Re: [-empyre-] commerce compatability and web 3d

[Anthony Rowe <ant@squidsoup.com>]

At 03:28 PM 3/19/2002 +1100, you wrote:
> the integration of standards, the competition and the commercial aspects of
> online 3d was something i wanted to ask Nick Polys about  from his opening
> statement, and how the people who work in software development see it
> panning out.. or is it just anyone's guess? it almost feels like waiting for
> an earthquake.. wondering which bit of ground will open up next to swallow
> up years of artwork.

presumably even if blaxxun does disappear, the plug-in is likely to remain 
either as is or be bought up and developed further by someone else (well, 
here's hoping...)

we generally use shockwave at the moment (it's got a very flexible 3D 
engine) and are similarly in the hands of macromedia shareholders and 
directors which is an uncomfortable reality.

however, the other side of that coin is that at least there is some 
standardisation across platforms; in the case of shockwave3D you can run 
the same app through Mac and Windoze, OpenGL/DirectX or just software and 
on Netscape and IE and the piece looks pretty similar on them all, mainly 
because there is only one player -- no Unix though...

the issue of preserving digital work is an interesting one; there are 
organizations around the world involved in backing up not only interesting 
content and plug-ins, but the whole OS and hardware too - one thing you can 
guarantee is that in 10 years computers and operating systems will have 
completely changed - and even if blaxxun were to be around then it would be 
asking a lot for their plug-in to be backward compatible for 10 years.  How 
much stuff that was written 10 years ago runs on the computer you are using 
to read this?

[in fact i think i'll keep that old Mac I was about to throw out; it's got 
Quicktime 2 on it....]

however, if a piece of work's good enough to preserve, it can always be 
ported onto another platform.

 -- ant

::

anthony rowe
squid s o u p
www.altzero.com