R.I.P. Ebbe Altberg

[Mona Eberhardt]

The best CEO Linden Lab ever had has passed away:

Remembering Ebbe

Hello, Community of Second Life Second Life found new highs in 2020 between a worldwide pandemic taking grip, through the times of a tumultuous leadership change in the United States, and during movements of civil changes that will forever live in history books. Second Life provides many with the...

community.secondlife.com

Hello, Community of Second Life


Second Life found new highs in 2020 between a worldwide pandemic taking grip, through the times of a tumultuous leadership change in the United States, and during movements of civil changes that will forever live in history books. Second Life provides many with the comfort of a normal that continues to exist for all of us, where many use it to escape real life pressures, stressors and day to day challenges. In Second Life we can be our ideal, our best, celebrate all that is good across the world together. Sadly we have also seen some people go, and they will never be forgotten as they touched us, gave us their best from their hearts, minds and souls - this thing called real life sometimes knocks on our door and makes a call.


This is one of those calls.


Ebbe Altberg started with Linden Lab as our CEO on February 5th, 2014. He took the helm of the company and immediately went to work on reinvigorating our spirit and culture. Ebbe brought a profound openness, and transparency in his operation which was key and that had many effects on all of us internally, and externally. Lindens were encouraged to be part of the vibrant community in Second Life, to participate in and to cherish it as part of our daily duties. Ebbe also worked internally on embracing all aspects of Second Life, learning about its many nuances to understand impacts of decisions we make; while being sensitive to those and utilizing all of our resources, which firstly included you, the community, and many of us who are deeply embedded in Second Life. Ebbe’s goals for Second Life included promoting Second Life as the world’s best virtual world, community and platform. He also sought new adventures in building next generation products.


As I am here before you today, it is with profound sadness that I share with you Ebbe passed away yesterday evening restfully and surrounded by the love of his family.


I commit to all of you to carry forward with our mission of making Second Life the biggest, best, most vibrant virtual world that there ever can be. Together, myself, Grumpity, and Brett, along with Oberwolf at the helm and the entire team, our mission is clear. To grow Second Life and to ensure the Residents in Second Life continue to be respected and happy.

Rest in peace Ebbe, our fearless, kind, loving, gentle leader, and friend.





Patch Linden and The Linden Lab Team

 

[Imnotgoing Sideways]

(._.)

 

[Sid]

Very sad news. My condolences to family, friends and colleagues.
Rest in peace Ebbe and thank you for all you did for our Second Life community.

 

[Clara D.]

Dammit.

 

[Monica Dream]

For the last several years I forgot he was even there -that's a good thing; he kept SL fairly stable and quietly got the lab to roll out feature after feature (bento, bom, eep).

"It's a sad day for" is a trite, over used phrase but so is "doesn't grow on trees" and competent CEOS don't, so that means this is a sad day for SL.

Good night, Ebbe, and thank you

 

[Mona Eberhardt]

I wrote a quick tribute for him. It was the least I could do: Ebbe Altberg: A Quick Retrospective and Tribute

 

[Caete]

 

[Shiloh Lyric]

My God, he was only 56 or 57. My condolences to his family. This is a true loss for Linden Lab and Second Life.

 

[Misty Harley]

damn, he was one of the good guys

 

[Mona Eberhardt]

damn, he was one of the good guys

One of the few good guys.

 

[Andi]

He had been since about 2019, but I never expect this to happen

 

[Briar Knowlan]

Very sad to hear this. I finally got to visit LL in 2016. Ebbe sent his assistant out to greet me, and had her take a picture of me in front of the LL placard.

 

[Katheryne Helendale]

I just saw news of this on Facebook, of all places.

Damn. This really sucks.

So young, too, barely older than me. My condolences to his family.

 

[Anouk]

Oh no! I just saw this - so very sad

 

[Samantha Poindexter]

So I still nominally run the First Church of Rosedale, though we haven't had services in years; our last one was shortly after Ebbe was announced as the new CEO.

This has been mostly because my First Life has changed considerably and I didn't have time for it anymore...but it was also because one of the pillars of the church was mocking whatever Linden Lab had done wrong recently. (Sometimes this mocking was affectionate, sometimes less so.) When we started, there was so much material to work with, it was hard to keep up with it all. Under Ebbe's leadership, the Lab got...downright boring. You could forget it even existed.

It was a blessing. He will be missed.

 

[Couldbe Yue]

My deepest condolences to his family, friends and colleagues who I am sure are still mourning his passing.

I am so out of the loop that I only saw a reference to this the other day. Has there been a replacement announced or is LL now a CEO-less ship?

 

[WolfEyes]

My deepest condolences to his family, friends and colleagues who I am sure are still mourning his passing.

I am so out of the loop that I only saw a reference to this the other day. Has there been a replacement announced or is LL now a CEO-less ship?

Last I bothered to check LL was still a bit helmless. Patch seems to be running things but appearances can be deceiving. IMO that would be a mistake. He really doesn't have the temperament for it.

As of today, only the CEO of Tilia is listed. No CEO listed for SL/LL.

About

Learn more about the company and management of Linden Lab, a developer of digital entertainment that inspires users to create, socialize, share — and have fun.

www.lindenlab.com

 

[Sid]

If Tillia ever takes off outside SL, the SL party will be over soon after that moment IMHO.
They seem so not excited about SL over there at the Lab for months already.

 

[Noodles]

What is the point of Tillia anyway? To be like PayPal?

 

[WolfEyes]

What is the point of Tillia anyway? To be like PayPal?

My guess is providing a "bridge" between real world money and virtual money (like Linden Dollars) for MMOs. Sort of a bank that can convert Monopoly money into real USD cash.

Tilia enables publishers of video games and virtual worlds to create in-world economies and monetize user interaction. Built from the ground up to be robust, flexible, and secure, Tilia powers virtual economies of leading and cutting edge publishers with hundreds of millions of dollars in circulation.

Tilia