[linux-audio-user] Flash audio

[Rob]

On Saturday 30 August 2003 22:01, RTaylor wrote:
>  Flash runs in Wine but... why not go with something a little
> more standardized? SVG.

Because file format standards are no good to an artist unless 
your audience can handle the format and the format can handle 
your art?

I know what I'd be using today if I were a cartoonist or animator 
and it ain't SVG... not even sure it can handle some of the 
stuff I've seen people do with SWF.  (Kind of like how the GIF 
patent expired in the US before PNG ever got support for 
animation....)  How much of the stuff at, say, 
homestarrunner.com is SVG ready to handle right now without 
making the end user jump through hoops?  And are the creation 
tools anywhere near as useful or would they be writing XML in 
emacs when they should be drawing funny, TV-quality cartoons?

Ultimately, when you're confronted with a choice between a 
well-supported and complete proprietary "standard" and a 
nascent, not entirely ready for end users open "standard", you 
end up having to decide which is more important to you: your own 
artistic (or commercial) statement or the free vs. proprietary 
debate.  Most artists have enough invested in their work for it 
to take precedence over software philosophy.  Even Stallman's 
hilarious "gather round and share the software" song ended up in 
mp3 format at some point before Ogg was ready... and I can't see 
myself putting music out there in anything but mp3, even now.  I 
gotta think it'll be an even longer wait before you can have the 
expectation that the mainstream user will be able to see your 
visual work if it's in SVG format.

Rob