it's not enough to have a 3D environment that allows for collaborative work to be completed at a fundamental or simplistic level. For Croquet to be successful in commercial applications the more complex processes of creating engineer-to-order designs interactively through integration to computer-aided design (CAD) applications is critical. There is also the requirement of allowing for users to create their own taxonomies, or approaches to organizing their content. As of today Croquet does not appear to be robust in this area.
Conclusion
For Croquet to be effectively used in academic and commercial applications it's critical that the collaborative environment or workspace be populated with application programmer interface (API)-based tools that are based on the XML data standard to allow for greater flexibility in defining collaboration workflows. This is critical in commercial applications, as the use of Croquet as the design center online for global development teams could be realized if this technological leap was made. Second, the support of multiple taxonomies and the ability to define taxonomies for both students and instructors is critical. Not only for the transition to a true ECM or KBMS system but also to support scaffolding strategies is more robust support for taxonomies critical, support for...
The fact that the Croquet Project has a state engine is a good first step, as it can track its own use of content and knowledge over time and "lean" what each role in the virtual environment requires. From an academic standpoint, Croquet is well aligned with the needs of scaffolding strategies online and the creation of CSCW-based environments. The inclusion of taxonomy customization and "learning" of roles within the collaborative workspace is critical for instructors to be able to create more effective scaffolding techniques however. From a commercial perspective, this same point holds true. There needs to be more of a focus on how to take roles-based design and development processes in the virtual collaborative workspace and equip them with stronger tools that make product design more effective. There is also the requirement of creating partitioned secure areas within Croquet, for example where a car company may be designing a new vehicle entirely online, having designers from Europe, Asia and the U.S. work together. The potential for Croquet is significant and brings visualization of complex concepts to what had previously in many companies been siloed databases that held insight that could be used to find greater competitive advantages and speed to market of new products.
