FYI Croqueteers,
I tried to sign up as a beta-tester for the There virtual world mentioned
on the list recently, but my Thinkpad apparently wasn't up to snuff as the
reply below indicates.  They won't let you even download until they think
you have the right level of platform.  Anyway, its an interesting
validation for Croquet's platform assumptions.  From the looks of it, There
might be an interesting source of examples, requirements and even objects
for Croquet, especially if we develop an import pathway for their content.
Of course, their business model to augment subscriptions is to actually
sell world objects and access to different spaces (for very real, not
virtual, money), so I'm not sure if their content development community
would contribute.  But they also seem to be locked into a Wintel platform,
which means Croquet's cross-platformability could bring the advantage of a
(slightly) wider potential market.

BTW, why aren't the portals in Croquet called "wickets"?  ;-)  Just
kidding!

Can't wait to see the Croquet-alpha!

Regards,
Sam

<email fragment from There.com>
You recently applied to be a There Beta tester. We're sorry, but according
to your survey, your computer does not currently meet our minimum system
requirements.

In order to run There you need:
800 MHz Pentium III CPU, 256 MB RAM, nVIDIA GeForce or nForce or ATI Radeon
(except for VE or 7000), ATI Radeon Mobility 7500, DirectX compatible sound
card, 56K modem, 400 MB free HD space, Windows 98 SE/2000 SP1.
</email fragment from There.com>

Sam S. Adams, IBM Distinguished Engineer, IBM Research
tie line 444-0736, outside 919-254-0736, email: ssadams at us.ibm.com
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