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From: 91_bickingd@GAR.UNION.EDU ("Bicking, David")
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: InfoWorld and IFF
Message-ID: <9011220147.AA17420@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU>
Date: 21 Nov 90 21:57:00 GMT
Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU
Lines: 88


I found an interesting article in the Nov 5 issue of InfoWorld.  I was hoping
someone else would find it and post it here for discussion, but no one did.
Comments in brackets [] are mine, but most comments (and flames) will be after
the article.  This article has been posted without permission, so I hope I
don't get sued :/  Read on...


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		    MACROMIND PROPOSES MEDIA FORMAT
	Macromedia to Guarantee Compatibility Across All Major Platforms

By Paul Worthington

San Francisco - Multimedia innovator Macromind last week proposed a programming
standard for multimedia developers and announced support by several vendors.
	the proposed multimedia data format, Macromedia, consists of a data
interchange protocol standard.  It should guarantee producers that they only
have to create their work once in order for it to play on all major platforms,
said macromind founder Marc Canter.
	Macromedia is now licensed by Fujitsu and Microsoft Corp. "We are in
active negotiations with most ofthe other major platform vendors," Cantor said. 
	Macromedia is a superset of many existing standards, enabling
multimedia data to perform identically on multiple platforms; scripts and
device protocals will be compatible, Canter said.
	"Macromedia is the glue that fills in the gaps," Canter said.
	The standard will be offered to vendors on all platforms with the hope
						 [ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ]
that they will incorperate it at least as a format option. Applications will be
capable of loading and using all parts of a document they understand, leaving
other aspects unchanged, Canter said.

	[ A paragraph skipped to save space and my typing hands :) ]

	Based on Electronic Arts' Interchange File Format   [IFF], Macromedia
works with each platform's native standard file format: Quicktime on the MAC, 
RIFF on Windows, and OCA on OS/2.

	[ Hey!  No mention of the Amiga here.  I guess it isn't considered
	  a major platform.  Funny, since they're using the standard created
	  for the Amiga, on the Amiga, by a company that got it's start from
	  the Amiga. ]

	At the conference, Apple Computer said its Quicktime multimedia system
software extension will be seeded to some deveilopers in January.  Quicktime
should be widely available at Apple's next developers' conference in May,
officials said.
	Separately, Canter also said he will relinquish his role as chairman
of the San Francisco firm he founded, largely to push for standards and create
new technology.  President John Scull will resign to pursue interests in
publishing.
	Electronic Arts cofounder Tim Mott will take the helm as Macromind's
president, chairman, and CEO.

-=-=-=-=-=--=-=-=-=-=--=-=-=-End Of Article-=-=-=--=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

	Quite frankly, I'm getting fed up with InfoWorld.  Am I the only one? 
I've been reading it for about a year now, and I have found only *one*
reference to any Amiga (a short paragraph announcing the A3000).  
	It is bad enough when they ignore developments on the Amiga, then
months or years later announce the "new" development of Apple or IBM (which is
the same thing, but often not quite as good, sometimes better).  But it really
raises my ire when a standard developed ON the Amiga, FOR the Amiga BY Amiga
developers is not connected with the Amiga.  Clearly, the Amiga will be able to
use the Macromind format, since they used the AMIGA's IFF standard...  So why
was it not mentionned as one of the supported platforms?  After all, the
article did say "all platforms".  Does that mean they don't consider the Amiga
a platform??????

	I'm seeing announcement after announcement for products that give the
MAC or IBM "revolutionary new capabilities", (nearly half of which were already
on the Amiga, many as standard features).  Why not cover the Amiga?  There are
over 2 million of them out there.  They do things that other companies are
hoping to do by sometime in 1991.  But you all know this already....

	Is there SOMEONE, somewhere who can give Infoworld a wakeup call? 
Anyone from C= wanna try and convince them (and others) to (realistically)
support the Amiga platform?  I'm getting REAL frustrated here...  I've heard
they only briefly mentionned the Video Toaster in their Comdex review, and
a rather uninterested mention at that!  What's the deal????

--
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Dave Bicking         	       Single Tasking????? Just say NO!!!!
Union College Box 152          91_bickingd@union.bitnet              //
Schenectady, NY 12308          91_bickingd@gar.union.edu	   \X/ Amiga 
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