CompuServe Messages

I have a few questions about FLI/FLC support under Windows. No matter what I seem to try, I cannot get rid of the palette flash when using the AAPlay.DLL and MCIAAP.DRV to play flics. So my first question is, when in 256 color mode and showing a bitmap with a 256 color palette, can a flic be played with the Autodesk DLLs and drivers that will not cause a palette flash? Can the flic be made to play with the current palette, such as the one used to display the bitmap? I have tried having matching 256 & 236 color palettes, etc. Is there anything that can be done? Second, it seems to me that the MCIAAP.DRV was not fully developed. Why were so many commands excpected of an MCI annimation driver no implemented? For example, why can't a window handle be given to the driver with the Window command? Also, why does the palette seem to get automatically realized, but the realize command does not get recognized? Third, large companies such as Asymetrix are pointing the finger squarely at you "Autodesk" when they are approached about such issues as the flic palette flashing, yet your product seems to have been reletively untouched (DLL & Drivers) since it first appeared several years ago. Is this Windows player software not supported anymore? If so, why? Macromedia's Authorware supports playing flics internally somehow and does not use the AAPlay code. And other small developers have written stand alone Windows flic players, too. Is this the only way to go? It would seem that with all the advantages of the Autodesk flic format over AVI, etc. that you would somehow support it's users and developers better. Is it that your Windows focus has changed to AVI support? Finally, if you are not making any plans to improve upon the standard Windows flic playback tools, is there anyway we could get the DLL code so we don't have to start from scratch?