OpenSim is a project I have followed for a few years now. Like many others, I have set up private sims at home. But progress has been slow to stagnant. From my point-of-view, it seems that OpenSim core developers don’t wish to build a great project, they just want to build a generic one that can be changed or adapted to many different needs. This is a great idea, but most of us really just want one thing from OpenSim: a Second Life-like grid or sim. Some OpenSim core developers run grids themselves and don’t even use Opensim. They even use that as part of the pitch for their grid saying, “This is not OpenSim.” Think about that for a minute and what that means.

For these reasons, I believe OpenSim will soon fall aside, and Aurora will take its place.

What is Aurora? Aurora is everything you wished OpenSim was! Aurora was originally a branch of OpenSim, but has become so much more now. The development team has really shown off their skills, not sitting back and debating things to death. The Aurora team goes for the gold, and it’s really paid off. 

What makes Aurora better than OpenSim?

1. Has replaced the Robust server, and underlining communication framework altogether
2. Boasts enhanced Windlight features that surpass OpenSim’s Lightshare
3. Better integration with viewers and a partnership with Imprudence to bring forth better features and interoperability 
4. More osFunction and added aaFunctions
5. Totally rebuilt scripting engine from the ground up (and I love it!)
6. Variable size private regions instead of being limited to just a 256x256!
7. See further than one region away
8. Interworld connector, like Hypergrid, but actually secure. 
9. More secure, while its not perfect yet, its a billion times better than Opensim
10. Easier to understand with a more intuitive configuration
11. Groups, Profiles, Abuse Reports, Search and all those little essentials work!
12. Latest version of physics engine 
13. Support for 64Bit
14. True server side bots (NPC), they don’t implement fake clients like most other bots.
15. The code is easier to understand
16. More responsive land editing
17. Integrated backup system
18. Integrated combat system
19. Web interface with TONS of features
20. And so much more!

Not to mention that developers that actually listen and care!

So is there a downside? With all these great features to list out, there has to be something! And there is, just like every platform (Second Life included). At times, Aurora can be unstable because they do push the envelope, but they push out stable releases quite often. 0.1 was released last month and 0.2 is expected very soon. 

My point is that in such a short time Aurora has changed the game. The Aurora team is truly delivering the full package! They have broken the coding speed barrier and pumped out some great stuff. Aurora is projected to become the dominant, open source metaverse platform for users looking to escape Second Life.

If you get a chance, download it and give it a try! Matto put together a great tutorial on how to set up a grid mode.