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Macromedia Flash for Unix out soon 62

Posted by Hemos from the fun-with-multimedia dept.
shomon2 writes "Macromedia's web site has the news that "..versions of its Flash Player will be available free on 1 September for Linux, Sun Microsystems, Inc.'s Solaris, and Silicon Graphics Inc.'s Irix platforms." " Still worthing checking out SVG however.
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Macromedia Flash for Unix out soon More

Macromedia Flash for Unix out soon

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  • There is an alternative to Macromedia Generator. And it's free: Swift Generator [swift-tools.com]
  • I think you're right - QT is a very important piece when it comes to multimedia. Certainly a key component when you start talking about packages like Director and Premiere.

    Perhaps I forgot about it because of my repressed anger from seeing that 'upgrade now' box everytime I play a movie on the web now...
  • how about after you put down the crack-pipe? the plugins allow you to see content, not restrict saving content. ever heard of the browsers cache? try getting your beloved saved-local content from there. sad to see a simple-minded fellow like yourself corrupting the minds of others.
  • As I interpret Macromedia's past moves, they always try to remain as proprietary as possible. It seems to me that the only reason they released specifications for Flash is because they feared competition from the W3C's open vector formats.

    Macromedia is, of course, free to do whatever they want with their software. But as consumers, we are also free to decide what we use and what we don't use.

    If you care about free software or open standards, I'd recommend staying away from Macromedia products and formats as much as possible. There are several open alternatives available for creating multimedia content for the web. And if they don't do what you need yet, get involved in their open standardization processes.

  • Dreamweaver produces the cleanest, most versatile HTML. GAC[tm] (Get A Clue).
  • Frankly, I've never run Shockwave. I have a strict policy of not running Active X components on the systems that I use. I don't feel that my web experience is lacking by not having used it. Then again, I often use lynx. I use the web to get information (or what passes for information on the web) and, with all due respect for your site, dancing baloney just dosn't cut it for me.

    But I see your point that there are users who want it. In that sense it is good to have it available.
  • an author can keep the .dcr or .swf files from being saved with that little remote, but there is nothing an author can do to keep it from being pulled from the cache and saved. try it. i am a big fan of macromedia, and i am thrilled to see them add more plugin support for the unix world (irix). if they port their apps to the unix/linux platform, i will thankfully have no need for my win partition...
    i just hope that if someone works at a school, they take time to educate themselves before trying to educate others.
    -griZly
  • will SVG be able to take advantage of openGL cards? I'm Just looking for a standardized way of doing animations for openGL without having the use a rendering engine.
    - daniel
  • Where in that article does it say it's Flash 3 and not Flash 4?
  • Because Irix people like glossy stuff :-).

    Seriously, Irix is going to be around for a long time to come, since SGI is not planning on moving their MIPS hardware to Linux - just their new Intel stuff.

    D

    ----
  • Actually, flash is almost necessary for good
    entertainment websites like the one I work for.
    If linux is ever going to make it on the desktop,
    it is going to need as many multimedia plugins
    as possible. Right now just about everything is
    released for linux much later, if at all. This
    has to change for users to *want* to use linux
    for morethan the fact that it is not microsoft.

    -Dave
  • 1. Dreamweaver
    2. Flash
    3. Director
    4. Fireworks
    5. Photoshop
    6. Illustrator
    7. Freehand
    8. Premiere
    9. Acrobat
    10. Internet Explorer

    Note that all except #10 are Macromedia or Adobe, and pretty crucial to doing professional web work. As for IE, well, if you design for the web, you have to have IE to see how most folks see your pages.
  • I have been using Flash on Linux and Solaris since
    March 16th...(directory creation date). Works great!
  • We use Flash Generator for Solaris at CNN. See it in action HERE [cnn.com]. You do have to have Flash of course to see it.
  • I'm stupid, and I don't know, so I thought I'd ask. What is the difference between a Flash player, and a Shockwave player?

    Beuler, Beuler, Anybody, Beuler...

    Thanks
  • Thanks much. You are a gentleman and a scholar and smell good too.
  • Once again, HP users take it up the ass. Real Networks, Macromedia, Quicktime for Linux, id, etc.. fscking Microsoft at least does IE for HPUX, f'chrissakes. Why the fsck is it accepted "Unix == (Sun || Linux || IRIX)? I'm almost getting used to getting bent over my console[0]. Judas...

    [0] - and yes, I do have one at home too. Sure would be nice to use it. Linux still doesn't run on everyting.

    -fester(ing pissed)

  • Having a generator option for NT only is ridiculous! My company has been pushing macromedia on a UNIX port of the Generator tools for over a year now to no avail. All of the salesdroids say is 'We will refer your request to the technicians' and thats it.

    To bad, generator running on any UNIX would be awesome and increase their market share in a major way. They need to get with it ASAP.
  • Nope, that is just a flash player.
  • Java and VRML are two existing open standards that have the power to render a lot of neat graphics and multimedia content. Java 1.2 and the media-related packages will be incorporated into the next browser releases and offer a lot more neat features when it comes to audio, video, and animation.

    As for the "I need solutions NOW", I doubt it. Eventually, web designers may figure out how to incorporate multimedia content for the benefit of their site visitors (e.g., for maps and diagrams), but right now, Flash and Director are mostly used as gimmicks and probably end up driving more users away.

  • There are many remaining problems and unanswered questions about the SVG spec. The author of Gill (Gnome Illustrator) has made a detailed criticism of the font handling; the main problem is the difficult of specifying fonts exactly. I posed a question about where scientific notation could be used, and have not received a concrete answer. Unfortunately, although the SVG editor does make an effort to reply to queries on the public mailing list, the discussion that counts is going on in private, as is normal for W3C. Non-members only see changes made when a new draft is issued (which occurs at irregular intervals).

  • I know flash is already available for linux...cause im using it right now... odd

    ----------
    Have FreeBSD questions?
  • Me, too. I installed it just a couple of weeks ago. Maybe it wasn't available for the other Un*ces. I guess I never checked.
  • Flash for Linux has been out at least since May... Why are they only announcing it now?
  • I didn't check the article out yet, but I believe that it is a misleading statement. I say this because I have been using the Solaris version for over a week now. There are several 'beta' versions available on the Macromedia site, so I figure they are simply refering to a non-beta release.

    My experience with the Solaris Flash plugin is less than delightful. Rather, no sound happens, and I've had very little success with anything dynamic. The only things that appear to work are the example pages from Flash's home page, and only some of the content works (at least with the version I'm using). I believe the only thing that I really saw work was the tabs on a tabbed window.

    It'd be nice if they get this all out. JavaScript is quite clunky, and Flash has a nice solution. Unfortunately, it has been Win32 centric (hopefully until now..)
    --

  • so nice to see macromedia about a year behind itself. The release is for Flash 3 which has been available for win/mac for almost a year. Thier public beta of Flash3 for Linux is dated 11/17/98, and they just now releasing a non-beta version? http://www.macromedia.com/shockwave/download/index .cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash&P2_P latform=Linux&P3_Browser_Version=Netscape4 What about Flash 4, dammit. get on the ball macromedia!
    - daniel
  • My only guess is that they are officially moving out of beta to a general release. Flash player has been available for Linux and Solaris since November of last year. [macromedia.com]

    They also mention a source liscense, so I guess they are releasing some sort of source now, not sure if this too is already available.

    Now we just need a Shockwave player.
  • Anyone know the salient differences between these two proposed standards? What's curious is that both have Microsoft participation.
  • Subject: Re: flash for SGI computers.
    Date: Wed, 18 Aug 1999 17:50:48 -0400
    From: David Mendels
    To: xxxxxxxx@xxx.xxx

    Check out our web site in a few weeks -;)

    At 01:56 PM 8/18/99 -0500, you wrote:
    >It's surprising to me you have a linux and sun port, but no Silicon
    >Graphics version (IRIX 5.3, 6.2, or 6.3).
    >I tried downloading the linux version, but it didnt work (probably cause
    >its made for x86 machines running linux). Anyways, its real
    >disappointing to have such a nice computer (supped up Indy) at work and
    >not be able to see pages with flash..
    >
    >-Isaac Johnson
    >xxxxxxxxx@xxx.xxx
    >
  • I thought that SGI was dumping ther IRIX for Linux? Why are they going to make flash for them now? I think it is cool that there will be flash for Linux, and it will be free. but will it be another one of those partally free things again, like the crypiled Wordperfect8 I have?
  • nothing, they use the same player
  • I think it was in beta before. Must be the official release. Now I want Dreamweaver for Linux!!! Then I have much less of a reason to ever type "win98" at the lilo prompt!
  • ...for those who are listening...

    This [w3.org] link will give a bit more info on this possible counterpart or even competitor to flash.

    I think it would be a great alternative, being all into css/dom and w3 standards in general. SVG is coming together quite nicely, and already supports animation, scripting, filters, rotated text, as can be seen from the many (mostly java based) viewers around. The cool thing about it is that unlike flash, you don't need to use a proprietary point and click development tool to do stuff in SVG. Instead you just muck about in emacs like you're s'posed to.

    Flash is really nice, don't want to put it down, but it's just not fiddly enough for me.


  • Come on Hemos, this is old news. Is this really Roblimo in disguise? Hum. Flash isn't all that fun anyhow. Shockwave is the good stuff so I can play all those silly little games around on the web.

    ~Kevin
    :)
  • Why is QuickTime so rarely mentioned in these kinds of lists? All of my acquaintances working in professional multimedia creation export almost exclusively to quicktime. QT4 is now the gold standard, and is unavailable for Linux (AFAIK).
  • shockwave player displays content created with macromedia director, and the flash player displays content created with macromedia flash.
  • Be and Real just announced they're bringing RealPlayer to BeOS [benews.com]
  • Q. What product do we least want to see ported to Linux, Alex?
  • Oh, I don't know. I was having fun with: http://www.amused.com/fish.html on my Solaris box at work today and didn't realise it was using Flash until I right-clicked. Assumed it was Java...
  • I see a lot of stuff like:

    "Who cares?"
    "Name the product we *least* want ported to Linux."
    "Flash sux coz it's not free...errr.."

    Um, excuse me guys, isn't this exactly the kind of thing we *do* want? We need more apps, even the little ones like this from the BIG names to be ported over to Linux if it's ever going to take hold.

    Nobody says that every god$^@$ package that runs on Linux has to be free, open and GPL'd

    Until then, I'll await with baited breath to see if it'll supports Flash 4 and maybe even sound this time?

    Macromedia! Port everything you've got over to the penguin!

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