Finally developers will get the opportunity to create their own hosted versions of Second Life after its maker Linden Lab announced plans to take the 3D virtual world open-source.

The San Francisco company released a version of the software used to access the environment that can be modified by its users under a GNU Public License. This means the many SL denizens who have already tinkered with the client through scripts can now help keep SL popular if its population spikes from recent media adulation wane this year. The initial move means outsiders will be able to modify the Second Life viewer software. That practice isn’t a guarantee for success, but it has worked well with other open-source projects such as Linux and Apache. Linden Lab Chief Technology Officer Cory Ondrejka hopes initially for bug fixes and a better Linux version of the software, but in the longer run expects more significant changes.

But chief technology officer Cory Ondrejka also announced Linden would release open-source versions of the server software which houses the immersive world’s underlying grid.

That opens the possibility for companies and individuals to operate their own private Second Lives for intranets, communities, commerce or other activities. No availability date has yet been announced.

“It’s pretty clear when building something as open as Second Life, you want the product itself to be open,” Ondrejka said. Second Life participants already have written millions of lines of script code to control Second Life objects, he said. “It would be a little silly to not allow that talent and energy to be applied to the client (viewer software) itself.”

The release means that Linden Lab has begun a move across a philosophical chasm of the software industry. On one side are proprietary software companies such as Microsoft, which can control and sell their products. On the other are open-source organizations and companies willing to accept unfettered distribution of software but betting on advantages of outside involvement and the possibility of fast, broad adoption. The future of open source Second Life is filled with exciting possibilities since there is a large community of developers and designers that have been waiting this release.