>
> I've noticed that after the initial flurry of ideas on this list, we
> seem to have lost steam. I think it's because we need to ground our
> discussion in something more tangible, so that ideas can be directed,
> stored up, and built upon.
I could start and argument, if you like. :)
How about this. Let's completely divorce the VR idea from any connection
to the Internet, except for distribution of spaces (worlds) in stand-alone
(single disconnected file) format. You could put a space on a CD-ROM and
sell it. You could distribute spaces via satellite link. I imagine
products like that which would result from a combination of Myst and Doom,
where the quality is higher, and you can walk around in realtime.
This approach opens the disconnected home PC market to us, which is much
bigger than the Internet X-Windows community. I also completely sidesteps
the "Server" and "Multi User Synchronicity" problems. Some inter-user
interaction can take place over point-to-point (P2P) links, like any
Head-to-Head game on the market today. P2P links are going to get much
faster and more reliable than present day modem connections. ISDN is
being installed quickly, it carries 128Kbps, and it connects in less than
a second.
Let's not depend on the Internet. It hasn't helped us at all so far. The
more we sit around and wait for the eggheads over in WWW-VRML to figure
something out, the longer we will have to wait.
--- Andrew C. Esh mailto:andrew_esh@cnt.com Computer Network Technology andrewes@mtn.org (finger for PGP key) 6500 Wedgwood Road 612.550.8000 (main) Maple Grove MN 55311 612.550.8229 (direct) <A HREF="http://www.mtn.org/~andrewes">ACE Home Page</A>