Studiously not saying whose technology it is using, or whether it is all its own work, IBM Corp has announced the IBM Virtual World. Saying that the information resources on the Internet are vast, it goes on to say that surfing it can be like junk food for the mind and that IBM has made getting to that information more exciting by creating a virtual world where avatars enable users to converse, browse historical libraries and be bombarded with flack on IBM products and services. The IBM Virtual World is at present a three-dimensional extremely limited demonstration environment offering a choice of six avatars. There are three locations to visit, a Community Forum chat area for social computing; the Los Angeles Public Library Photo Gallery and Historical Library, and a Solution Center – the flack; it’s free at http://www.software.ibm.com.
