August 24, 2007
Swimming with the Fishes: What's good for tournament fishing may be good for the Department of Defense.
pbs.org
"Another example of commercial competition leading to really significant advances in technology can be seen in the next versions of both Java and Flash. As I have written before, Java and even Microsoft's .NET suffer in comparison to Flash, which is more widely deployed than either development environment and features smaller programs with higher performance. Java and .NET, too, have suffered from the popularity of AJAX applications, which are also lighter and faster.
Sun is fighting back with a new feature called Java Kernel in Java 7. Java Kernel is a version of the Java virtual machine that is greatly reduced in size, loading only those classes that are required for an application and downloading even those only as needed, the goal being to make Java applications and, especially, applets lighter and more nimble. And who can argue with an 80 percent reduction in code size? Java Kernel is a programming triumph and about time, too.
Of course it won't make much difference in the long run, but that doesn't make Java Kernel any less impressive.
Though JVM downloads drop dramatically in size, it isn't at all clear that this will lead to significantly faster applications or even applications that at least start faster. It's waiting all that time for applets to start running that has hurt Java's adoption rate and to a certain extent .NET's, too. Flash apps are still likely to load and start quicker.
But wait, there's more! According to Adobe, the next version of Flash -- Flash 9 -- will ship with dramatically expanded codec options allowing significantly better and faster video.
There was a time not long ago when expanded Flash codec choices wouldn't have mattered. Streaming video had already failed and the market was moving to downloaded video where data rates and total file size were less immediately relevant. Then came YouTube and its commitment to Flash video. Now video streaming is again a hot idea and Flash 8's choices of the H.263 or VP6 codecs just aren't enough. Most implementations of H.263 are limited to 320-by-240, and VP6, though very efficient, just isn't a mainstream technology. In that respect it is like Essential Viewing's codec.
But the next version of Flash video will support H.264, AAC audio, most HD frame sizes, and -- here's the most important part of all -- will work with your graphics card to make it all run faster and with less CPU load.
This is a huge kick in the head to both QuickTime and Windows Media, though of course QuickTime has an important role in video production in most editing systems and in parts of the H.264 codec, itself. Windows Media and its VC-1 codec also have an enduring role in the production of professional content. But when it comes to video client software that is high performance, cross-platform, and available already in 97 percent of all computers, well Adobe wins this round easily." |
