Re: VRML issues
Kevin Goldsmith (kmg@monk.colossal.com)
Tue, 14 Jun 1994 11:03:47 -0700
On Jun 13, 9:35pm, Daniel D. Todd wrote:
> Subject: Re: VRML issues
>
> > The powerbook is the actual setup I have at home, and it works fine for
> >mosaic, so I expect it should be just as fine for vrml.
>
>
> This may be as incorrect an assumption. You can run tin and pine over a
> 2400 bps connection but that same medem would kill you running Mosaic. The
> amount of information, frame rate, detail level etc. should be designed so
> that it is operational down to 14.4 but I think actual speeds much higher
> will have to be the design target. Within the very near future either the
> telco. or cable co. will be bringing connections of atleast 2Mps to your
> doorstep. I think that designing for a 500Kbps system might be more
> fruitful. I would imagine that your own map would be resident and only when
> you travel to new places would you have to go out and get new data. If your
> client could anticipate your activity to some extent it could start grabbing
> info as you approach an outter limit, so when you reach the limit of your
> space there is already something 'new' to look at.
>
Are we empowering people? Is everyone supposed to be able to access
this new world we are trying to create, or only the people with enough money to
afford the higher end equipment? I do use mosaic at 14.4. I expect to able to
use this new system at 14.4 also. I don't think that is a completely
unreasonable assumption. It does place large technical constraints upon the
design, but I think that if we design so that the lowest-end machine works
acceptably (5-10 frames per second say), then we know that all machines will
work well. This is also why I'm a little hesitant to support requiring a
CD-ROM, or any other "specialized" hardware.
Why don't we try to decide upon a minimum "usable" system? I think
that the browsers will probably take care of things like dithering and such, so
we don't have to specify 32-bit colour or something like that, but just
guidlines that might help in the design of VRML.
Kevin
--
The wages of sin are death, but after they take the taxes out, it's more of a tired feeling really. - Paula Poundstone
"In industry, no one can hear you scream." - me
"In academia, no one cares if you scream." - me, moments later
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