The nonprofit organization Linux Foundation has set up the Open Metaverse Foundation (OMF). This foundation is looking to create the open-source software and standards for an open metaverse that is inclusive for everyone, vendor neutral, global, and scalable. Several organizations and open-source communities have joined as founding members, such as Cloud Native Computing Foundation, Futurewei and GenXP.
In an interview with GamesBeat, Royal O’brien, executive director of the Open Metaverse Foundation, said: “We’re still in the early days of the vision for an open metaverse, and we recognize that many open-source communities and foundations are working on vital pieces of this iterative puzzle. While the challenges may seem daunting, I’m energized by the opportunities to collaborate with a broad and global community to bring these pieces together as we transform this vision into reality.”
Standards for Open Metaverse Foundation
O’Brien doesn’t want to see a single company dominate the metaverse, and he doesn’t think it will be possible. The group is currently trying to sign up hundreds of companies and communities to help. To reach the goal of interoperability, the metaverse will need standards for assets and metadata structures for interoperability of assets. Therefore, the foundation brings together people of all kinds of industries to create open-source software and standards.
Together with many organizations and open-source communities, an inclusive, vendor neutral, scalable and global metaverse should come into existence. These organizations include the Cloud Native Computing Foundation, Futurewei, GenXP, Hyperledger Foundation, LF Edge & Networking, Open Voice Network and Veriken, among others. The group will also collaborate with the Metaverse Standards Forum started by the Khronos Group, another standards body.
An open metaverse
By offering the collaboration space, Linux Foundation is looking to create a community of developers, engineers, academics and thought leaders. Together they will solve difficult challenges when it comes to create an open metaverse. “It is a foundation that is focused on building open-source libraries and standards for the different components that we need in the metaverse under Apache MIT type licensing or Creative Commons,” O’Brien said.
“I would love to see, in 18 months, just having a basic interoperability standard,” O’brien said. “The objective is to at least get to a first iteration of the vision of the metaverse. There will not be a complete metaverse ready. We’re trying to at least create the building blocks and we’re not looking to reinvent the wheel. We have a lot of open-source communities and open-source foundations that are contributing code. And those are the starting points that we can use.”
The origins of the foundation
By the way, the group is not entirely new: Matt White started the Open Metaverse Foundation in 2006. However, the group wasn’t getting a lot of traction. After this, White contributed its work to Linux Foundation. “We’re absorbing a lot of the history and elements that were built in what Matt was doing. But it is definitely something new with a very different approach,” O’Brien said.
The Open Metaverse Foundation is organized into Foundational Interest Groups (FIGs). These groups concern themselves with specific disciplines within the metaverse landscape. They provide targeted resources and forums. The eight Foundational Interest Groups of OMF are: users, transactions, digital assets, simulations and virtual worlds, artificial intelligence, networking, security and privacy, and legal and policy.
