Marc Canter - Planning for Our Interactive Future

Bio: Marc Canter - Creator of multimedia authoring package "Director", co-founder, MacroMind, now Macromedia, currently creating interactive CD-ROM titles published by Sony Imagesoft,

http://mediaband.com


Bruce Keffer: What are you involved with now in the computing industry?

Marc Canter: Since I retired from my first company several years ago, which was Macromind, now Macromedia I want to do interactive TV content, but you can imagine the problem. It's kind of a catch-22 because there is no such thing as interactive TV. So what I did was I planted my stake in the ground, way out there. Let's say it's 2005, now I'm working my way back trying to figure out what are the incremental steps to get us there. So let's say that were in this CD-ROM era today and were going toward the info-highway. We are determining the stepping stones to get us there, to the interactive TV of 2005. So when I put out content I don't put it out just for CD-ROM, I'm thinking of it as a broadband multi-user content, but were simply scaling it down to the single user CD-ROM platform so we can ship it Today. So what I did was I started a band called the MediaBand. We're sorta of like the Monkeys, or Spinal Tap, or The Commitments. This band is a band that has created original interactive music videos. The reason I did this is, rather than license say a Rolling Stones song or some other thing like that, where you add the interactively after the fact, we wanted to create some songs that are designed intrinsically from Day 1 to be made interactive. We're not just talking about interactive music, but with interactive video as well. What we're trying to do is combine the interactively of what a Nintendo machine has, with the production values of MTV. Because if you look at multimedia today. it's neither! That's our first project. We just signed a deal with SONY, and the title is called "Meet MediaBand." It starts shipping in June. It will be a very unusual CD-ROM because it will start a whole new, what I call high end range of multimedia. Things that will require 16 MB of RAM, on a PC. Which will go along with the Windows 95 upgrade. Which is happening in the next year.

Bruce Keffer: When do you think that the technology will catch up to what you have planned?

Marc Canter: Well you know, it's one of the curses of society, ( computing society) is that, it's not like when the hardware guys are done with whatever they are working on they aren't going to retire. So there is this constant pattern of the hardware guys developing something us software guys have to catch up to. But then meanwhile, the hardware guys are developing the next thing. So everything I've been designing is for constantly catching up, shall we say leapfrogging over them. Where I'm shooting at is where they will end up at in 5 years. So I'd like to say that the set top box, which is the supposed platform that will be out there for the info-highway, would have 16 MG RAM, and 100 MPS type processor, and alot of DSP and MIDI built in, with real time streaming video. That is something we could target well to the end of this century. That is something that will be a decent platform to start from.

Bruce Keffer: Well you know Marc, the whole Interactive Television metaphor is sorta of a mystery to everybody. What is it finally going to look like, and what are we going to be able to do with it is the big question.

Marc Canter: That is the big question. The problem is that all these hoydi-toydi guys out there who think they know what they are talking about, in fact don't have a clue. The reason I say that is because if you listen to them, all they keep talking about over and over again is the things that they know about. Which is shopping on demand, or pornography. That's the stuff that's happening . To me what should count is the experience, the new experience, the new stuff that we don't have the slightest idea what it's about. I'll give you a couple of ideas right now. Take for example the MBONE or CUSeeMe. This is the stuff you can do video over the NET right now. But it's very small and low resolution, by the way the MBONE is something that the Rolling Stones used last year to broadcast one of their concerts out onto the NET. The CUSeeMe is a video conference technology used on the NET. But it's so slow and so small. When we can get the two way video at 320 by 240, 30 frames a second, color. Then you really be able to experience something new. Now lets call that a platform. I'm working on a product called " Knock-Knock," which is an interactive greeting technology. sort of like saying, "Well, can I come and talk to you?" making an introduction to be able to flirt. Maybe something like there's a computer graphic mask, so if you're cheating on your spouse, you're anonymous. Now combine that with the different esthetic sensibilities. Everything right now is driven by video games, because people want to make money. Well think about it, do you think that Sergeant Pepper was created to make money? All the greatest musical artwork the Rolling Stones, Talking Heads, all the stuff that has really changed things were always a reaction against money. Against all the managers and the record companies and all these people trying to exploit them. That's really the exciting thing to me. We've completely missed the issue of the Art - the new art form that's happening. The point is we are merging the musical and visual together. We are adding interactivity, that is what the info-highway has the promise of - not just shopping on demand.

Bruce Keffer: I believe that a key component to the success of any interactive television format will involve a improvement in the NSCT or european PAL . broadcast format.

Marc Canter: That's right. Its a misnomer that Interactive Television is about NTSC video. Absolutely. We're not going to be able to read 12 point text on a television screen. So the RGB monitor is a very important node or terminal on the highway. As will the wireless portable stuff, it will fit right into the highway stuff, it's very relevant to us.

Bruce Keffer: Let me take an off ramp from the highway for a minute and ask you something about Director. Could you have possibly imagined what success creating Director brought you?

Marc Canter: One of the things that you have to realize is that when we originally did Director, we didn't even know what Authoring Tool meant. That was a term we invented, and helped develop this whole world of multimedia. I was a video game guy, and I looked at the 128K MAC, as the highend development platform. To be able to cross compile back over to the Atari 800, Apple II, and Commodore 64's, that's why we originally designed it in 1984. So our dream was that there would be all these new types of cool new games. Like SimCity is, you know all these new forms of interactive entertainment. That's what we were dreaming of. Now let me tell you a funny story. When we had the black and white Video Works out, (first version of Director) an engineer from DuPont came up to me. He showed me this animated fiber molecule. He was working on a new Rayon or Nylon, and all the SGI terminals were busy. So he couldn't get on them to do his high end 3D computer graphic visualization. So he bought my $95 product, hooked it up to a $1,500 computer, and did his visualizations. They were perfectly fine. So then he went on to show them to me, and I said wait a minute that's not video games. So I looked at the $95 dollar price tag and said something is wrong with this picture. Probably the thing that is most pleasing to me, is to see all the wonderful things that people do with it. That's really the most gratifying.

Bruce Keffer: Which platform do you prefer to author on, MAC, SGI, PC, SUN?

Marc Canter: Well my initials are Marc Arron Canter, and it completely befuddles me how anyone can be productive on a PC. The most obvious thing is if I want to move data between my friends. These things are 100 megs to 500 megs. How are you going to do that on a PC and be productive? At least on the MAC you take a SCSI driver move it from one machine to the next - it works. The people I work with are musicians and artists. They aren't going to get into the PC and deal with the autoexec.bat, config.sys - it's just not going to happen, and it doesn't happen. The only people who use PC's for multimedia developing are people who are forced to by their bosses. They more then likely have MACs back at their houses.

Bruce Keffer: I feel a little different. I like both platforms, PC and MAC, but what do you feel will be the next technological advance that will blow people away?

Marc Canter: There is something coming real soon called cable modem technology. So this whole thing about thinking interactive TV will happen on a TV set will be put off a little longer. Because we'll be able to run a wire from the cable connection to the computer modem, which will offer you your own personal T1 line. On the return path it will only be about 56K, but you'll be able to do motion video and audio all in real-time. Imagine a browser like Netscape with HTML extensions for video and audio. So it's going to be a whole new amount of services. I'm talking about by Christmas '95. This is happening now, as we speak.

Bruce Keffer: That sounds really cool. How will you, Marc Canter, take advantage of this new technology. Do you have a WEB Site?

Marc Canter: Come visit us on the WEB at mediaband.com. That will have a bunch of fun stuff on it, I'm creating a bunch of hypermedia columns that I'll link together where I'll proselytize the future. We are up and running right now.

Bruce Keffer; We know about the Sony title coming out in June. After that, what will be next?

Marc Canter: Our second title with Sony will be "Grid Lock" due out in the fall 95. Then we will continue to develop with an eye on the future.