PanoTools:
Re: Safeness of Investment was "Brocap" integration
Yuval Levy 2006-Mar-05 17:59:41
jeffrey wrote:
> When Fiero finishes his mac version, there won't be any reason
> whatsoever for anyone to use quicktime.
I admire Fiero's programming skills. DevalVR is an exciting proof of what technology can do for us. I respect all the work that is being done around it and I wish the project well. I am supporting it in the VoxCasa service and look forward for more support when it can handle GIF overlays and other features I've asked Fiero for. I am pro DevalVR.
Nevertheless, in my opinion the statement above is in my opinion totally wrong.
Technologically wrong: while DevalVR can handle most QTVRs and has VR features that go well beyond the capabilities of QuickTime, it is _not_ a full replacement. QuickTime is still a major player in the mainstream (audio/video) media-player arena and will continue to be a valid solution against competing players such as Windows Media Player and RealPlayer.
Economically wrong: as already written by Matthias Taugwalder what really counts is the size of the installed base. Download is just one way to increase the installed base. Much more important are bundling agreements of different kinds:
- the agreements with computer manufacturers that pre-install the plugins.
- the agreements with software manufacturers such that deliver the plugins with their standard installer (as in Flash being installed by the Internet Explorer installer)
- the agreements with the gadget makers (cameras, pdas, phones, video and audio players) that bundle the plugins on their installation CDs.
The best thing that can happen to DevalVR is for one of the big players to become attentive to it and buy the whole project, the same way that Macromedia bought Flash.
And the best thing we panoramist can do to keep our investment safe is to publish the panos in multiple technologies.
> When you're demonstrating VR to a potential client who has no plugins,
> are you going to sit around and chat with them while they download
> 30mb of itunes bollocks & quicktime? or will you install deval in ten
> seconds?
Of course, if I _must_ download, I will prefer the small footprint of DevalVR over the bloated QuickTime download.
But before embarking in any download adventure (which bears the risk of the potential customer holding me responsible for unrelated troubles affecting his computer), I will try existing technology already present on the client's machine. There are very little machines out there that don't have at least one of the most popular technologies: Java/QuickTime/ShockWave.
Even assuming that the 360.000 counted downloads are unique visitors, this is still a drop in the water. The installed base for QuickTime is estimated at over 60 million.
Yuv
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