil" is much more than that. Yes, it's about providing our users unbiased access to information, focusing on their needs and giving them the best products and services that we can. But it's also about doing the right thing more generally - following the law, acting honorably and treating each other with respect. "Don't be evil." Googlers generally apply those words to how we serve our users. But "Don't be evil" is much more than that. Yes, it's about providing our users unbiased access to information, focusing on their needs and giving them the best products and services that we can. But it's also about doing the right thing more generally - following the law, acting honorably and treating each other with respect. http://investor.google.com/conduct.html
Be the Google we have all entrusted you to be.Respect our efforts and will to live out our lively years . Google,"its about doing the right thing" you've made it so clear in your own words!
We want to live KEEP LIVELY ALIVE!
1 comment:
Wow J... I have to say that this is those most well written letter I have seen yet!!! I could not have worded it better. You do have so much great work on Lively and I myself will be crushed if they shut it down after all the hard work we have put into our rooms and the rooms of others. Well, lets hope everything we are doing is going to help. It would be awesome if they don't decide to keep it going to just let it be an open source. I myself do not want to take pictures of my work. Well, I just hope that all we have done getting all kinds of new people to join and sending our letters and what not will help. We have to keep Lively. We have to much work and friendship there!!! Anyway very well said
~Jessikah
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