The Computer Chronicles - Web Plugins (1998)

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[@floydjohnson7888]

And in December of 2020, the world kissed its Flash goodbye

[@doriamedina]

A 1000-page book about plugins!

[@lucius1976]

1998 - MP3 and Napster were just around the corner. Remembering downloading MP3 with my Modem. 1 song took 20 minutes or longer.

[@neoasura]

Wow at 7:12 using Bryce 3D I used to LOVE that program back in the day.

[@gocsa]

Holy shit, I checked out The Palace website and it's still on!

[@АлексейГриднев-и7р]

Thanks God we are all using HTML5 now :)

[@chipsanddipswitches]

So the Palace software was developed by Time Warner in 1995 - South Park started in 1997, a year before this episode aired, and Comedy Central was owned at the time by Time Warner. None which I knew at the time. I love this form of time travel to view the past.

[@AgnostosGnostos]

Plugins was a big issue when I started my experience with Internet in 1998. Macromedia flash and shockwave were fantastic. Especially flash. Shockwave was a little heavy. I always hated Java plugins. Too heavy too ugly. Flash still exists and not just as Flash video. Macromedia was revolutionary with dreamweaver and flash. Somehow Adobe didn't help at all after purchasing Macromedia. Real audio for radio was great. To be honest nobody was offering decent video with dialup connection. But radio all over the world was unbelievable for me during late 90's. It's a pity that real networks and real player died. Today html 5 has cover all the gaps that plugins were covering. Java could be better if Sun wasn't stubborn by trying to be compatible with all systems. Windows media plugin wasn't covered by the episode. 2nd rated plugins was a reason for instability and I was avoiding them. Everything you see with this episode was working with 32 MBytes RAM. Most plugins were about 1 to 3 MBytes.

[@floydjohnson7888]

I'm surprised Sun didn't outright accuse Microsoft of creating intentionally defective JVMs to make ActiveX look good.

[@deltakid0]

@@floydjohnson7888 you right, and furthermore Oracle are just a bunch of idiots creating all kind of lies and fallacies to draw the attention and sell their useless products. It's the case back when I started in 2004 it's the very same case today.

[@InturnetHaetMachine]

Mention of Real Media Player gives me PTSD.

[@robindp]

It amazes me that they are still around. I tried RealPlayer about a year ago (for kicks) and OH MAN was it slow! (compared to WinAmp, MediaMonkey, MusicMatch...and even iTunes).

[@codysailer6064]

This old computer show is pretty knowledgeable!!!!

[@Sysyphys]

My guy at 10:00 did mudball wall dirty! This was one of the mini games from logical journey of the zoombinis. You can tell he has no idea what he's talking about when he describes it as a game for "little kids". "You can change colors in this case, you can change shapes, and you can even shoot mud against the wall" But what he doesn't mention is that changing the color and shape of the mudball changes where it gets shot, and you have a limited number of chances to figure out what the pattern is in order to save all of your zoombinis. When you start increasing the difficulty level it actually gets very challenging even as an adult. Definitely not just some sort of little kid game about slinging mud at a wall.. I love this show. Been binge watching it lately and I can't get enough. I just felt compelled to leave this comment when the guy showed off a game from logical journey of the zoombinis and completely misrepresented it. which BTW is still 10/10 platinum tier edutainment title that I would recommend to anyone. There's an updated version on steam that's just called zoombinis. Go play it!

[@ThisOLmaan]

The Plug-In Era,, All for one,, one for all. All you need is One

[@timetraveler_0]

I am starting to think I need some plugins in my life.

[@marclar83]

HTML5 was a long way coming, nowadays plugins are almost all going the way of the dodo.

[@oldtwinsna8347]

I had a slow/medium powered computer back then so really hated plugins with so much distaste it still angers me to this day to have experienced crappy websites that used them.

[@robindp]

Web Plugins were a foundational part of the early Internet. Without plugins, you could not experience streaming media, animated games, etc. I still remember visiting ShockRave.com, creating RealAudio files for my personal web site visitors, and seeing QuickTime VR and Microsoft's own 360-degree video solution (CarPoint.com). That said, I am pleased that we have now standardized on HTML5.

[@2lotsill]

God, I remember patching shockwave

[@weaponofmassconstruction1940]

(Co)mpress (dec)ompress = Codec? Mind blown!

[@user-jt5vm3mi1w]

Pixel = picture cell

[@floydjohnson7888]

Actually, COder/DECoder (in the context of creating and playing media) and "picture element"

[@user-jt5vm3mi1w]

@@floydjohnson7888 nah

[@InAndOutLand]

South Park is so 1990s.

[@floydjohnson7888]

I would chuckle at that were it not for the fact of too many people, even back in 2014, never mind early 2020, trying their darnedest to be self-centered, self-aggrandizing, and averse to even an ounce of sense, i.e. "Eric Cartman"

[@DisappointedSon0813]

@@floydjohnson7888 True. It was a liberal issue then, and it's even more so a liberal issue now.

[@Fiilis1]

Oh man, I hated Real Player. Used it only if I had to back in the day.

[@Thorpe]

Yeah I remember being frustrated at it being needed for sites like BBC back in the day.

[@beakt]

12:50 LOL, that was awkward how Stewart just left the Macromedia guy behind him.

[@DJTwenty2020]

3:58 wow what fps is that video running at?

[@kevinhoward9593]

you have to remember they are probably connected at a fraction of the speed we get now. its bound to be pathetic. but to them it was high end.

[@floydjohnson7888]

@@kevinhoward9593 You aren't kidding about the available speeds. At that time, a super-capable small business moved data through T1 lines, about 1-1.5 million bits per second. A decade later, consumer broadband was good for at least 4 mbps. At present, if you can foot the ~$100/mo bill, we've got 100-plus mbps

[@s.bradley6089]

Ok, I am watching a video about web plug-ins via a video that uses web plug-ins🤔

[@smellyfanelly]

THE PALACE!!!!!! 😅

[@beakt]

20:13 LOL dub-dub-dub

[@oleharbo]

lol

[@liquidalloy]

@22:12 virtual classroom. Perfect for 2020 #Plandemic

[@Hunt4boost]

...they had black people in 1998?

[@jr2904]

We got along better in 98 than 2024