Newsgroups: comp.mail.multi-media Path: utzoo!utgpu!craig From: craig@gpu.utcs.utoronto.ca (Craig Hubley) Subject: Re: Multi-media mail standards; Forw: Use of ODA in the Internet Message-ID: <1990Aug19.195257.13157@gpu.utcs.utoronto.ca> Keywords: multi-media hyper-media objects OMG Organization: Craig Hubley & Associates References: <9008171018.AA04800@thumper.bellcore.com> Distribution: inet Date: Sun, 19 Aug 90 19:52:57 GMT That list of standards efforts in multimedia was excellent, but there is a body of work that it didn't cover. I mean the current efforts to standardize "Object Management", including tangible media objects, that are happening in the microcomputer world. It seems very likely that this work will have a major effect on the form of any real working standard, as microcomputers are by far the most likely terminals for any MM document or mail system. I think that a standard that required a computer costing over $1000 (today's money) is likely to lose ground, since there are tens of millions of PCs, Macs, etc., out there. (about 20 million PCs, 4 million Macs, and 1.5 million Amigas, to name the capable/popular MM platforms - plus all the workstations of course). OMG The OMG has about 70 corporate members. The goal is to standardize object- oriented databases, operating systems, and most importantly from the multi- media standpoint, *applications*. Their approach has some drawbacks, but it makes new media types incidental side-effects of new applications, and solves some very real problems in remote/programmed application control: OBJECT = APPLICATION+DOCUMENT The full command structure is considered to be available EITHER from WIMP means or through a script language. The application code itself, *plus* an individual document, constitutes an object. So, a spreadsheet object consists of Lotus plus your spreadsheet. Lotus provides the behavior, you have provided the data. Views of this 'object' can be included in other documents, and will be updated when the spreadsheet is updated (the so'called 'hot link'). It may be dependent on other documents itself. Snapshots can be taken at any point in time. This would be useful to, say, send a report to someone else, without sending the entire spreadsheet. BIG OBJECTS Now, granted these are pretty big objects, but as the approach catches on they would get smaller, in fact each would tend to conform to one media type, just as Unix tools have tended to become 'filters'. Most of the follow-on functionality (printing, importing and exporting data, scripting languages) would be provided for by the operating/window system. ANY DOCUMENT So, ANY DOCUMENT is potentially a piece of multimedia or even hypermedia, just by including views of other documents. Each application defines a new media type. The script language and standard WIMP controls are the same for each. AMIGA AREXX/IFF This approach has already been test-bedded on the Amiga by the AREXX/IFF combination. IFF is the Amiga answer to ODA, and defines many media types up to and including animations, to match the Amiga's multimedia capabilities. Amiga applications include AREXX ports to let AREXX scripts control them from the 'inside'. AmigaDOS has lightweight multitasking, so tools have always tended to be small and interoperable with others. AREXX is now part of the operating system. It is interesting to note that neither IFF nor AREXX were Commodore ideas, but their support in the user community grew so great that it was impossible not to support them. Applications without AREXX ports are considered substandard by the Amiga community. So, the hardware vendors need not buy in to such a scheme to make it work, but it sure helps... OTHER EFFORTS HP's NewWave provides very similar capabilities for DOS and (I think, by now) Unix. Apple is providing a parallel capability for System 7.0. These are not the same, of course. According to some industry analysts at the time of the suit, Apple sued HP over NewWave in part because it was afraid of this greatly extended set of capabilities and wanted to scare off the market and give itself time to catch up. This appears to have worked to some degree. I have seen very few 'real' NewWave applications. FOR MORE For more information on the OMG, contact soley@omg.org (the Technical VP) and ask to receive their standard literature pack. They are seeking feedback on their current standards framework. For more on AREXX and IFF, read the group comp.sys.amiga.tech - contact HP about NewWave, and Apple about System 7.0. DEBATE ? I would like to start a debate going on the advantages/disadvantages of this approach to multimedia documents. I tend to think that today's monolithic Mac and PC applications would make poor media types, but that Amiga and Unix applications tend to be far better, probably due to multitasking which makes it possible to run many simple programs, each dealing with one media type. As Macs and PCs acquire this ability, their applications would be more suitable for this approach. But in any case, this approach to MM documents is very attractive because of the minimal incremental effort required on the part of developers, to support it. It seems likely to have a very substantial influence on standards efforts in this direction, although the standards groups themselves seem blissfully unaware of it. Craig Hubley kid after Live Aid: "Is that it?" Craig Hubley & Associates --------------------------------- craig@gpu.utcs.Utoronto.CA UUNET!utai!utgpu!craig craig@utorgpu.BITNET craig@gpu.utcs.toronto.EDU {allegra,bnr-vpa,decvax}!utcsri!utgpu!craig -- Craig Hubley kid after Live Aid: "Is that it?" Craig Hubley & Associates --------------------------------- craig@gpu.utcs.Utoronto.CA UUNET!utai!utgpu!craig craig@utorgpu.BITNET craig@gpu.utcs.toronto.EDU {allegra,bnr-vpa,decvax}!utcsri!utgpu!craig