[MUD-Dev] Re: (fwd) AD: [custom graphical] whitestar Crossfire MUD

[Ben Greear]

On Fri, 24 Apr 1998, Dr. Cat wrote:

> I'm really wondering, though - why are they requiring you to download the 
> Java and run it locally, instead of making it an applet that runs from 
> the web page?  "Most people" can browse to a web page that runs some java 
> program or other.  While "most people" could also, conceivably, download 
> a Java run-time environment, install it, download Crossfire, and then run 
> it...  I can pretty much guarantee that "most people" won't go to that 
> much trouble.  Java's benefit of wider availability through 
> cross-platform compatibility is only actually realized if people can run 
> the applet by just clicking on a link on the web to start it.
> 
> Any word on whether the authors intend to set the app up to run that way?
> Is there some benefit to doing it the way they did, like better execution 
> speed?

The best reason I can think of is that with an application writing to
the local disk is easy, and much faster than downloading across the net.
This could allow you to cache graphics and other things as well as
save state.  You can also do this as a trusted applet I believe, but
I haven't seen much info on how to do it, and I'm not sure of the
limitations and speed issues.  To run java 1.1 stuff you have to spend
the time to download IE 4.01 or NS 4.0[45] and install a java patch
(on NS).  These downloads are in the range of 20 MEG!!

Just my two cents..

Ben

> 
> *-------------------------------------------**-----------------------------* 
>    Dr. Cat / Dragon's Eye Productions       ||       Free alpha test:
> *-------------------------------------------**  http://www.bga.com/furcadia
>   Furcadia - a new graphic mud for PCs!     ||  Let your imagination soar!
> *-------------------------------------------**-----------------------------*
> 
> -- 
> MUD-Dev: Advancing an unrealised future.
> 


Ben Greear (greear at cyberhighway.net)  http://www.primenet.com/~greear 
Author of ScryMUD:  mud.primenet.com 4444
http://www.primenet.com/~greear/ScryMUD/scry.html




--
MUD-Dev: Advancing an unrealised future.