[self-interest] remote windows (was: doc on self vm)

[Brook Conner]

[okay - I'm only just getting to this - I'm a single dad working at an
internet startup - I'm busy :-]

Jecel Assumpcao Jr wrote:
> On Thu, 29 Jun 2000, Reinout Heeck wrote:
> > The PCs could run an XWindows server, this way you can have a color view
> > (of Self running on the sparcs) on the PCs.

[....]

> One idea that I have been studying lately is using MPEG-4 as the
> imaging model for Self. This would allow us to have remote viewers like
> we do with X Windows now but would perform better with complex
> graphics. Is anybody interested in this?

How about a Quartz-like canvas? I.e., PDF. The MacOSX UI of Self would
be very pretty :-)

It supports links (i.e., callbacks), is completely
resolution-independent, enables a lot of kewl FX, and screenshots would
be cake :-)

Or perhaps SWF would be better. SWF is the format used for Flash files,
and maybe 80-90% of web browsers have the Flash plug-in - so the Self
World could show up anywhere! Though, come to think of it, most people
have Adobe Acrobat, too.

While MPEG-4, SWF, and PDF all have some attributes in common
(animation, vector drawing, simple interaction), there are of course
some trade-offs. SWF and PDF are at least originated by single
corporations (Macromedia and Adobe, respectively), though they do claim
some amount of openness. MPEG4 is more neutral in that sense, but it is
also dramatically less widespread.


Brook