Why Won't Macromedia Release 64-bit Flash?

Flashless Dancer asks: "Despite numerous online campaigns, blogs and forum postings, Macromedia has failed to release a 64 bit version of it's popular Flash Player for 64 bit architectures. Growing outcry in the Linux community recently spawned the online petition at PetitionOnline, but this seems to have fallen on deaf ears. A recent posting to Macromedia's technotes, back in September, offers this explanation and advice to users and developers who are growing increasingly concerned that users with 64 bit architectures are unable to view online content created with Flash. It explains that users must downgrade to 32 bit browsers and use the 32 bit plugin. This simply isn't a good option for most users, in fact many Linux distributions, including FC2/3/4 install 64-bit browsers with their 64-bit distributions. This seems to breathe new life into the old GplFlash Project which is now back, after some time on the back burner. Future development of GplFlash2 promises support for Flash 6/7 but remains in development for now. Open speculation in chatrooms and web forums alleges all sorts of conspiracy theories but, what I'd like to know is: What's the real difficulty here for Macromedia?"

Comments

Flash Worthwhile?

[finkployd]

Homestarrunner aside, does anyone here actually go to flash sites? (especially when presented with a non-flash alternative upon entering the site?)

I have never found flash enabled sites to be any easier to navigate or more informative, usually the opposite.

Finkployd

Probably the usual difficulty

[roystgnr]

Writing good code is hard and expensive.

This is the same difficulty that's kept Mozilla bug 156493, "Browser should tolerate plug-in (plugin) malfunctions, like with a separate (own) process", unfixed for the past three years. I'm reminded of this in particular, because starting plugins as separate processes (which was requested to prevent buggy plugins from crashing the entire Firefox/Mozilla process) would simultaneously have made it much easier for 64-bit browsers to support 32-bit plugins.

So it is true that Macromedia is lagging behind the leading edge of technology... but do you have to sound so self-righteous about it? If our browsers used interprocess communication instead of cooperative multitasking (a concept far more outdated than 32 bit binaries) then this wouldn't be a practical problem.

Flash doesn't work on 64b procs!?

[RingDev]

I so need to upgrade!

-Rick

Re:No problem at all

[NoMoreNicksLeft]

Strongbad

Install the flashblock extension, and you can keep from seeing any flash unless you actually want to.

That's why.

Re:They're hiring

[imr]

Porting the Flash Player to 'alternative' platforms
and it pretty much explains that there won't be a 64 bits version as long as they don't find a guru that will rewrite this beast. Not portable.

Re:But 32 bit flash works on my 64 bit box

[floamy]

That only works because your distribution installed 32bit libraries and is using emulation. If your distribution was 64bit, or you didn't want to use a different set of libraries for Mozilla, you wouldn't be able to run Flash.

I know this is hard to understand..

[Suppafly]

I know this is hard for some of you to understand, but everything from PetitionOnline falls on deaf ears. No one cares about internet petitions, it takes almost no effort to fill out an internet petition. If you want someone to take you seriously, send a fax and follow up with a certified snailmail.