Multimedia battles

I think the word that people will pronounce the future, wishing to describe the first decade of the twenty-first century, will sound quite simple. This is - "multimedia". It turgescent flowering time is characterized by multimedia technologies, which we now live.

In general, if you say that in fact flourished, in fact, the technologies themselves have already passed, and now all that could be called multimedia technologies, already a mature and well-established market niche, then argue with you would be rather difficult. But now we are seeing the flourishing not so much in terms of technological breakthrough, but rather in the sense of social breakthrough: multimedia technologies have become capable of not only the conquest of society, but also on its modification.

In my opinion, it means creating and viewing of visual information played the greatest role in the popularity of the World Wide Web. This is not surprising: statistics, more than two-thirds of all people on our planet - visual. The so-called people for whom the main channel of information perception is that vision and, moreover, in the process of thinking operate precisely visual images. Besides them, there are audialy (those who receive information mainly on rumor and operates an audible images), kinestetiki (those who receives information to the touch and operates accordingly) and digitaly (people prone to logical thinking and operating abstract images and concepts ). Given that digitaly also receive information mainly on visual perception channel, and multimedia covers not only the image but also sound, easy to calculate, for a per cent of humanity multimedia content - the most convenient way to receive the information. In fact, only the poor remain excluded kinestetiki, who had all the harder in the information age.

But this is all priskazka. The tale, or rather, the harsh reality is that for multimedia technologies face a lot of money, but because suppliers of products for working with multimedia content configured to have to snatch a piece of cake to regale with this. I am talking about now is no longer producing hardware and software manufacturers about - that the hardware is all more or less clear technological breakthrough is already behind us, and the role more or less distributed. In principle, a multimedia software on the market, too, all more or less divided, but it does not mean that those who used to receive good profits, with any power, would not want to redivision of all in a new way.

The biggest players in the market of multimedia software - is, of course, Adobe and Apple. They are, in general, yet not bad live there because their products do not compete so much, but complement each other. But now everything has changed. The key multimedia technology in the Web 2.0 world has become such a thing as Adobe Flash. This was the reason that Microsoft and Apple are simply not able to stay on the sidelines. Microsoft has long produced a second version of Silverlight - competing with Flash technology, as Apple more recently, on rumours, has begun to develop its own analogue. What is not media war?

In fact, of course, war, war, but users much more interesting not so much themselves war between software producers, but what it has them. Unfortunately, nothing positive.

Flash - a well-conceived and established technology, in fact, the de facto standard for banners, videos, games and other things that can be zasunut on web-pages. The lion's share of users has installed plug-ins to play Flash-rollers in the browser, but because similar technologies from Microsoft and Apple to imagine probivat sweat and blood of the road.

With Silverlight all easy. Microsoft built this technology in Internet Explorer, and its dissemination to users will be achieved. Among all content producers will be more difficult, but probably for multimedia sites certainly not slow to follow any of the proposals to regale with redmondskogo giant. Worse is that, for example, the largest to date online video site YouTube.com belongs to the main competitor Microsoft, Google. And while enemy technology uses Flash. There is a temptation to make a technological step and cut a few Flash compatibility with Internet Explorer 'box, is not it? Something similar could be expected from Apple 'eclipse browser Safari. I am in no way condemning nor Microsoft, or Apple in nechistoplotnosti, simply note the fact that there is a temptation to fight unfair.

I think even if everything is wrong and bad, it is still an abundance of technology will lead to razbrodu and vacillation. Some sites will not take banners in the format of Silverlight, and some, by contrast, in Flash. The war of formats has never been a pleasant time for users, and multimedia because the war between Microsoft, Adobe and Apple - excuse alert and prepare to wait unpleasant time.