Flash 7 for Linux Released

molarmass192 writes "Looks like Macromedia has finally made good on their word and provided Linux with a current version of Flash player. Improvements over Flash 6 include a speed boost and support for SOAP. Here's the requisite download link. I took a few seconds to get it set up and the response is noticeably snappier than version 6. In particular, the audio/video sync problems in version 6 seems to have been taken care of. Now, I wonder where they hid that Shockwave player for Linux?"

Comments

Now if only...

[Atrax]

... they'd release the authoring tool in a Linux version?

Re:Now if only...

[Anonvmous Coward]

".. they'd release the authoring tool in a Linux version?"

Hate to sound like I'm trolling here, but in order to get Macromedia to make authoring tools for Linux, you guys gotta prove you're willing to buy it. All this free-software movement probably puts the taste in a lot of people's mouthes that nobody wants to spend money on software.

Re:Now if only...

[spektr]

Hate to sound like I'm trolling here, but in order to get Macromedia to make authoring tools for Linux, you guys gotta prove you're willing to buy it.

Maybe they should ask Oracle whether anybody buys high quality software for Linux if they don't know. Some years ago this would have been a pretty good troll, but nowadays...?

Re:Now if only...

[Anonymous Coward]

Hardly anyone buys software for Linux desktop use, which is really what the thread is about. There is almost zero commerce for Linux and without a single desktop, commercial support and no moving targets, that is hardly ever likely to happen.
Obviously for server use it's a different story where vendors just treat Linux and a cheap UNIX and porting is easy.

I use Linux everyday and have for years, but I see no software market at all for desktop apps until things change. Compare this with almost an uncountable number of apps for Windows and Mac.

Re:Now if only...

[jrockway]

> "Mr Weenie -- despite all the ideology about the "Unix Philosophy", Unix desktop apps have never worked that way. Can you meaningfully use OpenOffice with pipes and cron? No."

Wrong. You can pipe in word documents and get a PDF (or something else) out. So yes, OO.org fits into the Unix philosophy. It also fits into the "big app that does lots" philosophy. Amazing how something can be in two groups, eh.

i'm so happy!

[lingqi]

Now, you know, I can finally view tomshardware.com in its full glory.

Now seems a good time to introduce flashblock. Very ironic, isn't it?

Re:Read the EULA?

[iCEBaLM]

No, uploading it does, as the EULA states that YOU can't distribute it, doesn't mean they can't.

IRIX version? Open Source?

[green pizza]

This is one of the few times you'll hear me honestly ask "is it open source?" I ask because I would love to see an IRIX version of this for my Silicon Graphics Octane workstation, and I know it's not going to happen otherwise. The IRIX world is stick at version 5 with few alternatives.

Yeah, yeah, I know, flash sucks. But sometimes you need to have it to visit certain sites. Sure beats having to fire up my PC just o look at the newest movie site.

And yes, SGIs are oldschool. But Octanes are pretty cheap on eBay and are becoming common with we hardware collectors (if you're not that type, you probably know one... house full of computers with at least one working Amiga and probably a NeXT cube too). And it makes for a great main workstation!

It is for x86 GNU/Linux, remember that.

[latroM]

"Looks like Macromedia has finally made good on their word and provided Linux"

GNU/Linux works on various platforms although the x86 port is the most common. I don't see x86 anywhere in the announcement, do you? If we had the source we had the freedom to compile it on any arch and OS we wanted to. A proprietary software package isn't a contribution to us if our goal is freedom.

You, sir (madam?) are a buffoon...

[MaestroSartori]

In your haste to rant about how much you hate everyone else on then Intarweb, you've missed or ignored a pretty major point: Flash is just a tool. How about this:

HTML is a lead lined cudgel with which talentless unfunny people can create their poorly designed and impossible-to-navigate websites. (or, if they're really talentless, they just ship them off to sites like geocities.com) I have personally lost count of the number of times I've had my browsing experience ruined by an annoying as hell animated gif banner ad spawning in the middle of my screen, or a homepage so slowed and crippled by dynamic HTML that I left and never returned.

I suspect most of us would agree with that to an extent, but we don't vow never to look at a webpage again.

Some Flash is very good. Deal with it, move on, use the appropriate browser/plugin to make Flash content optional.

A little short on the badger side

[Ghoser777]

There are clearly 11 badgers before the two mushrooms.

So to clarify:

badger badger badger badger badger badger badger badger badger badger badger Mushroom! MUSHROOM!

Matt Fahrenbacher

Shockwave player for Linux

[IGnatius T Foobar]

You want the Shockwave player for Linux? This is where the Slashdot Effect can actually help.

Go to the Macromedia 'wish form' and tell them you want Shockwave Player for Linux! Development over there seems to be demand-driven, so fill out the form. If they get enough requests, they might just do it.