[GlenBarrington]

People who want to read, tend to read, and don't really need that extra stuff. That being said, Microsoft has created a new application in their Office Suite called "Sway" (Currently free with Windows 10), which claims to do that very thing. Well, not in Kindle or ePub formats, but in it's own unique format that no eBook reader that I know of supports.

I have experimented with it a bit as a possible alternative to videos for my Photography blog. It is not ideal for casual users. Most citizens of first world countries, have a built-in cultural knowledge of story telling via text, still and video photography as stand-alone vehicles. They know when they are seeing effective examples of those sorts of media. Not so with mixed media alternatives.

I found it takes the development of a solid mixed media sensibility to produce effective mixed media titles. And I suspect, cultural agreement on just what effective mixed media standards should be, will be required before such media becomes commonplace.

The technology is do-able both on the production and display ends of the spectrum, but we will need cultural and corporate buy in on mixed media entertainment and educational titles before we can even begin to hope to convince users to consider something like this.