From Internet-on-a-Disk #16, May/June 1996
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I'm embarrassed to be so late with this issue. The Internet is far faster than I am. When I began working on this issue, late on the night of January 21, I downloaded the beta version of the Netscape Navigator 2.0. I had no choice. The previous version was due to time-out within minutes, and I had just succeeded in getting my PC working again, after three weeks of downtime. Now as I'm finishing that issue in May, Netscape has already come out with Navigator 3.0. So all the enlightened things I intended to say about 2.0 seem old by now. And I'm extremely frustrated at not being able to download 3.0.
Netscape's few download sites are in heavy demand, and the "standard" file for 3.0 is enormous -- more than 6 Mbytes. Hence even at 3 AM EDT, downloads timeout, crashing my system.
Netscape has done an excellent job of marketing. I salivate when reading the descriptions of what you can do with 3.0 -- including LiveAudio, LiveVideo, interactive 3D worlds, chat, Internet telephone, white board, and ability to run Java applets. I'd be willing to pay for such capabilities. But I can't figure out any way to get the file either free or for a price.
The opening Netscape screen (http://www.netscape.com/) indicates "Purchasers of Netscape Software Subscriptions get fast access to upgrades on our private Sofware Subscription download site." So after crashing a couple dozen times trying to download the free beta version from several different sites, I tried to find a way to pay and hence get access to this special subscription site. However, it turns out that, as of now, they only sell the "released versions" -- 1.x and 2.x. You can't get the beta 3.0 by paying money.
So I'm forced to play a game of roulette -- repeatedly trying to do a free download from one or another of their sites at various times of the day in hopes that by chance eventually I'll be able to download a complete copy of this "free" software; and hoping that I don't do permanent damage to my computer by crashing so many times.
It turns out that I'm reasonably well equipped -- with a 28.8 modem, Windows 95, a 75 MHz notebook PC, and 16 Megs of RAM. But in two dozen tries, the most I've succeeded in downloading is 2 Mbytes, and anything less than the full 6+ Mbytes is useless.
Given these circumstances and considering the fact that with each release the Netscape Navigator gets larger and hence more difficult to download with an ordinary modem, Netscape would be well-advised to partition their files you can retrieve them separately. Today you have no choice but to download a single humongous self-extracting file. When you run that file, it creates a set of separate files and automatically installs itself. Instead, they should let you download a series of a dozen or more files of 500K or less. then your chances of getting something useful would be greatly increased, and the patient could be rewarded.
In addition, they should consider charging a fee for access to special download servers that are particularly fast and not too crowded. I'd be more than happy to pay.
Returning now to the night of January 21 and my last successful download of the Netscape Navigator...
I was struck by how sophisticated the registration process had become. I found myself on an extended commercial tour through the Netscape Web site, which gives enormous visibility to their software partners. I was intrigued by the concept of "plug-ins" and downloaded Shockwave from Macromedia (http://www.macromedia.com). (This was one of the few plug-ins that would work with a 486 and Windows 3.1 -- most require Pentium and Windows 95. My once glorious multimedia desktop PC has very quickly become obsolete).
Then, once I had loaded the software, despite the approaching dawn, I couldn't help but try out some of the Shockwave examples. A file of the order of magnitude of 100K would download to my system. But instead of this being just multimedia content to then be played by software residing on my system, this seemed to be plug-in software plus content.
What I saw as a result was polished professional, dynamic content (lots of movement) in synch with good quality sound -- a couple minutes worth, which then automatically replayed, until I clicked to go to another URL.
With RealAudio (http://www.realaudio.com), sound streams in, like receiving a broadcast, and it could go on and on and on, and could be either pre-packaged or live. With Shockwave the content is limited/packaged, somewhat like Quicktime, and it is "played", not just received. While there's a delay to download, the files are significantly smaller than with Quicktime. And the sound, unlike RealAudio, is music quality (at least to my tin ear).
The first example I picked was like an animated MTV clip -- a single song presented in very eye-catching fashion.
Next I took a glimpse at a couple of videogames (both from the same source). These were very primitive -- a variation of Tetris and a clone of Asteroids (from Atari 2600 days). The viewing area was small, but the game play was fine and you could do it over and over again (with scores and sound effects in the Asteroids one). But the files were about 30K and 70k and all the game action was there -- and running locally on my machine, until I clicked to go back to the previous URL or moved on to another Web site. Then both the graphics and the software vanished. I never had the option to save it -- this is a one-time experience. Unlike Quicktime, I can't download it and play it locally whenever I like. I have to connect to the Website again and download the one-time plug-in software and content to play it again. This looks like it has great potential as an audience grabber and holder for Web sites.
Last I checked out some advertising material -- active banners where the words didn't just appear on the screeen, but rather they danced and flashed and scrolled left to right and right to left. This was like electric signs where words and images move across a panel/screen to catch your eye. There also was a fast-paced, well-done animation with MTV style music. The dynamism and the images reminded me of some of the best current TV commercials. And while it would take 10-30 Megabytes to capture such a TV ad in Quicktime or as an AVI file, with Shockwave this rich graphic and audio content can be conveyed in a file of the order of magnitude of 100K.
So what is this stuff? -- Shockwave and plug-ins in general? How do they work? To my untutored mind, it resembles what people have been saying Java would do. Are Java applets and plug-ins second cousins, subsets of the same basic approach to delivering software plus content on a one-time basis?
I'd really like to know what it takes in terms of equipment, software, time, and training to produce multimedia content of this kind. How expensive is this? Will the little guys have a chance on this new playing field? While the quality of what I saw was very high, the work seemed to have been done by small shops, creatively taking advantage of a new medium. But is this work that you can do yourself (in your basement), or do you need to pay a well-equipped design firm to do it for you?
If you have technical insight into this or other plug-ins and what it takes to produce multi-media content of this kind, please send me email.
Date: Fri, 16 Feb 1996 00:06:43 -0500
I just read your posting/musings regarding Shockwave and the Netscape plug-ins in general. By now, based on the visibility your site gets, I'm sure you've been inundated with enthusiastic multimedia 101 tutorials.
You must love email. Anyway, here's my two cents...
The basic difference that I see between Java and plug-ins such as Shockwave is external access to data. The plug-ins are essentially self-contained documents or applications which tap into a run-time player on the client PC. Kind of like having someone send you a Powerpoint presentation along with the projector application. Shockwave is probably the most compelling of the initial plug-ins, because it utilizes Macromedia's Director, the heavyweight of multimedia authoring tools (and the primary tool used to create "Myst"). The great thing about the Director plug-in, as you discovered with the arcade games, is the interactivity that's available.
Java is more like having someone send or install on your PC a compiled, stand-alone program. It's like having a Basic program on your PC. The primary difference that I see is that Java is a language, rather than an application, and one of the biggest benefits is that it can access external data. This feature is the benefit most widely promoted with the stock-quote ticker-tape effects being demonstrated across the 'net.
Back to the plug-ins, which I think have the greatest relevance to the great unwashed non-C programmers we pride ourselves in being...a recent addition to the plug-in announcement list is Astound by Gold Disk. If you don't already know, Astound is essentially Powerpoint with native multimedia capabilities (sound, animation, video, etc.) built right in. If you can create a presentation in Powerpoint, Harvard Graphics, etc., you to can create exciting multimedia Web content. Assuming, of course, you can create exciting presentations.
Which means, finally, that the large mega-media companies do NOT have a stranglehold on delivery of multimedia content. Just the opposite. One of the largest challenges facing small multimedia developers (apart from finding new sources of caffeine-type stimulation) is distribution of their work. Plug-ins bring home the dream of the Internet as being the ultimate delivery vehicle. Think the record companies are scared?
If this is not part of a mass of e-response, I hope it has been helpful. I'm somewhat privileged to even be attempting to provide useful information to someone who has achieved the kind of 'Net success you have. I have tremendous admiration for your success at bundling an enormous amount of scintillating 'content' into a 10MB site with no graphics. Keep it up!
Date: Sat, 06 Apr 96 00:53:15 -0800
http://www.tiac.net/users/act2/
I just read, re-read actually, your draft article where you talk about what is happening with multimedia on the Web. I'm still exploring the technical parts of this but it doesn't look like it's going to be all that bad.
Quick Time and QuickTime VR doesn't look to expensive for example. $600 to $1000 (real money but not outragious) for camera and additional software and you're pretty much there. We have high hopes of trying it in the high school I teach at next year. We're already getting kids to build multimedia games (though not yet Internet versions) with Hyperstudio and a $100 camera attached to a Mac Quadra.
Colleges are talking about Java being the next big language in CS programs. I think we'll be seeing great stuff from them over the next year or so.
I think we'll be seeing great things from small as well as large colleges. The college I attended, which is small, is doing CS stuff at the undergraduate level that most students don't get to do until grad school. Why? Not because of having lots of money but by being limited to only having undergrads. They find grant money because the faculty wants to learn and try and grow. Having only undergrads is something of an advantage, IMHO, because undergrads are less afraid to fail and so try more. Grad students in big schools have to impress faculty so they can get their next degree or get that big job in industry. Undergrads are still in that "invulnerable" stage of their lives. :-) Not only that, but expectations are lower so they are constantly impressing themselves and others. They do more with less then anyone expects. Besides, remember the price of admission (hardware costs) are at rock bottom.
The explosion of kids on the net generating content is amazing. I've already had mail from junior high kids, with their own home pages, who are planning on attending my high school next year. The team I have working on the schools web pages are mostly freshmen. Web technology is so easy to use that kids are rushing to use it. We have multimedia classes that are overflowing. Kids want to use sound and pictures and new tools make this easy. Do you remember ADVENTURE and ZORK? These were/are games where one travels around some sort of cave picking up things, meeting strange creatures, and on and on. Well, we have high school students, some of whom really couldn't program out of a paper bag, creating such games. And not text only by any means. Audio and video are standard. That's what they are used to and that's what they create.
I believe that the big multi media companies will have something of an edge. They can buy the best cameras and hired professional actors and graphic artists. But students and hobbiests will be able to do some serious work. I think. I hope.
Date: Fri, 2 Feb 1996 23:12:25 -0800
My name is Vijay Mukhi and I come from Bombay, India. I came across your page while surfing the net today.
You must be acquainted with the latest technologies like Java and Netscape plug-ins which are all set to change the way we perceive the Internet and the way we live. For the wide-eyed newbies, I have put up a tutorial on these two technologies at http://www.neca.com/~vmis
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