This appendix is rather long for a webpage. I'll spread it over several pages if it is wished.
Here is the questionnaire that was produced for multimedia artists and professionals to fill in. I have reproduced it here for perusal, along with all the submissions received between October 21, 1997 and January 8, 1998. I have kept all entries anonymous for privacy reasons, removing all e-mail header data in the process.
The purpose of the questionnaire was to gauge opinion from authors and developers in the new media industry about whether or not multimedia should be platform independent. Apart from directly e-mailing multimedia companies about the questionnaire, I also posted messages to the Usenet newsgroups comp.multimedia, comp.sys.acorn.announce, and comp.sys.acorn.misc, and the website Convergence International. I also submitted an article to Geocities SiliconValley News, a site which is now discontinued, although you can view the article here.
View posting to newsgroup comp.multimedia on 13 December, 1997 (same posting sent to csa.announce and csa.misc)
News Item in Convergence International Newsletter 14 (17 November, 1997) (cached from Internet Wayback Machine at www.archive.org)
The comments shown here make interesting reading, and they, along with all their accompanying answers which are analysed further in Chapter 3.
(anonymity) No (contact) Yes (mmauthor) yes (selfemployed) no (LOCATION) Redbourn, hertfordshire (MACHINE) Macs, Acorn, Use PCs at work (MARKET) Macs & PCs (package) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~- Freehand Graphics Studio (includes Extreme 3D, Freehand 7,
xRes, Fontographer) Dabbler SiteMill & PageMill My Imagination v2.35 Freeway ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~- (versions) Yes (xplatrating) Average (alterations) Quite (timespent) Days (addressing) No (troubles) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~- HTML - we test pages on both PCs and Macs, in both Navigator
and Explorer. Netscape and Microsoft have their own
interpretations of the HTML standard (note the word standard
here). However, the PC version of the Mac browser will behave
slightly differently and the output will change subtly. Fonts - see my web site for more on this. These really should
be cross platform. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~- (viable) No (ifeel) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~- 1 - Fascisitically make the Web accessible for one platform
only and make everyone use that platform through legislation
and punitive penalties. This is the Bill Gates way. 2 - It's only viable if standards are correctly adhered to.
I am speaking from a Web site design point of view on this.
The current problems with Java and Microsoft show how one
company can effectively kill any attempt at cross platform
compliance. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~- (comments) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~- The question you have to ask yourself is: are we dealing
with computer technology, or do we push multimedia into a
market more akin to the video industry? In which case, the
players needed do not have to be full desktop machines. A
common standard for playback will be set and the industry
works to that. This will make computers as acceptable as a
video player or a hi-fi system. Currently, computers are
banished to a corner or another room altogether. Consumers need to be educated into the market that multimedia
will be in. They should be encouraged to purchase lower spec
machines (similar to the games consoles) that are capable of
playing all multimedia titles. An NC with a CD (or DVD)
player is all that is needed for most people's needs. Extra for question 17 Because of the massive amount of browsers and systems
available, we can never test everything on every machine. We
limit our tests to what we perceive as the "business community"
expectations - Netscape or Explorer on Macs and PCs. As most
businesses we deal with use PCs, we have to meet their
standards and expectations. As you yourself know, browsers
are generally rubbish anyway.
(anonymity) No (contact) Yes (mmauthor) yes (selfemployed) no (LOCATION) Redbourn, hertfordshire (MACHINE) Macs, Acorn, Use PCs at work (MARKET) Macs & PCs (package) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~- Freehand Graphics Studio (includes Extreme 3D, Freehand 7,
xRes, Fontographer) Dabbler SiteMill & PageMill My Imagination v2.35 Freeway ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~- (versions) Yes (xplatrating) Average (alterations) Quite (timespent) Days (MOST) Bill Gates (2nd) Non compliance with standards (3rd) fascist PC owners (4th) fascist Mac owners (addressing) No (troubles) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~- HTML (pretty basic one this) - we test pages on both PCs and
Macs, in both Navigator and Explorer. Netscape and Microsoft
have their own interpretations of the HTML standard (note the
word standard here). However, the PC version of the Mac
browser will behave slightly differently and the output
will change markedly. Fonts - see my web site for more on
this. These really should be cross platform. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~- (viable) No (ifeel) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~- 1 - Fascisitically make the Web accessible for one platform
only and make everyone use that platform through legislation
and punitive penalties. This is the Bill Gates way. 2 - It's only viable if standards are correctly adhered to.
I am speaking from a Web site design point of view on this.
The current problems with Java and Microsoft show how one
company can effectively kill any attempt at cross platform
compliance. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~- (comments) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~- The question you have to ask yourself is: are we dealing
with computer technology, or do we push multimedia into a
market more akin to the video industry? In which case, the
players needed do not have to be full desktop machines. A
common standard for playback will be set and the industry
works to that. This will make computers as acceptable as a
video player or a hi-fi system. Currently, computers are
banished to a corner or another room altogether. Consumers need to be educated into the market that multimedia
will be in. They should be encouraged to purchase lower spec
machines (similar to the games consoles) that are capable
of playing all multimedia titles. An NC with a CD (or DVD)
player is all that is needed for most people's needs. Extra for question 17 - Because of the massive amount of
browsers and systems available, we can never test everything
on every machine. We limit our tests to what we perceive as the
"business community" expectations - Netscape or Explorer on
Macs and PCs. As most businesses we deal with use PCs, we have
to meet their standards and expectations. As you yourself know,
browsers are generally rubbish anyway.
Question 19 - Fascists PC / Mac owners. This is the "Mine is
better than yours. debate. These people make me sick. They
are worse if you say you use Acorn machines. The platform
is not the issue. It's what you do with it that is.
(anonymity) Yes (contact) No (NAME) withheld for anonymity (age) 25-34 (sex) male (URL) withheld for anonymity (mmauthor) yes (selfemployed) no (COMPNAME) withheld for anonymity (LOCATION) Nottingham (MACHINE) PC (MARKET) PC (package) Authorware, Director (versions) Yes (xplatrating) Average (alterations) Quite (timespent) Notmuch (MOST) Lack of Unix platform capability (2nd) Video format problems (3rd) Cost of testing & development (4th) Different palette / graphics formats (5th) Trying to develop common files for different platforms (6th) Video / display driver conflicts (addressing) No (troubles) AVI, Quicktime, FLC (viable) Unsure (ifeel) Greater co-operation between the hardware & software
manufacturers with regard to developing common standards. Even
things like MPEG, which are supposedly independent, often do
not solve the problems (e.g. use of different MCI commands by
different board manufacturers) (comments) Quite good questions but your purple background
is bloody terrible....:-)
(anonymity) No (contact) Yes (mmauthor) yes (selfemployed) no (LOCATION) Birmingham U.K. (MACHINE) mac and pc (MARKET) mac and pc (package) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~- macromedia director ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~- (versions) Yes (xplatrating) Very good (alterations) Little (timespent) Days (MOST) pc's are rubbish! (2nd) too many users with slow pc's (addressing) Yes (troubles) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~- Field entries in director which change colour and size across
platform for no logical reason ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~- (viable) Yes (ifeel) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~- Just by doing it, the tools are there, it's not a problem
except for those damn fields...
(anonymity) No (contact) Yes (mmauthor) yes (selfemployed) yes (LOCATION) London (MACHINE) Macs and PCs (MARKET) Mostly PCs now (package) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~- Director QuickTime StrataStudio Pro Premier I author on Macs for delivery on PCs. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~- (versions) Yes (xplatrating) Very good (alterations) Quite (timespent) Weeks+ (MOST) The low specs of corporate PCs (2nd) PCs generally (3rd) Video cards specifically (4th) Sound cards too (5th) Windows (6th) MCI (LEAST) The applications themselves I author on Macs for
delivery on PCs (addressing) No (troubles) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~- Video formats AVA and QuickTime Sound files on Compaqs ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~- (viable) Yes (ifeel) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~- 1. More Cooperation between vendors (unlikely) 2. A common OS for Macs and PCs (Rhapsody?) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~- (comments) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~- Multimedia suffered from being over-hyped in the beginning.
People are more likely to know what is achievable now so
it is less of a problem, but they still expect too much on
their office or school machines which are generally way
slower than ones bought for home. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~-
(anonymity) No (contact) No (mmauthor) yes (selfemployed) no (LOCATION) Wiltshire, England (MACHINE) All types, Acorns, Apple Macs and Windows PC (MARKET) Acorn, Windows, RM Window Box and Apple Mac (package) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~- We have developed our own authoring software called Playbook.
The software is constructed on the Acorn and we are able to
produce a Windows and Apple Macintosh version within a few
hours. The latest version is Playbook2 and it now allows video
usage and all the other multimedia resources. All three versions work off one set of data (shared resources),
this allows us to supply triple format CD-Roms to schools
and other customers. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~- (versions) No (xplatrating) Excellent (alterations) Little (timespent) Week (MOST) Standard video support (2nd) Lack of quality animation software on Acorn (3rd) Having to develop for slower machines (LC2s and 386/486) (4th) Lack of one source for developer support (three
companies - three idea) (addressing) No (troubles) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~- Video formats - Acorn Replay is OK, but the lack of Apple
Quicktime support is a pain. However, a RISC OS Quicktime player is coming, but we will
have to see the performance of it on slower machines
(A4000, A5000) before using it. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~- (viable) No (ifeel) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~- Probably not... The best possible solution will come via
the online delivery method. Using Java and HTML the chances
of developing projects that will run on all platforms will
be possible. However within education (especially Primary Schools) the
use of internet (or intranets) will be several years away. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~- (comments) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~-
(anonymity) No (contact) Yes (mmauthor) yes (selfemployed) no (LOCATION) Glasgow (MACHINE) Mac & PC (MARKET) Mainly for Window's (package) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~- Macromedia Authorware Director Flash Dreamweaver Shockwave ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~- (versions) Yes (xplatrating) Very good (alterations) Little (MOST) Palette Clashes (2nd) Accessing shared resources from Hybrid CD (3rd) Filepaths (4th) database connection (addressing) Yes (viable) Yes (ifeel) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~- I think as operating systems mature we will reach the
stage where everybody will be running a java virtual
machine on top of or instead of their existing OS on
their chosen platform allowing multimedia developers to
author just once in Java for all platforms ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~-
(anonymity) No (contact) Yes (mmauthor) yes (selfemployed) no (LOCATION) Reading, UK (MACHINE) Various Pentiums (MARKET) Various pentiums shortly dual pentiumII 300Mhz (package) Director, ImageQ and reviewing some more (versions) Yes (xplatrating) Average (alterations) Quite (timespent) Days (addressing) Yes (viable) Yes (ifeel) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~- I do not know the technicalities involved but feel that
less 'rush to market' and more testing, and thought should
be given to issues such as Cross platform programs It annoys me to find pages describing what can and can't
be used on different packages. None of these problems
are insurmountable as far as I can see. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~-
(anonymity) No (contact) Yes (mmauthor) yes (selfemployed) no (LOCATION) Wiltshire (MACHINE) Macintosh performa 630 20/250 33mhz (MARKET) Macs, PC's (all flavours) (package) Director, Mtropolis, Hypercard (occasionally) (versions) Yes (xplatrating) Excellent (alterations) Little (timespent) Notmuch (MOST) colours (2nd) incompatible scripting (3rd) sound (4th) digital video (5th) memory issues (addressing) No (troubles) .dir,.mov(quicktime) (viable) Yes (ifeel) Through the web, agreed open standards. (comments) Interesting to see how the Acorn is ignored
even though its a prime mover in the Uk education system
and a majority of schools are still working with the
Archimedes.
(anonymity) No (contact) Yes (mmauthor) yes (selfemployed) yes (MACHINE) mac 4400/160 and pc 66mhz, 1.4 modem (MARKET) as above (package) director, photoshop, illustrator, cubase,
usual stuff (versions) Yes (xplatrating) Very good (alterations) Little (timespent) Notmuch (MOST) the three letters you have to put on a mac to
go on a pc (2nd) p.c.'s being slow at graphics (3rd) music samples e.g. wav's and aiff (addressing) Yes (troubles) as above, it's alot better than it use to be,
I think mainly because microsoft now put their stuff on
to mac as well (viable) Yes (ifeel) Like the net time will tell. Little improvements
here and there will make the difference in the long run (comments) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~- Cross platforming is a nightmare, but as long as you
keep you head clear and work methodically it doesn't
take that long to do. The problem for me is when doing
a multimedia project on several platforms is that the
mac is generally quicker and better, so technical
considerations can get in the way of design.All designers
would like to have a standard machine to work for, but
market forces will never allow this to happen ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~-
(anonymity) No (contact) No (mmauthor) yes (selfemployed) no (LOCATION) North of England (MACHINE) AMIGA (MARKET) AMIGA/MAC/PC (package) scala,demomaniac,cando,videotracker,infochanel,
director :) (versions) Yes (xplatrating) Poor (alterations) Unsure (MOST) resolution (2nd) format (3rd) animation (4th) o/s (addressing) No (troubles) pict,anim5,quicktime,iff,ilbm,aiff, (viable) No (comments) not while systems are continuously being
updated because after 6 months the minimum spec of a
machine has changed also new formats and newer versions
of old formats are being released faster and faster!
(anonymity) No (contact) Yes (mmauthor) yes (selfemployed) no (COMPNAME) I'm a student wishing I was self-employed (LOCATION) Ahem! Staffordshire University,School of Design (MACHINE) None presently, but intend getting a Power
Macintosh soon (MARKET) Macintosh environment (package) Macromedia Director 4.0.4 and 5 versions (versions) Yes (xplatrating) Unsure (alterations) Unsure (timespent) Notmuch (MOST) Windows incompatibility with Macintosh (2nd) file formats varying (3rd) Limitation of 256 colours on windows platform (4th) Processor speed variation of machines (5th) Lack of QuickTime on windows platforms (addressing) No (troubles) Again, it comes down to Windows specific
issues...usually with file formats (viable) Yes (ifeel) Well, if the box-set on top of your TV is
anything to go by if Microsoft/IBM/Motorola/Intel/Apple
were to stop competing then it would become possible. (comments) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~- Multimedia is at the mercy of corporate market forces... ...personally I think Macintosh is a better platform to
create and play multimedia because of variable colour
display monitors and there's less conflict of dos
compatibility with Macs. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~-
(anonymity) No (contact) No (mmauthor) yes (selfemployed) no (LOCATION) Salt Lake City Utah (MACHINE) Pentium Pro and Power Mac and Quadra AV (MARKET) see 12 (package) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~- Stone age tool of "choice. Macromedia Director ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~- (versions) Yes (xplatrating) Average (alterations) Little (timespent) Notmuch (MOST) file formats (addressing) No (troubles) *.avi vs. *.mov (viable) Yes (ifeel) It's a fact of life. (comments) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~- People need to free themselves from the shackles of Macromedia. They are the 500 lb gorilla that needs neutered. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~-
(anonymity) No (contact) Yes (mmauthor) no (selfemployed) no (MACHINE) Pentium 200 (package) director 5, Corel Click and Create (versions) Yes (xplatrating) Unsure (alterations) Unsure (addressing) No (viable) Yes (anonymity) Yes (contact) No (NAME) withheld for anonymity (age) 35-44 (sex) male (URL) withheld for anonymity (mmauthor) yes (selfemployed) no (COMPNAME) withheld for anonymity (LOCATION) Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (MACHINE) PowerMac 9600 (MARKET) PowerMac (package) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~- Macromedia Director Authorware Professional ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~- (versions) Yes (xplatrating) Very good (alterations) Little (timespent) Days (LEAST) None (addressing) Yes (troubles) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~- I don't quite understand your question. Anyway being a
Multimedia Designer, most of in fact all, are done on
my Mac and the authoring software does provide a
Projector file that runs smoothly on any other
platforms (frankly, I only tried them on PCs not Sun
or other if any). But some slight problems do occur when I transfer say
an image file format from Mac to PC eg. JPG format or
even TIFF, but these happens quite rarely. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~- (viable) Yes (ifeel) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~- Well, I am not a technical person so I can't answer that. Sorry! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~- (comments) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~- Good luck in your report. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~-
(anonymity) No (contact) Yes (mmauthor) yes (selfemployed) no (COMPNAME) Student (LOCATION) University of Plymouth (MACHINE) Acorn A4000 (MARKET) PowerMac 7600/132 (package) Macromedia Director 4/5/6 (versions) Yes (xplatrating) Very good (alterations) None (timespent) Notmuch (MOST) Having to stick to 8.3 file types even on a Mac (2nd) Director is full of idiosyncrasies (3rd) Bugs that are sorted in one crop up in the next
version (4th) Does not accept xRes palettes. Considering xRes
is also a Macromedia product, this is ridiculous (addressing) No (troubles) Until Director 6, the mac would only accept
pict files in the mac version, you still can't import any
sound files except aiffs. The Windows version always could
accept wav, pict, & tiff files (viable) Yes (ifeel) By both platform applications being less picky
about its file formats and allowing a windows projector
to be produced on the mac and vice-versa (comments) Seeing as it was only a period of nine months
between director 4 and 6, then releasing director 4 for
RiscOS should not be a nightmare seeing as d4 files can be updated to d6 files anyway.