[mala]

I love to think that anything that works on Windows will work on Mac, and many times it does, and even does it better. When WMP 9 recently was released for OS X I thought; great, now I can recieve movie streams from my ISP and there is no reason anymore to doubt that my Mac is a better choice for home computer. The last bastion is gone! But yesterday I was browsing around some home furnishing sites and one of them used DirectX technology for their "kitchen planner" utility and the other used ActiveX technology for their "color matching" utility.
None of them worked on my Mac running Panther. I tried IE, Safari and Netscape but none of them worked, of course. What are my options here? Is there anyway to make this work without the use of a Windows emulator?

TIA

Mala

ps Yes, I did mail them to regret the use of non open standards. ds

[GENERAL_SMILEY]

No I think there is nothing else for it but to emulate, it's a closed thing, Windows only.

[Boondoggle]

I wouldn't go to any trouble or expense for a couple of sh!theel websites.

I've never come across a site like that.

browse different

[Millennium]

DirectX and ActiveX are closed up tight, and Windows-only. Although it is possible to write ActiveX controls which work in IE/Mac, they have to be written specifically for that program, and the only time that anyone ever bothered to do that was with older versions of the WiMP browser plugin.

This is, incidentally, why the WiMP plugin never worked on anything other than IE/Mac before the latest version: it was an ActiveX control, not a standard plugin.

DirectX is unlikely to ever be officially ported, despite Microsoft's original promises to do so. Other companies have taken a stab at it, but even with DirectX ported, code would still have to be at least recompiled for the Mac (and usually it's not that simple; most of the time at least a little code has to be rewritten). Once again, few enough companies bother to do this that there are entire companies who specialize in doing nothing but porting games to the Mac OS, and they make good money for it, because it's not an easy thing.

So for these two technologies -particularly ActiveX controls- I am afraid that there is little choice but emulation, if you absolutely have to use them. Frankly, though, I'd just find alternatives if I could; emulation for the sake of an ActiveX control is seldom worth the effort.

[mitchell_pgh]

I hate to sound like a Apple apologist, but you need to take a step back and look at where the fault should be placed. Should I blame Apple for not supporting a closed format, or should I blame Microsoft for creating one more closed internet format?

Apple is trying to play fair with a majority of their technologies by making them cross platform, XML based or at least based on an open standard.

I'm tired of closed formats... be they from Apple, Microsoft, etc.

[ryaxnb]

Originally posted by Millennium:
DirectX and ActiveX are closed up tight, and Windows-only. Although it is possible to write ActiveX controls which work in IE/Mac, they have to be written specifically for that program, and the only time that anyone ever bothered to do that was with older versions of the WiMP browser plugin.

This is, incidentally, why the WiMP plugin never worked on anything other than IE/Mac before the latest version: it was an ActiveX control, not a standard plugin.

DirectX is unlikely to ever be officially ported, despite Microsoft's original promises to do so. Other companies have taken a stab at it, but even with DirectX ported, code would still have to be at least recompiled for the Mac (and usually it's not that simple; most of the time at least a little code has to be rewritten). Once again, few enough companies bother to do this that there are entire companies who specialize in doing nothing but porting games to the Mac OS, and they make good money for it, because it's not an easy thing.

So for these two technologies -particularly ActiveX controls- I am afraid that there is little choice but emulation, if you absolutely have to use them. Frankly, though, I'd just find alternatives if I could; emulation for the sake of an ActiveX control is seldom worth the effort.

ActiveX - InfectiveX. Too bad those sites don't use Java. And yes MS loves empty promises.

[midwinter]

Don't emulate. Just be yourself.

[NeXTLoop]

Originally posted by mitchell_pgh:
I hate to sound like a Apple apologist, but you need to take a step back and look at where the fault should be placed. Should I blame Apple for not supporting a closed format, or should I blame Microsoft for creating one more closed internet format?

Apple is trying to play fair with a majority of their technologies by making them cross platform, XML based or at least based on an open standard.

I'm tired of closed formats... be they from Apple, Microsoft, etc.

I agree with you mitchell. Lately, Apple is really to be commended for using such a vast array of open technologies, and even adding to the group. M$ on the other hand, is known for this kind of crap. They release a technology that every "just has to have"...... but can only get from M$.