In a press conference, lots of good questions but I thought I’d quickly mention this one.
Vishal Sikka Chief Technology Officer,and Doug Merritt Head of business user development were asked a question on Second life. Vishal mentioned the Second life demo from the internal demo jam. He commented the Second life is just another interface, and he is right.
Doug then commented about the power of virtual machines power of virtual machines for business simulation. Corporate research and business game simulation. He makes the point that pilots train virtually, why don’t business people do more of the same.
If anyone is interested in talking to SAP about Second Life, pop over to SL and see Craigster Hax in action. Rezzing I believe it is called.
del.icio.us tags: sapphire07
Vendorprisey 
Thomas- a few errant thoughts on this interesting topic…
– Flying as an activity is extraordinarily analyzed and scripted compared to pretty much anything else out there, even surgery. So, it is easy (relatively) to provide a simulator that is very close to the real thing. In fact, in the US the FAA will often let you log time spent in a simulator the same as if you spent the time flying the actual airplane.
– Simulators are used primarily to save money, but when the airplane is small (i.e. cheap) enough, training is usually done in the real plane. The key enabler is not the technology of the simulator, but the knowledge of what a flight might encounter that allows an instructor to lead the pilot through a series of exercises that meaningfully approximate a real-world scenario.
– If Second Life is filled with real people, and events in Second Life are taken as proxies for what’s going on in the “real world,” then how much of a simulation is it? Just a thought…