Date: Wed, 13 Feb 2008 16:14:53 -0600 From: Erik Osterholm <freebsd-lists-erik@erikosterholm.org> To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: what happened to linuxflashplugin? Message-ID: <20080213221453.GA7159@aleph.cepheid.org> In-Reply-To: <20080213163421.165aaf84@scorpio> References: <47AFC80B.8090303@gmail.com> <200802112304.09906.jonathan%2Bfreebsd-questions@hst.org.za> <47B1F890.1090408@chuckr.org> <200802130943.22177.jonathan@hst.org.za> <47B344D9.4020406@chuckr.org> <20080213163421.165aaf84@scorpio>
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On Wed, Feb 13, 2008 at 04:34:21PM -0500, Gerard wrote: > Interestingly enough, I just did a quick perusal of the URLs I frequent, > and virtually all of them, in one form or another, asked for 'Flash'. > Even 'sourceforge.net' greeted me with this friendly message: > > You need to install the Macromedia Flash Player plug-in to view all > content on this page. Do you want to download this plug-in now? > > IMHO, for an individual to state that Flash is not a relevant issue > simply because they choose not to employ it, is similar to patient > claiming that cancer research is a waste of time simply because they > are not afflicted with the condition. Bad analogies are like a leaky screwdriver. All throughout this thread, there have been people mixing up issues. It's true that Flash is used on many, many websites, but one of the earliest "complaints" I saw regarded Flash-only sites--sites which require Flash in order to navigate. These sites seem fairly rare. It is manipulative and misleading to argue that because so many sites /make use of Flash/, then /Flash has become an integral part of the web/. I browse with Flash disabled all of the time, only enabling it specifically when I need it to use the web site. It certainly happens--but it's not a constant thing. I'm aware that Flash content exists on the pages I view, but most of the time it's supplemental, and the page degrades quite nicely without it. All of this is largely irrelevant, however. If you want Flash on FreeBSD, you have a few options: - Petition Adobe to release an official version and/or reduce the phantom restrictions[1] on the binaries so that they can run under emulation. - Contribute to the Gnash project. - Modify the appropriate files under /usr/ports and install it, as others have pointed out is possible. If you want to use FreeBSD but you don't care about Flash, you have two options: - Complain to companies when their web site uses Flash poorly. - Don't go to those websites. It doesn't do any good to go around complaining on this list, as the people on this list aren't really in any position to do anything[2]. Erik [1] Others have pointed out that this restriction doesn't seem to actually exist anymore. [2] Except remove the restriction from the ports tree, assuming the license is acceptable, and /possibly/ make it easier to install, since so many users seem to have trouble with it.
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