Virtual worlds need killer app
But what will it be?
Tim Ferguson says virtual worlds are useful for businesses but forget about them being as big as the web just yet.
Apparently virtual worlds are due for a renaissance.
Businesses are going to realise virtual worlds are what's been missing from their lives and conduct more of their everyday operations within these environments, the experts say.
They'll hold meetings, conduct training and manage projects in virtual worlds and generally find they can't live without them.
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Some experts even predict virtual worlds will have as big an impact on businesses as the web.
But at the moment virtual worlds are a niche technology that few companies are using - and it would be a surprise if this changed any time soon.
Many organisations will be cautious about jumping into virtual worlds following the relative failure of the initial rush 18 months ago.
At that time countless companies got involved with virtual worlds (Second Life in particular) in order to gain marketing exposure.
By saying they were working in Second Life, companies associated themselves with the latest tech craze in the hope it would make them appear forward thinking and cutting edge.
Trouble was they didn't know what to do once they'd arrived in virtual worlds.
Many companies built virtual islands that very few people came to visit and which proved to be merely advertising boards acting as gateways to corporate websites.
Admittedly some companies started to make use of more advanced virtual world features - such as multiuser collaboration and information dissemination - but these were few and far between.
Soon enough the businesses left their deserted 'islands' and began to rethink how they could benefit from virtual worlds.
Experts are now saying a second coming is just around the corner - and this time businesses will use virtual worlds for group collaboration, training and marketing.
But how well will this work? It remains to be seen. Holding a virtual event such as a press conference could cut down on travel costs for participants, for instance. And it would have an edge on videoconferencing, as the general public could attend.
What's holding this back, though, is the clunky interfaces and lag times of today's technology - overcoming this with new software and faster networks will be key in making virtual worlds a business tool.
One business use which does make sense is creating virtual workplaces for geographically disparate teams.
The virtual world Qwaq, for example, allows users to create rooms where team members can store and share documents, leave messages for each other and hold discussions using their avatars, IM and even VoIP.
In this way virtual worlds are a natural evolution of wikis and business collaboration applications. This is where the future of businesses using virtual worlds is likely to lie.
To bring this about, businesses using virtual worlds will need to act as standard bearers for the technology.
These forward-thinking organisations must serve as examples for the others considering virtual worlds - to show how they can be used and what benefits can be realised.
At the same time virtual worlds need a killer app to really make the business world sit up and take notice.
The internet had email - what will it be for virtual worlds?
If one emerges, virtual worlds could become a whole new proposition.
For now, virtual worlds will undoubtedly become more ubiquitous and play a role in businesses in the future.
But it won't be until that killer app emerges that virtual worlds have a chance of having as big an impact as the web.
Read silicon.com's exclusive Q&A with Linden Lab's CEO Mark Kingdon here.