History

NGC Tranquillity was started for 2 purposes. Firstly to share the work I had put in on my own grid software (for Utopia Skye Grid) and do it in a way that tracked Core but added additional work to insure quality and performance. My intention was to track Core but add in some additional things where we could make improvements, making those changes available upstream as well.

Secondly OpenSim NGC was to be the technical basis for the work we were doing on the Trusted HyperGrid. Anytime you open a port to the internet for a networked services like OpenSimimulator is there are a host of issues that come along with it. Personally I feel that Core has largely kicked that can down the road and so I wanted to provide a more secure platform. Also since OpenSimulator is providing asset storage for artistic content for the grid its serving its important that IP laws are both observed and supported via the software. Not only is this not the case for Core software but I personally feel that development on Core has helped to cultivate a culture where IP theft and IP rights are frequently violated. I wanted to do better.

I first spoke publicly about NGC and the Trusted Grid at OSCON 2022. The response was all over the map. Some people loved it, others felt it was just divisive and the work should be done in Core. Again remember that NGC up until recently (end of 2023) was mostly Core with the extra testing and curation. I can also say that attempts were made to collaborate without any kind of serious success. I have a long history with OpenSimulator going back to early days at InWorldz LLC and the lack of collaboration has been consistent since then. I know others have had similar experiences.

I guess I think its important to say that if you use NGC software the Trusted Grid philosophy comes with it. For the next major release in 2024 I will almost certainly add a license for the software that indemnifies the developers of any illegal/improper use and says that you understand that the IP stored in the system comes with a legal responsibility to protect it. That you wont do anything to subvert that right with the software. That would include things like enabling god mode, providing OARs or IARs that are unfiltered, etc.

Up through the December 2023 release we've largely worked on these goals: curated Core and added in a few features that increase performance and compatibility with SL (which should be considered a sub-goal of the project). Examples of the changes include the switch to the Pomelo MySQL connector and a fully implemented and tested SL compatible LinkSetData implementation. In both cases Core was made aware of these changes and chose not to use them.