From owner-freebsd-advocacy@FreeBSD.ORG Thu Jun 19 21:54:16 2008 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-advocacy@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 71A6B106564A; Thu, 19 Jun 2008 21:54:16 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from john@kozubik.com) Received: from kozubik.com (kozubik.com [69.43.165.2]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 395068FC0A; Thu, 19 Jun 2008 21:54:16 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from john@kozubik.com) Received: from kozubik.com (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by kozubik.com (8.12.11/8.12.11) with ESMTP id m5JLcBC9072882; Thu, 19 Jun 2008 14:38:11 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from john@kozubik.com) Received: from localhost (john@localhost) by kozubik.com (8.12.11/8.12.11/Submit) with ESMTP id m5JLcBno072879; Thu, 19 Jun 2008 14:38:11 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from john@kozubik.com) Date: Thu, 19 Jun 2008 14:38:11 -0700 (PDT) From: John Kozubik To: freebsd-advocacy@freebsd.org Message-ID: <20080619135114.Y1807@kozubik.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Cc: jamie@bishopston.net, narayan@neelum.com, freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org Subject: Lack of Flash support is no longer acceptable. Bounty established... X-BeenThere: freebsd-advocacy@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: FreeBSD Evangelism List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Thu, 19 Jun 2008 21:54:16 -0000 Don't shoot the messenger: FreeBSD is not useful as a desktop environment without the ability to support Flash in a stable, well-performing fashion. Running IE in Wine is not a solution. Running another OS in vmware to simply browse the web is not a solution. Free flash alternatives and flash movie players, etc., are, unfortunately, not a solution. ports/linux-flashplayer9 _is_ a solution, however it (currently) fails badly. Solution: First, a bounty has been posted here: http://blog.kozubik.com/john_kozubik/2007/12/bounty-posted-f.html We aren't even asking for new code, per se - anyone merely posting a recipe that allows linux-flashplayer9 to run, without crashing and with reasonable performance, with a generic browser (opera, firefox, konqueror) can claim the bounty. In fact, a recipe that is entirely inside the Linux Binary Compatibility layer would be just fine - running the linux version of a browser through binary compat is reasonable[1]. Second, I am calling on the FreeBSD Foundation to commit time and money to ensuring that flash functionality is recognized as a high priority for FreeBSD desktop use. I am willing to donate funds for this purpose. Flash 9 will not be the baseline forever, and it is inefficient to ramp up a grass roots bounty effort each time Adobe releases a new product. For this reason I believe it is reasonable for the project itself to ensure that Flash support is delivered and maintained in a timely fashion. [1] Since we're all probably already running Linux Binary Compat anyway... ----- John Kozubik - john@kozubik.com - http://www.kozubik.com