This argument goes against everything my clients wants. They want a
browser which can delivery realtime training but be somewhat
proprietary. When I showed them a stack that was 2mb (the engine)
downloading any number of sample stacks that had training (each about
16k) and those stacks then retrieved the data from the server they
completely lost their minds.
We can play QT movies, Flash, animated gifs, audio and who knows what
else. This is fantastic AND CROSS PLATFORM. How many of you made
Javascript training material that worked only in NS and IE and on
only the Mac and PC (more platforms for NS)? Well I did, and it was
insane trying to find the line where IE played nice with enough
javascript to also allow NS to run properly also.
They liked the browser version but would rather see the MetaCard
stack succeed because it hit all the platforms they want to target.
And it was a single source stack (1 stack in 1 directory with 1 set
of resources). All we are waiting for now is for Scott and his crew
to implement a new *set directory* command which would allow all MC
users to point to "http://www/amigo-3.com/discreet/images/" rather
than to "data/images/story.gif" (the URL actually being the one you
want, not mine:^).
Imagine if you are a player in the world of CBT. You likely spent
thousands of man hours on your training. And like the client I used
to work for (CAE Electronics), they could not use the web because the
training was too sensitive (not to mention too new). A metacard
solution proposes many advantages that make the browser less
appealing for CBT designers. It's much easier designing for MetaCard
than it is for 2 or more browsers, and I hate it when anyone decides
"this browser running this version" will be the requirement. It
usually turns out to be IE on the PC and that's it. Well that's just
plain stupid IMHO.
Training is a non issue. You can download any number of browsers
today such as iCab or Opera and you would be running without more
than 20 seconds of confusion. And you can install it in a master
directory where everyone on the network can run it from one location
without multiple copies.
If you want MC in the browser then I'm sure they'll do it if everyone
on the list donates $5000 to MetaCard to start development. This is
not a cheap proposal, and not very essential to the MC community
either. Hypercard doesn't do it, and SuperCard very nearly lost it's
shirt trying to create a PC version and Roadster plugin (my buddy
Greg from way back at CAE Electronics programmed Roadster). I used
to want this myself, but as I see MC gain extra web enabled features
I can see that I would be far better off not having to depend on the
browser.
I could go on, I'm so excited about the new "set directory to url"
feature that I very nearly wet my pants when I think of it.....I
can't wait.
>Richard,
>
>I think its great that you can download information via Metacard
>through the web. Unfortunately, in the business world that I'm in,
>MetaCard over the web is a non-starter for the following reasons:
>
>Our users LOVE the web and want everything web-enabled. BUT they
>want it from a standard browser window - nothing else. The reasons
>for this are pretty clear. The users work in a distributed
>environment and want to be able to log in to any computer, anywhere,
>anytime, and bring up the information they want.
>
>They don't want to install an application on every machine in order
>to run it. They also don't want to train people to use yet another
>tool. There are other reasons but I've gotta run.
>
>If there is any way of running MC in a browser window I'd love to hear it.
>rgds,
>Blair
--
Cheers,
Simon
All your .com .net and .org domains for only $14.50 each.
Get them while they last... http://www.amigo-3.com/hosting/
--------------------------------------------------
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found it!' but rather "Hmmm,that's funny...." Isaac Asimov
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