As Adam said yesterday, we’re really pleased that Second Life will now have integrated voice chat, with a beta coming on March 6 and wide availability by the end of March. We’ll be using it in our dedicated builds, because it will be more seamless than Second Talk.

That said, we’re continuing Second Talk development and support. Why? A few reasons:

1. Linden Labs’ integrated voice won’t work everywhere. Second Life landowners determine whether or not voice is enabled on their property, so it’ll be entirely possible to cross from one region where voice works to another where it does not.
2. Linden Labs’ system isn’t free. Second Life landowners must upgrade to the current $295/month land tier in order to use Linden Labs’ system on their regions. Although this is a small investment, we understand that a lot of landowners won’t want to make it.
3. We’ve been asked to continue support. Even in light of Linden Labs’ announcement, many Second Talk users have asked us to continue support for Second Talk. Many people want a system that simply facilitates connection to an impartial third-party voice system, rather than routing through a captive system.

And, as of today, we’re making the committment that Second Talk will be free forever. We won’t ever charge for the headsets, and you’re free to pick up a copy of our distribution kiosk from our mainland office in Maui, or by asking Adam Rakosi or Fallon Winnfield in-world.

Think of it as a Google-esque beta–it lasts forever, it works everywhere, and it’s free, so everything’s cool.

But, as always, let us know what you think. Are there any features we should consider adding? Do you want to help us make Second Talk better? Should we just pack it in?