Well... we'll never know what bits actually triggered it, but The Official Blog contains a preliminary response to the open letter (reported here, and promises a more detailed response in the days to come.
This is the first time I remember Linden Lab responding to such a letter, although they have, in fairness responded to a number of major issues in times gone by but never to an open letter.
1. They only responded because the open letter has received a lot of coverage outside of Second Life and they are simply covering their ***es with what is nothing more than an act to try and get the heat off. So many people are already thanking them for replying via the blog. Anyone notice comments are off? Might be because suddenly more people are signing the letter?
Do NOT be fooled by their blog post into believing they will pay attention to the problems. Believe it *only* when you see the change occur. Other than that, I find it hard to believe that Linden Lab can be trusted farther than you can throw a non-phys prim without scripts
Posted at 2:58PM on May 1st 2007 by Neural