From: barrett@iastate.edu (Marc N Barrett)
Subject: Re: CDTV is dead.
Organization: Iowa State University, Ames, IA
Date: Sun, 23 Aug 1992 16:52:05 GMT

In article <1992Aug23.130020.5510@uwm.edu> gblock@csd4.csd.uwm.edu (Gregory R Block) writes:
>barrett@iastate.edu (Marc N Barrett) writes:
>:    Scale is for making presentations with static pictures, the computer 
>: equivelent of a slideshow.  Not very many people would equate this with
>
>(You're right, Scala was a bad example.  How about Foundation and it's
>super?)

   Foundation is a bad clone of HyperCard with no support.  

>: multimedia.  What were are looking for and not finding are interactive 
>: presentations with high-resolution partial-screen motion video and high-
>: quality sound.  Something like CDTV, but on a high-resolution non-
>: interlaced screen with tiny fonts -- more like computer than a VCR, 
>: with text small enough for "hypermedia" purposes and not an overdependency
>: on graphics, like traditional low-resolution Amiga multimedia ususally
>: forces.
>
>Get a SunRize board, its software, if I remember correctly, has an
>ARexx port.  And it doesn't take a genius to write a simple script to
>make use of it.

   You still have to have a good knowledge of ARexx to make use of it.  I am
talking about usability for complete novices, which is something that Amiga
multimedia does not provide.  

>High resolution motion video isn't real possible currently.  Not
>easily, anyways.  Sure, you could take GVP's 24-bit card and use that,
>and use PIP stuff to put amiga graphics into the display as a small
>motion video window and still play with the 24-bit graphics, but it's
>not going to be easy.

   High-resolution motion video isn't really possible on Amigas currently.  
It's old hat on IBM and Mac systems.

>:    A user's nightmare.  Meaning that a person has to have a degree in
>: computer science to do CD-ROM multimedia from an Amiga.  Nothing is 
>: available that is ready-to-run on an Amiga.
>
>No, but it does take more preparation than it should.  It doesn't take
>a genius to interface a few applicatons through ARexx, obviously. 

   Computer elitism.  ARexx is a much more difficult programming environment
than you make it out to be.  In an industry where the trends are toward more
and more user-friendliness, the user should not have to do any programming
to get some simple task done, like use a CD-ROM disc.  If Commodore and third-
parties do not improve the situation, which is currently causing the Amiga
to buck completely against the rest of the computer industry, it will never
survive.

> But
>one could easily integrate toaster effects, graphics, and other
>capabilities with Amiga graphics and SunRize sound with some extra
>text from CD-Rom's and graphics from LaserDiscs and VCR's.
>
>And that's with AmigaVision.  I don't know how much better Foundation
>and its super are, but I know they're better.  :)
>
>:    There we go again with video.  A flickering, low-resolution screen
>: with fonts as big as cities.  Terrible for text-oriented hypermedia.
>
>But not bad for a multimedia presentation to be shown to groups of
>people.  And are we talking about multimedia presentations or not?

   Well, no.  I am talking about interactive sessions, with a computer and a
user one-on-one.  This is what the bulk of multimedia is all about, really.
And this requires a mix of colorful graphics, good-quality sound, and a high-
resolution non-interlaced display with the ability to display text in small
type.  To see some really good examples of truly useful multimedia, people
should take a look at some of the existing PD and shareware HyperCard stacks.
I have several, which I have used to get my mom better aquainted with how
to use a Macintosh.  

>:    There we go again with programming.  To get anything done, a user has
>: to be an expert programmer.  User-friendliness goes out the window.  
>
>You don't have to be an expert programmer to lace together programs
>through ARexx. 

    You cannot be coputer novice, either.  The fact is, the requirement of
having to know anything about ARexx locks the Amiga out of 99% of potential
buyers.  

> However, power and flexibility doesn't always come as
>idiot-capable as some would like.  But you're exaggerating again,
>obviously.

   No I am not.  In situations like these, I always think of how easy-to-
use of friendly something would have to be for my mom to be able to use it.
She knows very little about computers, so a program has to be very user-
friendly for her to be able to use it.  I installed a Mac emulator on her
A3000 for this very reason.  There is a wide enough base of pre-written
ready-to-run HyperCard stacks of all kinds that she does not have to know
anything other than 'point-and-click' to make use of multimedia.  For her
to do any of this on an Amiga, either I would have to write everything for
her (which is unrealistic, because I am only home about seven weeks out of
every year) or she would have to learn some complicated programming
environment, because there is nothing pre-written and ready-to-run on 
her system.

>(: (: (: (: Have you overdosed on smileys today?  Why NOT!?! :) :) :) :) :)
>(: "...and here's Clinton giving the correct spelling of bong-resin..."  :)
>(:	gblock@csd4.csd.uwm.edu			Gregory R. Block         :)
>(: (: (: (: (: (: (: (: (: (: (: (: (:) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :)

---
| Marc Barrett -MB-  |  email: barrett@iastate.edu
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     "Beware the ides of September..."