RE: [www-vrml] Tim BL Is Baffled, Too

["Bullard, Claude L (Len)" <len.bullard@intergraph.com>]

From: Clayton Cottingham [mailto:drfrog@telus.net]

>> The consortium enables, it does not propose, and in terms 
>> of your business model, it does not dispose.  All of the 
>> open source community work has value.  I've no objection 
>> to that. 

>Maybe it should be proposing things..something anything...what is the
>consortiums job anyways? I thought it was to provide and support leadership
>in this community?

No money, no thrills.  The consortium does well to keep up the activities 
it does support including this list and others.  X3D and VRML are isolates. 
We is they, my friend.   We have to take advantage of that instead of 
fighting over it.

>Don't get me wrong I don't want it abolished I see need for major
>improvements in some areas

Sign up and propose.  Just as Tony said to Miriam, do it.  If you 
have a business model, you'll get more traction though, not just 
with the W3DC but with the customer world in general.  They need 
products.  They already have enough cause celebres.

>> The security of linux has never been tested to the degree
>> that Windows has been.  

>Thats not true
>Its been under higher scrutiny because of windows flaws
>If you paid attention to the http://www.ostg.com/

It is under scrutiny but not like Windows is.  The reason 
is that Windows is a much bigger target.  And Linux has 
failed some of those tests too.  Still, Linux was designed 
from the ground up for security and Windows hasn't been. 
There is no denying that.  Active-X being enabled in every 
app made it a fat rich target.  They've been closing those 
holes much to the chagrin of some.   It messed seriously 
with an app I built here that used pop-ups.

>But seems like but slashdot et all isnt valid in your opinion

Valid for some.  Not others.  I don't have much time to wade 
through it.  On the other hand, I often read the excerpts 
you post and link to.  You are my eyes on slashdot.

>So I cant explain further

Ok.

>Those links prove to me that firefox is on the rise, that IE is loosing
>ground

I said as much.  I don't think it very serious yet.  By the time it is, 
Microsoft may have an answer.  That isn't my point though.  It's like 
acting:  listening is everything but timing is everything else.  There 
is a phenomenon called the market lifecycle and it varies industry 
by industry, product by product.  It is a rough estimation of the 
time from the buying of a product to its retirement and the next 
buying cycle.  In public safety, that is about 12 years.  That 
is why some markets adopt early and others adopt late.  Mine is a 
late adopter.  That means we not only don't sell bleeding edge 
techology; we can't.

Then there is the cost of data.   The costs of public safety maps 
are quite high in the 2D thematic systems.   Add 3D realism and 
they go waaaaay up.  Use 3D for something like forensic analysis 
(eg, the article I posted this morning where a scanner is used to 
create a 3D image of a bullet), and they aren't that bad as long 
as one has the scanner and the application software.  Where would 
3D standards play a role?  When sharing forensic results with 
other agencies.  That isn't a game or a rotating ad.  It is a 
business object that represents itself in 3D.  Near term money 
is in applications such as that.

>> They don't read the RFPs and RFIs for public safety 
>> systems and I do. Believe me, when those start calling 
>> for Firefox, we'll use it.   It is just a few points 
>> at this time.  Firefox is a superior browser.  Guess 
>> what?  That doesn't mean it will win any more than 
>> a superior candidate for president wins an American 
>> election.   

>RealPlayer showed that quite well, but there bubble burst eventually

Yep.  No one wants to be the next RealPlayers.  They may not 
even want to be Republicans in five weeks, but we'll see how 
that goes.  If the next debate goes as the one did last night, 
there will be one more Ivy League kid from Maine back in 
Crawford pretending to be a Texan next January.  You may be 
right; it may be all about the handlers. ;-)

len
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