> > I use animated GIFs,
>
> But why? I've yet to see more than a couple of animated GIFs that are
> worth downloading. Most of them take an age to download and then sit
> there wasting my CPU time. I use Netscape for research while I'm
> compiling drivers, and the last thing I want is to waste 95% of my
> available CPU cycles on some pointless 'ain't this cute' animated
> graphic.
I don't know what modem speed you are using. I'm on a 33.6, but usually I'm hooked up at
24.4-28.8k, and I have no problems, unless a page is just full of animation. However,
I've noticed that shockwave graphics are much faster. If you are at 256k, geez, cut your
whining. Unless its a VR presentation, if you are having speed problems, then its cause
your video card can't handle it, its not your CPU. Get a matrox card
>
>
> >as well as only java that is usable on all major browsers (ALHPABrowser,
> >btw,
> >in the words of its lead programmer to me: "gracefully ignores java", which is
> >fine for a dumb terminal network environment.
>
> Except when you hit a web site which refuses to work if you don't run
> Java, but gives you a 'helpful' little 'click here to download Internet
> Explorer' button.
I know, that is a complaint I also have. People should use open standards or none at
all.
> >However, I will remind you that most business on the web is done in a graphical
> >environment.
>
> And my web-browsing is under (cough, spit, ack) Windows 95/98 over a 256k
> link with a stonkingly fast 2D/3D graphics accelerator. But that doesn't
> mean that I want to waste 90% of the time downloading pointless images. I
> actually use the Net for finding information; and I want to find that
> information as fast as possible, not sit back and watch the scenery go
> by. Not to mention that I'm one of the people who do actually *buy*
> things over the Web, rather than just window-shop.
>
If you look at your resource meter while you are loading pages, unless your computer is
slower than a 133 Pentium, they will take a small fraction of its resources. Win98 alone
would take up much more space.... I take it that 98 is a dog?
> >Those of you who are still stuck in ascii-land are WAY behind the
> >curve, sorry to say. Now, it has its place, but still, you shouldn't be driving
> >your Yugo on the Autobahn at 45 mph and expect me to slow down my Passat, >Volvo,
> >SAAB, BMW, or even a Ferrari, down for you.
>
> No, you have the analogy completely backwards. Netscape with Java, Shockwave
> and all the other cack is the Yugo; my browser with all that disabled is the
> Ferrari. If I want some information I hit full throttle and blast through the
> Web to it, getting annoyed when some stupid 'neat graphics, huh?' site forces
> me to slow down.
I dunno, gabo's corp site loads rather quickly over my 33.6 link, and runs very quickly.
If he actually used it for presenting information other than to sell his webauthroing
services, it would be awesome. If it didn't require the shockwave plugin to run, it
would be even better, but shockwave is rather widely used, so its really not that big of
a deal.
> This, I think, is where Gibson's cyberpunk went hideously wrong. The future
> console cowboys won't be using slow, CPU-consuming 3D VR interfaces; they'll
> be reserved for the normal folks, and the hackers will be using command line
> interfaces so they can stay close to the machine.
Sure, some will use commands to control the backgrounds, but the interfaces will be mind
generated interpreting simple markup commands which speak volumes when referencing
already loaded, commonly used kernels. Vinge's True Names was the most accurate, though
I doubt that one could actually suffer any damage other than an epileptic seizure from
an attack over VR.
> >Why, because all those cobol programmers reading their email in vi, browsing >with
> >lynx, etc on their 3151 unix terminals, who make $100,000 plus a year and need >to
> >shop from the computer are too stubborn to get with the technological curve?
>
> Depending on where I am, I read my mail with vi, pine, Netscape, Internet
> Explorer, Privtool, Microsoft Outlook (cough, split, ack), elm, /bin/mail
> or 'more /usr/spool/mqueue/df*'. I much prefer pine because it's fast and
> simple; I'm just too stubborn to waste my time with pointless fancy graphics
> when I'm looking for information.
Ever hear the saying "A picture is worth a thousand words"?
> >Commerce on the net comes from selling unique products to many people.
> >Ascii is a
> >horrendous sales medium.
>
> Why? I want a copy of Adobe Premiere; what do I need other than price
> and availability?
If you've not heard anythign about it but mail list gossip, I would hope that you did a
little more research than just going to the site to buy it. Maybe you like blowing money
on things you may not use. I don't.
> I mean, seriously, what do I gain from spending five minutes downloading
> some huge animated presentation when I just want to find the cheapest
> supplier and hand over my credit card number? Particularly when Netscape
> will probably tell me that I don't have the right plug-in, make me waste
> ten minutes downloading that, then after installing tell me that I have
> to reboot my machine!
If you are at 256k connection, I sure hope that that is one hell of a demo if it takes
you 5 minutes to download. Thats a 10 meg file, compressed. As much as 100 megs of
programming unpacked.--
TANSTAAFL!!!
Michael Lorrey
------------------------------------------------------------
mailto:retroman@together.net Inventor of the Lorrey Drive
MikeySoft: Graphic Design/Animation/Publishing/Engineering
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How many fnords did you see before breakfast today?