Date: Wed, 02 Apr 2003 21:40:21 +0200 From: Charlie Clark <charlie@begeistert.org> To: Johnson David <DavidJohnson@Siemens.com> Cc: FreeBSD-Newbies <freebsd-newbies@FreeBSD.ORG> Subject: Re: Web Browsers. Message-ID: <20030402214021.11741.10@wonderland.1049306324.fake> In-Reply-To: <200304021124.07465.DavidJohnson@Siemens.com> References: <20030402154658.11242.qmail@web20302.mail.yahoo.com> <200304021037.13970.DavidJohnson@Siemens.com> <20030402205304.11296.2@wonderland.1049306324.fake> <200304021124.07465.DavidJohnson@Siemens.com>
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On 2003-04-02 at 21:24:07 [+0200], you wrote: > The difference between Flash and PDF is that PDF is a standard. I do not > need any permission from Adobe to create PDF files. I can use Ghostscript > instead. I can use Ghostview, KGhostview, xpdf, or a million other > applications to view PDF files. But with Flash I am dependent upon > Macromedia for both creation and access. I can create a PDF document with > the complete knowledge that ALL current and future operating systems will > be able to access it. You can also create Flash files with other programs such as ImageReady or ePicture so it's similar to GIFs where licensing is an issue. PDF's claim to being a standard is a bit dodgy anyway which is why there are so many other libraries for it; as far as I know it's just Postscript with an optimised index. > I am not requesting that Macromedia make a FreeBSD plugin of flash. > Instead I am requesting that they either make flash a standard by > publishing complete specs, or stop pretending that it is a standard. yes, companies do have a habit of introducing something and then saying it's a standard: the current legal battle between Sun and Microsoft about pre-installing is typical of this mentality. Sun's just as lock-in minded as the rest but are playing the good guys by claiming Java is "standard". > There is ongoing work to create an open source flash player. But without > complete specs on the format, it is very difficult. I strongly suspect > that General Coffee Company had to pay Macromedia some money in order to > write their BeOS player. Quite likely, I don't have the details. I don't see much mileage for Macromedia in the future in holding on to the player so I would expect them to release the specs at some point. I suspect they will move towards SVG anyway before they get left behind. But maybe we should cut the thread as I think we're getting off-topic. Charlie
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