Still here. I'm not doing too much vrml these days; unfortunately it's not a great way to pay the bills. In any case, for me (and for some of you as I recall) 3D is really just a means to an end. The end, for me, has always been and still is about inventing new kinds of storytelling. Recently I've dropped down a layer to the html (or maybe moved sideways, or zoomed out; the proper relationship between the different info dimensions has always been a subject of debate). Actually what I'm working on is more general than just html, and could apply just as well to vrml. At its base it's very simple: a little technology transfer from the world of software development to the so similar yet so different world of web development. The technology in question is object-oriented programming, and it's not a stretch to say that many of the complex software products of the past decade could not have been developed without it. Web development is beset by low productivity, poor scalability and high cost of maintenance, exactly the sorts of problems that OO is designed to address. The potential upside is enormous, but whether the transfer will work is not certain. The technology is turning out to be the easy part; it's the cultural and psychological gaps that loom large.
You can find out more about what I'm up to at http://www.bentodev.org -- it's not quite ready for public consumption but I think it will give you the basic idea. It's just another means to the end, however. I'm hoping to use it as a platform for some interactive storytelling approaches I've been gestating. Michael St. Hippolyte [EMAIL PROTECTED] P.S. I'm really happy this list is still alive, stirred from its slumber by a virus. Maybe the klez virus is mutating into a beneficial network organism, reviving old email channels and reconnecting people...
