On Mon, Aug 21, 2006 at 01:19:57PM -0500 or thereabouts, Jacob S wrote: > -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- > Hash: SHA1 > > On Mon, 21 Aug 2006 13:32:49 -0400 > Stephen <stephen.d.allen@gmail.com> wrote: > > > On Mon, Aug 21, 2006 at 09:49:12AM -0700 or thereabouts, Paul Johnson > > wrote: > > > On Monday 21 August 2006 08:01, Stephen wrote: > > > > > > If it were closed source, then implementations of it wouldn't be > > > > allowed to exist such as MING, the various open source players, > > > > and editors. > > > > > The "standard" itself is closed, so the best you can hope for is > > > broken compatibility in the long term. > > > > It is NOT a closed standard. > > Please present proof of this. As in Adobe's documentation of the > format. Any lack of prosecution by Adobe does not mean it is an open > standard, as we witnessed with gif images in recent history. It's not open in the sense the GPL is, or legally, but the following might interest you, taken from Wikipedia; However it's not a closed standard, obviously, if they release the specifications. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macromedia_Flash> "Adobe has released the specifications of the Flash file format (excluding specifications of related formats such as AMF), and compatible third-party tools exist. However, Macromedia retains control of the format. Since Flash files do not depend on a truly open standard such as SVG, this reduces the incentive for non-commercial software to support the format, although there are several third party tools which utilize and generate the SWF file format and a large and vibrant open source community. Apparently, the Flash Player cannot ship as part of a pure open source, or completely free operating system, as its distribution is bound to the Macromedia Licensing Program and subject to approval." So it's a proprietary company trying to make it's product become developer friendly. I don't have a problem with this. -- Regards Stephen +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ I do desire we may be better strangers. -- William Shakespeare, "As You Like It" +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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