Speaking with Silicon Valley newspaper the San Jose Mercury News, Hewlett Packard's Innovation Program Office head and Personal Systems Group CTO/VP, Philip McKinney, predicted that Second Life-like communities will eventually be as common for workplaces as it is for recreational use.

He noted one specific advantage virtual business meetings have over other forms of distance collaboration: "You can schedule a meeting on a particular topic, but you miss out on casual conversation. That's a role Second Life can play. Some companies are using it as a virtual water cooler."

McKinney adds that as companies begin to use online as a business tool, the virtual worlds will need to gain legal status: "If I get in a virtual collaboration with somebody in another country and we invent something, what creates the basis for ownership? If there becomes a dispute, where do you take that dispute? That's going to have to be addressed."

Also, on the topic of the "gray wave," or consumers aged over 55 years old, McKinney stressed that an important opportunity exists in adapting conferencing technologies for older markets: "Everybody is out there chasing the 18- to 25-year-olds. The problem is the 18-25 market segment is shrinking by 6.5 percent a year. Over 55 is growing 8 percent a year. Fifty percent of all disposable income is in the 55-and-older category. So it's not a bad category to be thinking about."