The other day I discovered that Amazon would conveniently sell me an MP3 of the “Three Stripped Gears” 1931 rendition of “Black Bottom Strut” for $0.89. What a find! I’d been inspired by Mike Seeger’s version for nearly forty years but only knew of the T.S.G. version through Seeger’s liner notes. (I attempted my own recording for the soundtrack for Jack Moore‘s Sandscript in 1975.)
In several senses.
In 1997, when the concept of CSS was in its infancy (see Celebrating 10 Years with Style), I knew I should pay attention. I bought the first edition of Lie and Bos. But for my purposes, CSS wasn’t ready for prime time. Most web people didn’t understand it. Worse, most browsers didn’t implement CSS properly. (Unfortunately, most browsers are still in the “almost good enough” stage with regard to CSS.)
For the longest time, I’ve avoided learning about Flash. When Flash was becoming popular for animations on web sites, it was mis-used and usually annoying. And all of the Flash-based ads are usually still annoying.
I started working with streaming video at least 15 years ago. I still have souvenirs from before RealVideo, of Intel DVI and VivoActive. By the late 90s RealVideo seemed preeminent. It had been plausible to continue to think of RealVideo that way, even with the competition from Windows Media and QuickTime. But with the popularity of Flash Video, particularly with YouTube, but in many other places, it is hard to avoid the conclusion that Flash Video is now preeminent.