Is there a tangible demand for device upload? (was RE: support fo r...)

James -

Continuing the dialog:

> Yes; those resources are significant enough to carefully select 
> against such uses that might promote Intel's competitors.

This is a non-sequitur.  I said that Intel promotes new uses for PCs.
I did not say that Intel has found it necessary in all cases to give
away its intellectual property to do so!

My point wrt device upload is that one shouldn't have to struggle too
mightily to drum up interest in a browser feature with significant
market potential.  Conversely, if one did find the struggle a bit
up-hill, one might question one's assumptions or approach.

> [...] there's a huge market.  Why would those companies
> release only on CD-ROM, without any client-server implementations, 
> even though they use network communications to keep track of
> student progress and such?

In my experience, the phrase "huge un-served market" is an oxymoron.
Questions for you, James:

- Why have you not produced (or promoted) a browser-based prototype?
I'm sure that device upload can be accomplished without special
support from either HTML or browsers (this is why we have Java :-).
As I mentioned, users generally couldn't care less how a feature is
implemented.

- Why have you not formed an Internet start-up to tap this huge
market?  Start-ups have certainly been founded on more ethereal
notions!  Once your prototype, now product, becomes ubiquitous,
browser vendors might see the wisdom in providing standardized support
for its features.

> Would you please explain what you mean?  Are there some sort of 
> intellectual property encumbrances on using those tags?

Of course there are no encumbrances, otherwise how would I earn my
huge royalties? ;-)

> The lack of supply does not necessarily imply a lack of demand.

No necessarily, but possibly.  It might also imply a lack of
sufficient demand.

Question for the list: Is anyone aware of a prototype/demo of audio
capture via an HTML form (or other HTML element)?  How might I see
it?

Thanks,
Chris

> -----Original Message-----
> From: James P. Salsman [mailto:bovik@best.com]
> Sent: Sunday, April 02, 2000 3:53 PM
> To: chris.c.pearson@intel.com
> Cc: www-html@w3.org
> Subject: Intel's software investment strategy (was RE: support for...)
> 
> 
> Chris,
> 
> Thanks for your message:
> 
> > Intel puts significant resources into seeking out and promoting 
> > new uses for PCs.
> 
> Yes; those resources are significant enough to carefully select 
> against such uses that might promote Intel's competitors.  Case 
> in point:  the Intel Recognition Primitives Library is available
> only in machine language and not the C it's compiled from.  
> 
> > Having even a small user community helps take the decision
> > out of the realm of speculation....
> 
> Take a look at the sales of Dyned, Auralog, Syracuse Language 
> Systems, and Edusoft's speech input-based language instruction
> software; there's a huge market.  Why would those companies
> release only on CD-ROM, without any client-server implementations, 
> even though they use network communications to keep track of
> student progress and such?  I happen to know that Intel makes a 
> big fuss about client-server implementations of projects they 
> help fund, and even in projects they don't have a hand in, the 
> attitude permeates the industry.
> 
> > Certainly, prototypes can be built using existing 
> HTML/browser capability
> > (such as the nefarious OBJECT/EMBED, on which I personally 
> receive royalties
> 
> Would you please explain what you mean?  Are there some sort of 
> intellectual property encumbrances on using those tags?
> 
> >... users won't care whether it's implemented in HTML or with a
> > non-standard extension -- they'll be using it now!
> 
> That's an idealistic belief similar to the efficient market 
> hypothesis, but though it is generally true, there are plenty 
> of reasons (not all nefarious) that prevent it in this case.  
> And it's easy to argue against efficiency of markets; for 
> example, dangerous jobs usually pay less than safer jobs, at 
> the same skill levels.
> 
> In a perfect world, Mosaic would have implemented audio upload 
> back in 1993 when Dave Raggett first proposed it, and all 
> browsers would have followed.  But even back then when the 
> "Multimedia PC" standard already included a sound card with 
> microphone input, and there were plenty of microphone-based 
> stand-alone apps selling briskly, nobody bothered with it.  
> 
> The lack of supply does not necessarily imply a lack of demand.
> 
> Cheers,
> James
> 
>

Received on Monday, 3 April 2000 13:47:10 UTC