Interview With Linux Flash Player's Lead Engineer

An anonymous reader writes, "Ryan Stewart of ZDNet has an interview with Mike Melanson, the lead engineer behind Adobe's upcoming Flash Player 9 for Linux. It covers what the plans are for the player, what kinds of things won't be in the Linux player that are in the other players, and ways to give Adobe input on the Linux player."

Comments

64 bits please...

[tomstdenis]

So tired of shit not being developed for x86_64. Get with the times. Didn't RTFA but I assume they'll ignore it like they always have...

Tom

Re:64 bits please...

[Octorian]

Because all these Linux users just discovered "64-bit" yesterday, and don't understand that it can actually co-exist with "32-bit" stuff on the same kernel, and the same userland (no, you do NOT need to chroot it), and only needs a different set of libraries (i.e. "/usr/lib" vs "/usr/lib64").

Solaris, for example, has been 64-bit for quite some time. However, even with a 64-bit kernel & drivers, most of the userland is still 32-bit. They provide 64-bit versions of the necessary libraries, however, so that you can build 64-bit applications when it benefits you. (and when it doesn't benefit you, its just wasteful of system resources)

Then again, SPARC isn't as braindead as classic x86, and you can build 32-bit SPARC binaries that take advantage of all the extra instructions of the sparcv9 (UltraSPARC/64-bit) architecture. x86_64 added a lot of things beyond 64-bit'ness that probably improves performance, but I wonder how much of that (i.e. like extra registers), if any of it, you could even use in 32-bit code.

Re:Allow me to rain on this parade...

[BFaucet]

Gee I didn't know you represented the needs of everyone. I had no idea Flash was completely useless as I've often enjoyed watching documentaries, news clips, home brew animations and interacting with stimulating websites that utilized Flash as a delivery medium.

I better uninstall that useless piece of junk right away!

Re:Allow me to rain on this parade...

[TheRaven64]

If they want input, then I have some:

Change the license on the Flash spec to allow it to be used players as well as generators. I don't care about their plugin, but I do care about using open formats.

Re:An obscure database known as MySQL

[kfg]

Perhaps we just need a -1 I Don't Get It mod. Then they at least have the opportunity to be honest about it.

KFG

Re:no hard questions asked....

[mshiltonj]

why does flash 9 for linux suck horribly compared to all the earlier releases?

There *isn't* a flash 9 for linux, sucky or not. It doesn't exist. That's what the dude is working on.

When are you going to release a fixed version that actually works right or at least comperable to the mac or windows versions?

TFA said "early 2007." That's what he's working on right now!

Sheesh.

Re:Why is he a troll?

[picklepuss]

He's a troll because the article specifically mentions at one point exactly what to do if you want a 64-bit player. You keep pounding the adobe wish list with requests.

Re:Open source player.

[Wylfing]

It does not sound like he has heard of Gnash

I bet he has heard of Gnash. I also bet that one of the 2 main reasons for Adobe spending effort on a Linux Flash player is the capabilities of Open Source Flash players. It would be quite horrible for them if Gnash surpassed the current Linux offering from Adobe in functionality. Great for users, but bad for Adobe. They would stand to rapidly lose control over the Flash platform in a big way.

(I think the 2nd reason, from an executive standpoint, that they are developing this is because if they stop short of the "credo" of Flash, that Flash content can be played anywhere, they sell fewer dev kits. Also, the growing market of dedicated gadgets that run Linux, e.g., phones, which has great potential to be a big target platform.)

Re:Open source player.

[cortana]

Works on architectures other than i386. Can actually display text reliably. Sound and video in sync. Doesn't crash the browser.