[OT] Re: Revolution => Flash

[Luis]

Hiya,

Content aside, that's one of the best written texts I've seen in a  
long while.
If this comes naturally to you, that's a gift. If you've worked at  
it, the craftsmanship shows.

This is written regardless of personal opinion (that's should not be  
taken to imply anything).

Cheers,

Luis.



On 12 Oct 2007, at 01:51, Richard Gaskin wrote:

> Ken's post raised the question of the cost/benefit ratio of  
> developing a Rev plugin, and while it touched on many of the  
> highlights on the cost side it didn't address much of the benefit  
> side.
>
> I can't really call that an omission from his post, as I don't  
> believe there are many, if any at all.
>
> The few ostensible benefits are seductive but generally haven't  
> held up well to analysis in previous discussions.  Let's take a  
> look at them:
>
> The main ostensible benefit of a plugin is that it lightens the  
> load for deploying Rev-based media.  Just hand out a URL, the story  
> goes, and that's all the user needs to run your stuff.
>
> That's true only to the degree that someone takes up the suggestion  
> of building a JavaScript library for common Rev tasks, and writes  
> an exporter to translate Rev stuff for true browser-only  
> deployment.  Thus far no one has pursued this, and it remains the  
> only option that truly addresses the central issue of zero- 
> installation.
>
> Even if a browser plugin were available, you still wouldn't be able  
> to run Rev media until you first convince IT staffers among your  
> target audience that they should locate, download, and install this  
> plugin on all systems expected to run Rev.
>
> If you could win that argument with IT over plugins in the future,  
> you can win it today to deploy a standalone that acts as a  
> browser's helper app, downloading and running any Rev stacks it  
> needs, right now.
>
> But if you can't win that argument, whether it's a plugin or a  
> helper app standalone won't matter: it won't get installed, and  
> your user still won't be able to run your Rev stacks.
>
> Rev-based helper app standalones provide all of the benefits of a  
> plugin, and much more.  They aren't limited by the browser UI, can  
> retain state information locally, can provide an offline mode if  
> desired, can have multiple windows, etc. etc.
>
> And best of all, there's nothing stopping any of us from deploying  
> such systems with the technology we have in hand right now.  Many  
> of us do.
>
> Details on this issue have been covered in depth before -- these  
> three posts may serve as a reasonable summary:
>
> <http://lists.runrev.com/pipermail/use-revolution/2006-November/ 
> 089327.html>
> <http://lists.runrev.com/pipermail/use-revolution/2006-November/ 
> 090333.html>
> <http://lists.runrev.com/pipermail/use-revolution/2004-February/ 
> 031316.html>
>
>
> So what about sites where IT requires true zero-install?  Well,  
> even if RunRev saddled themselves with the expense of such a  
> venture, taking time away from more critical priorities to put this  
> in our hands, it still wouldn't be zero-install, and you'd be  
> having the same installation discussion with your customers that  
> you can have today, leaving RunRev free to pursue things with a  
> higher cost/benefit ratio.
>
> I have one client whose product market is expanding into segments  
> which require a true zero-install solution.  For that product we're  
> writing an exporter which splits the program's logic into two  
> halves, so that on the client we'll deliver the UI and content in  
> HTML/JavaScript, and use a combination of Rev CGI and MySQL  
> providing the other half of the functionality on the server side.
>
> Translating the UI to JavaScript, Java, or Flash is the only option  
> for delivering media in a browser which doesn't require an  
> additional installation.
>
> If there's a compelling must-have business case to be made for a  
> plugin I'd like to hear it.  Over the many years this has been  
> discussed I haven't seen it yet.  Sure, it'd be nice to have, but  
> there are a lot of nice-to-haves and a long list of must-haves  
> too.  I'd prefer to see RunRev address this nice-to-have after all  
> the must-haves are shipping.
>
>
> And while we wait another few years for RunRev to clear their  
> plates to get into a position where a plugin could be responsibly  
> considered, take a look at all the energy Adobe's putting into AIR:
> <http://labs.adobe.com/showcase/air/>
>
> Web 2.0 was about moving ever more functionality into the browser.   
> But as AIR, Google Earth, and other significant initiatives  
> suggest, Web 3.0 is taking place beyond the browser.
>
> You can join that revolution right now, 'cause Rev's been doing  
> that extremely well for years.
>
> -- 
>  Richard Gaskin
>  Managing Editor, revJournal
>  _______________________________________________________
>  Rev tips, tutorials and more: http://www.revJournal.com
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