Like many people, I am quick to complain when a product or service doesn't live up to expectations. Today I am going to buck that trend and write about a company with a product and customer support that continuously exceeds my expectations, nPower Software.

A Superbly Crafted Plug-In

I have been a customer of nPower Software for years, using their products for CAD-based product animation projects. Current 3ds max users are likely to be using nPower's ProBoolean tools, which are now included as a standard part of 3ds max. I want to specifically address Power Translators, which allows me to import and manipulate NURBS data in 3ds max. More...

Continued from Part 1

So there, I said it, any animation or heavily interactive work that I am going to do in the next few years will be done with Flash. Here's why:

Inertia is a Hard Thing to Overcome

I made a point earlier about IE6 still being commonly used, and corporate environments are notorious for being dragged into updates, mostly for security purposes. Legacy systems are hard to abandon, and that is as true for Flash as any technology. More...

I have been following the recent hullabaloo about HTML 5, how it is a "Flash-killer" and will eliminate the need for plugins. I figured that since I am a Flash user, and I also happen to code web sites in HTML and CSS, I have enough experience and hindsight to make a few salient points. The big question is of course if HTML 5 will render Flash, Silverlight, QuickTime, and all other browser plugins useless or impotent. My answer, for the next 3 to 5 years, is a resounding no. More...