24 Feb 2008 12:33:15 | Grant Pasay
Ever watch Popeye the Sailor Man cartoons? All on his own,
Popeye could do quite a lot. He could walk and talk and sing and
smoke his pipe. But when it came time to deal with his nemesis,
Brutus, Popeye just wasn't up to the task.
Not until he ate his spinach, that is. And suddenly, good old
Popeye could do even more than before. That's when things always
got exciting, and, suddenly, handling Brutus was no problem.
That's what plug-ins are like.
Just like Popeye all on his own, a browser can do quite a lot.
It can display webpages and work with special languages like
Javascript. But when it comes time to deal with other special
things like audio or video or Flash content or Portable Document
Files (PDFs), well, browsers often aren't up to the task.
Not until they're equipped with some plug-ins, that is. And
suddenly, your good old browser can do even more than before.
That's when the Internet can get even more exciting.
You see, the plug-ins are like little bits of software that work
with your browser so it can display even more kinds of content
than just plain old webpages.
Unlike Popeye's spinach, the plug-ins are usually made available
for FREE. How come the plug-ins are free? Because the money gets
made selling the software that creates the content that the
plug-ins are for.
For example, Macromedia makes a software program called Flash.
You have to buy the software to make Flash-based content that
you can put up on the Internet. But for someone to view your
Flash-based content, they'll need to go to the Macromedia
website and download the Flash plug-in. Then their browser will
be able to display Flash content. And since Macromedia wants to
sell lots of their Flash software to developers, they make the
plug-in free to the general public so that it's easy to view
Flash-based content.
And that's why plug-ins are like Popeye's spinach.
Copyright (c) Grant Pasay 2005. All rights reserved. You may
forward this article in its entirety to anyone you wish.
About Author :
Grant Pasay is a writer, musician, moviemaker, and author of the
new eBook, "The Internet Is Like A Refrigerator: And Other Weird
Comparisons That Make it Easy to Understand Everything From AOL
to Zip Files."
