The source code will be available from Second Life's Web site. The initial open-source efforts are expected to include bug fixes, hardware compatibility improvements and user interface changes, according to the company.

The company decided to move the viewer client to open source because Second Life users are very creative and the move will allow developers to add their own creativity, said Cory Ondrejka, chief technology officer at Linden Lab. "We've said before that Second Life makes sense as a fully open-source project. It's somewhere in the future."

For open-source developers, the code release allows them to start familiarizing themselves with the project, he said. And for Linden Labs, it gives the company a start toward a broader open-source future.

"Just like we have learning to do about open source, the open-source community has a lot of work to do to learn about how Second Life works," Ondrejka said.