October 20th, 2006
I’ve been following the native Flash update for Linux development blog since May. Up until now the whole atmosphere has been that of Adobe stringing along Linux enthusiasts for all it’s worth, with a tentative release date here and some development problems there. However on the flip-side at least the community has been getting that information; they didn’t have to write a development blog after all. By “they” I mean Adobe, but specifically
However I too greet the new Flash version with mixed feelings.
The negatives:
- The long wait has shown just how badly the “Cathedral” model works. If you don’t happen to use a system that the company is interested in supporting, you’re stuffed.
- The binary system of delivery is a bit cumbersome under such a heavily linked system as GNU/Linux. There have been some issues with statically linking libraries.
The positives:
- For Windows users moving over to a GNU/Linux environment this is one less thing they will miss. I have to admit, I’m a YouTube addict and not being able to listen to sound on my system has meant I’ve missed out.
- It sets an example to other companies to treat GNU/Linux seriously as a desktop system.
From using an open-source system, I’ve become quite accustomed to being able to join a mailing list, or a forum, to get a piece of software improved. While it’s nice having extra functionality for Flash under my Ubuntu system, it’s far from an ideal solution. Using proprietary software under an open source system kind of defeats the object; all those related problems that dog systems such as Windows will eventually resurface.
For now though, I think these small advances are acceptable. I see it like this:
- Windows user takes an interest in a system such as Ubuntu.
- Installs it and finds they can do many of the things they used to do on Windows, albeit on the crutch of proprietary software such as the Flash plugin.
- However the user is still mostly using the existing open source software provided by the system (OpenOffice, Inkscape etc).
- This software becomes more popular and attracts the attention of more developers / businesses seeking to provide features / services to the growing user base.
- These new advances eventually supercede those proprietary crutches.
- The new user becomes so accustomed to their new environment, that they wonder how they managed before.
At least that’s the way I like to see it. It certainly solves the “chicken and the egg” problem of not having enough users to warrant outside interest.
So without further ado, here’s the link to the Penguin.SWF blog post on how to install the Flash Player 9 Beta.
3 Responses to “Flash 9 Beta for Linux”
October 21st, 2006 at 4:36 pm
I have to admitt, I got as far as downloading the gzipped tarball, then reconsidered and rm’ed it. Whatever version of flash I am using now works quite well; the sound issue just fixed itself from one day to the next (might have been a Firefox update). I don’t really like flash and I only use YouTube once ever so often (now that it’s been Google-ized, even less).
Not to mention Flash is proprietary.
October 21st, 2006 at 6:50 pm
The sound never worked for me for some reason. There are other benefits of this new release other than just ALSA support though.
But you’re right, I’d be more excited if this was say an open source SVG player.
October 24th, 2006 at 2:16 am
That is what I really am looking forward to, plus native SVG support such that it can be imbedded within html to replace certain PNG and the like. That would be cool.