#New Technology
3 messages in this thread
Rich, I'm really not anti-multimedia or I wouldn't be here, and a good
gimmick is always something I like playing with, but most of the thrust of
multimedia has been towards little "goshwow" bells and whistles that really
have little practical application at this time on the PC platform. Having
Bogart wish me goodnight is pleasant and says that Windows terminated properly,
but it's not a big deal. Running little itty bitty 1" square 30 second videos
in the upper left corner of my screen isn't really all that impressive, either,
even if I can embed them in WinWord (goshwow!).
There ARE some interesting potentials for this medium, but right now all
that potential is being developed on the Mac; the Motorola chip has its
problems for some applications but as a multimedia tool it has no equivalent on
the Intel/Windows side, and that's where 80% of the PC users are. Lacking the
hardware union, OS, and platform to really do effective multimedia, I think all
we're seeing so far on the PC side is a lot of added hoopla that makes you look
at the glitz rather than as real advances to real needs.
I'm hanging out here mostly in hope that some of this will come up that
won't cost me twenty grand to implement.
Jack:
I didn't suspect you were "anti-multimedia" (although for the sake of balance,
we should find someone to play that role, to keep us honest, like the Herbert
Simon of multimedia). I appreciate and share your frustration with a lot of
fluff substituted for real progress.
I was encouraged though when I talked with someone the other day who had been
to one of the early Microsoft conferences, and then had been out of the
business for a few years. She attended the San Jose show last week and said
she sensed subtle but real progress in interface design and the use of the
technology. For those of us who follow it from day to day, it's difficult to
see the tiny changes that add up to something major over a period of time.
Best – Rich
I don't think the AVI system is practical for much beyond what it can now
do, and considering how critical matched video drivers, sound drivers, and the
like are, I really wonder just how much progress we can expect on the anarchic
PC side. So MicroSoft annoints the S3 or somesuch (just pulling one from a hat)
but that's a minority of the market and few high end video card owners are
going to toss out their one grand plus video boards to run full motion video.
Consider the litany of conflicts we're still seeing with just basic Windows
stuff. I'm also not sure Indeo is the answer, but I think if it's going to get
serious then the CONCEPT is right–a standardized full motion video system on
an add-on board that's the same compatability benchmark SoundBlaster provided
for audio. I really can't conceive of any other way of really doing it and
making meaningful progress.