"Dreading" ?? Speak for yourself.
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| Author | Content |
|---|---|
| IGnatiusTFoobar Oct 22, 2006 9:18 AM EDT |
Perhaps you have been "dreading" the release of Flash 9, but please don't speak for the rest of us. The availability of Flash on the Linux desktop is one of the key things that made desktop Linux viable for quite a lot of users. While it is true that there are a lot of very annoying SWF's out there, this is more than made up for by the fact that you can give your grandmother a Linux desktop and she can click on all the fun games and stuff that her friends send her. |
| tuxchick2 Oct 22, 2006 9:49 AM EDT |
As someone pointed out in another forum, it only runs on 32-bit x86, so calling it "linux supported" is stretching the truth a bit. Anyway my grandmother doesn't waste time on retarded flash games, she's too busy coding. |
| Scott_Ruecker Oct 22, 2006 9:50 AM EDT |
IGnatiusTFoobar, I have to agree even though I should not want too. I want more people to use Linux, period. If mixing in some proprietary software makes it so that they have as small a learning curve as possible and they can use their computer as they did before then so be it. That's how I came to use Linux. I started out using Firefox and then I found out that it was not the only free software program out there. I know what your saying, "Really, Ya Think??". But you see that is exactly how it starts. That is how you get new people to start using free software. At heart I am very much a Linux Zealot but when it comes to introducing new people to Linux it is a matter of what can I do to get them to just start using it. Not enforce any kind of standards or moral reasons for excluding something particular that they would want to use. I am sure I told someone about my Mother buying a new computer and my fun in trying to get it to duel boot MS and Linux. Just getting my Mother and Sister to even TRY an open source program was a serious endevour. Just about every person I meet that I introduce to Open Source Software believes that you have to pay for software, its ingrained into them. I still have to re-explain to my Mom and Sis about how it is able to be free, truly free from a monetary point of view and how it is not a virus. It is amazing and sickening at the same time to see the effects of what they have been told on them. |
| herzeleid Oct 22, 2006 11:41 AM EDT |
Quoting: tuxchick: As someone pointed out in another forum, it only runs on 32-bit x86, so calling it "linux supported" is stretching the truth a bit. Anyway my grandmother doesn't waste time on retarded flash games, she's too busy coding.AFAICT those folks in the other forum are mistaken. Linux x86_64 can run 32-bit apps. Not only for flash, but for other reasons, those running linux x86_64 find it convenient to run a 32-bit browser, which plays well with all those 32-bit plugins. As for other platforms (sparc, PPC, mips) people running those platforms already knew, or should have known, that they are using a platform which is definitely non mainstream for desktop usage. Such platforms make great utility servers, offering generic unix network services, and can even server as a decent desktop in some scenarios, but the complete lack of commercial desktop apps for such platforms makes them rather a non-starter for serious full time desktop use. |
| tuxchick2 Oct 22, 2006 11:56 AM EDT |
herzeleid, that's true, but I cling to the archaic notion first put forth by Tim Berners-Lee (you remember him, the inventor of the world-wide web) that the Web should be universally accessible, without having to leap tall buildings or stopping speeding locomotives. Flash has its merits- it's bandwidth-efficient, for one thing. But I don't understand the mentality behind keeping the player closed and proprietary- Adobe/Macromedia sells the dev tools, not the player. Opening up the player increases the audience, offloads the maintenance chores from the unwilling and whiny Adobe overlords, and creates more markets for the dev tools. And I'm always railing against dimwitted exclusionary site design, so I shan't repeat that here. :) |
| jimf Oct 22, 2006 12:16 PM EDT |
Anytime we have a proprietary format as a 'standard', we will be poorer for it. We are paying for that in so many places, from the 'doc' word processing, to Mp3 in music, and flash on our Internet. Open standards are essential for everything to work for everyone. Now before you go flying off the handle herzeleid, I'm not saying that we don't have to deal with the proprietary crap that exists, but we need to be working toward a better solution. That has to be an open standard, for everyone's sake... |
| jdixon Oct 22, 2006 12:43 PM EDT |
Jimf: > Mp3 in music, ... Open standards are essential Picking nits here, but I believe MP3 IS an open standard. It's merely not a free one. The patent holder even released a reference implementation. |
| jimf Oct 22, 2006 12:47 PM EDT |
> Picking nits here, but I believe MP3 IS an open standard. But a very proprietary one. Still, I'll agree that it's one of the least annoying, whatever that means... |
| dinotrac Oct 22, 2006 2:50 PM EDT |
Tuxchick -- (to the tune of Marching to Pretoria, chorus) Rail with me, I'll rail with you and so we will rail together, So we will rail together. So we will rail together. Rail with me, I'll rail with you and so we will rail together, As we rail along. TC, sweetie, I'm right there with you on the TIm Berners-Lee point. He is right as rain in the desert. Sadly, the world is the world it is. We can change it, but we can't change it overnight. Our best weapon is to get enough friends on our side so that we can't be ignored. Telling people they're not welcome if they want to use things they've come to view as an essential part of the computing experience ain't going to get them here. So..while it is thoroughly cockamamie for Adobe to cling to its binary proprietary player, I am greatly appreciative that they make it availalbe. I am doubly appreciative that they seem quiet serious about not letting Linux be a second class citizen any more. Mind you, the folks at Adobe are smart enough to figure out where their bread is buttered. May web developers are Mac-heads because Mac is multimedia and graphics heaven. The value of a flash player for Mac far outstrips the number of users. Many web developers are Linux-heads because Linux is internet heaven. The value of a flash player for Linux far outstrips the number of users. |
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