Re: SWF (Adobe Flash) support
On Wed, 18 May 2011 07:53:56 -0400, Gilbert Sullivan wrote:
> On 05/18/2011 07:06 AM, Camaleón wrote:
>> On Wed, 18 May 2011 09:59:44 +0200, Stanisław Findeisen wrote:
>>
>>> Is it possible to play Adobe Flash files from, for example,
>>> YouTube.com without non-free software?
>>
>> (...)
>>
>> Sadly nope.
>
> On my Debian testing systems I'm actually able to play all YouTube
> content using chromium-browser, the Gnash plug-in, and the IcedTea NPR
> Web Browser plug-in. I've never installed anything from non-free or
> contrib on these systems. (I don't even use non-free firmware.)
Me also... but in the same way it works with some videos you can get
nothing (black screen) with others so I prefer to have it installed the
Adobe player, just in case. Indeed, I've got both, gnash and flash player
from Adobe.
> Many other sites, however, make it difficult-to-impossible to see Flash
> video content without the proprietary Adobe player. I just won't use
> those site, and I try to let the people who run them know that.
But it's not only video, there are many sites that are completely
rendered and rely on a specific version of the player and you are
completely out of luck if you're using a flash version that does not
match the site requirements.
So in the end, I always have the latest available flash version from
Adobe installed on my computers because I cannot afford having no flash
support in the office for my every day work ;-(
>> To avoid any present and future problem with flash based sites, you
>> have to install the Adobe flash plugin... we are stuck with it ;-(
>>
>> (note: it depends on the SWF file to play, some do work with
>> alternative players but some don't)
>>
>>
> I know what you're saying, and I would agree with it if any of the
> content offered on the Internet was truly important to me.
Yes, of course, it always depends on the user and its usage.
I don't even have the plugin installed in many machines (servers and
workstations) but I need it on others.
> I'm a curmudgeon. I figured I lived without streaming content for 60
> years before the Internet became available to the masses. I can live the
> rest of my life without it if the purveyors are so tied into their
> business models that they exclude the users of free software from
> viewing their content. I'm just tired of the whole attitude by business
> that they own the customers and can make them jump through hoops.
Well, if you only need the flash player for videos you can use several
methods to render the content directly with a video player (by loading
the .flv source or using alternative plugins) but what can you do with
flash animations (i.e., games)? It's hit-or-miss, it can work with gnash
or not :-(
> Who knows? Since Adobe has stated that new versions of the Flash server
> are going to automatically serve html5 when the client lacks the Flash
> reader, perhaps users of free software will benefit. The html5 content
> at YouTube works very well with chromium-browser. Better than the Flash
> content, as a matter of fact.
I hope html5 can help to remove the needing of flash based content once
and for all, at least for videos. Multimedia animations will be the next
target >:-)
Greetings,
--
Camaleón
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