🚀 go-pugleaf

For a long time I have been debating whether or not to continue to use
Authorware as my CD-ROM development tool.  The main pro is the ease of
cross-platform development. The second pro is ease of development. Cons are
many:

1. Macromedia's lack of commitment of resources to Authorware
2. 1-2% royalty (rumors to the contrary Macromedia has not yet removed these)
3. Limited support for layering (why can't I do transparancy of QT movies
backgrounds)
4. Poor support for sound (one track only)
5. Poor support for timing
6. Limited graphics editing capability

I know that authorware was meant to be a training tool, but it has so
much potential as being the best and easiest to use multimedia authoring
environment. Because of point 1, however, I think it fails to live up to
this potential.  I looked into alternatives (passport Pro seemed the most
promising but its performance was poor and worst of all it only supports
the System Palette - a major sin in multimedia).

With Director 4.0, Macromedia has made my choice inevitable. Besides
being exactly the opposite on all 6 points above, cross-platform support
is even better.  When DfW hits the shelf in July, you'll be able to quite
easily develop a hybrid CD since the programs are *binary* compatible
(unlike authorware). BTW, just to bolster my point further - which
Macromedia product is native first on the PPC?  Which will support
3DO and Script-X first?

Director 4.0 has pushed Authorware back into being a niche product - good
for training (a big niche, but a niche nonetheless) but not for
all-around multimedia.  So, I'll go out and pay for my lingo programmer -
hey, its cheaper than cracking my head against the wall each time I run
into another limitation of authorware.

Maybe, just maybe, Macromedia will wake up and roll these products into
one. Think of the ease of use of Authorware programming with the power of
Director - one hell of a program. I've said this before on this list - if
Macromedia doesn't wake up someone else will.

BTW, does anyone know the mailing address for the Director list :)?

Also, I'll still be using authorware as a prototytping tool, so no, I
don't plan to sell my license for cheap ;)  Also, I'll still be reading
this list - and writing nasty comments once in a while <g>.

Aron Shtull-Trauring
aronst@zeus.datasrv.co.il