Multimedia Musings

I am working through the changes in ActionScript 3.0 and the alpha of Flash 9. Wow… Flash is quickly surpassing the complexity of Director. There will be no problems finding uses for the new abilities, it is just that by the time you figure out how to use release 9, release 10 comes out. A moving target if there ever was one. And this is not like Word upgrades where they add features that you will never use and can ignore. By the way, the most irritating part of Word upgrades is when they move the functions you do use and trying to find them again. No, no, no. Adobe is throwing in a shift in the way ActionScript is written, the addition of amazing data types that Flash can handle and other stuff that is really sexy. Couple all of this with the other programs for working video editing, sound, graphics, HTML, DHTML, Javascript and all the others changing and new capabilities being added each time and you have a typical multimedia day.
If the key to mental health as you go older is to learn something new everyday, multimedia is the field for you.
There is also the observation that I have enjoyed, that someone new to multimedia and a long time veteran will be on level playing field every 6 months. All you need is the ability to learn and you will do fine. Talent would be nice but I have done pretty well without it so it isn’t required.