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The Shumway Open SWF Runtime Project

theweatherelectric writes "Mozilla is looking for contributors interested in working on Shumway. Mozilla's Jet Villegas writes, 'Shumway is an experimental web-native (Javascript) runtime implementation of the SWF file format. It is developed as a free and open source project sponsored by Mozilla Research. The project has two main goals: 1. Advance the open web platform to securely process rich media formats that were previously only available in closed and proprietary implementations. 2. Offer a runtime processor for SWF and other rich media formats on platforms for which runtime implementations are not available.'" See also: Gnash and Lightspark.

28 of 99 comments (clear)

  1. No thanks by gagol · · Score: 2

    I will put my efforts learning to do great things in html5.

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    Tomorrow is another day...
    1. Re:No thanks by gagol · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Please define "many browsers". Also, kudos for you if you want to contribute, just my cup of tea to work on stopgap measure when a new standard is getting supported in ALL mobile browsers and most desktop one too: http://html5test.com/results/desktop.html.

      --
      Tomorrow is another day...
    2. Re:No thanks by DavidClarkeHR · · Score: 2

      Blank pages are the only thing you can do with HTML5 right now in many browsers. Some people, preferring not to wait, have taken the unusual step of working with what's available now.

      Well, yeah. Fundamentally, I agree. But if you're waiting for slow, incremental change? The internet isn't really the best place. You're probably better off looking in politics.

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      - Nec Impar Pluribus, or so I'm told.
    3. Re:No thanks by TheGratefulNet · · Score: 2

      Blank pages are the only thing you can do with HTML5 right now in many browsers

      yeah, well.... at least they load fast!

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      --
      "It is now safe to switch off your computer."
  2. Bugs in the demo by HatofPig · · Score: 3, Interesting

    In the race card demo the "best lap" time is actually just your last lap. And when you finish all 10 laps the clock doesn't stop, so your "final time" keeps increasing. I wonder if this is a bug in Shumway or the game itself. And I only get around 7 FPS on average, on Firefox in Linux/x86.

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    Silicon & Charybdis McLuhan Kildall Papert Kay
    1. Re:Bugs in the demo by girlintraining · · Score: 4, Funny

      In the race card demo the "best lap" time is actually just your last lap. And when you finish all 10 laps the clock doesn't stop, so your "final time" keeps increasing. I wonder if this is a bug in Shumway or the game itself. And I only get around 7 FPS on average, on Firefox in Linux/x86.

      Sounds like the app has a... (puts on sunglasses) race condition. YEEEEEEEEEEaaaaaaah!

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      #fuckbeta #iamslashdot #dicemustdie
    2. Re:Bugs in the demo by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      I get ~22 FPS, on Chromium in GNU+Linux/x86_64

    3. Re:Bugs in the demo by dgatwood · · Score: 2

      In the race card demo [github.com] the "best lap" time is actually just your last lap.

      At least it loads for you. In the current version of Safari (OS X), I just get:

      TypeError: Attempting to change value of a readonly property. kanvas.js:49

      --

      Check out my sci-fi/humor trilogy at PatriotsBooks.

    4. Re:Bugs in the demo by adri · · Score: 2

      ok, you win the internet tonight.

  3. SWFDec - SWF Decoder - another SWF implementation by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    http://swfdec.freedesktop.org/wiki/

  4. Sounds great, would prefer ActionScript / Flex by alostpacket · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I love the Free / OSS nature of something like this, but one of the absolute best** things about Flash is the ActionScript language (specifically AS3) (and to a lesser extent flex).

    Since it is based on ECMAScript, it offers nearly everything JavaScript does and more. Classes, Inheritance, Polymorphism, both dynamic and static typing, etc, etc. And some things I find truly awesome such as the EventDispacter pattern and DisplayObject event bubbling.

    So what are the chances of ActionScript being considered for something like this? Are there legal hurdles that make it a non-starter?

    Also, how does this compare to other OSS flash players like Gnash? Conceivably this could solve the biggest problem with Flash, the lack of security involved when the player is proprietary.

    **Yes, Adobe stagnated and got lax about security as well as bundled toolbars with the plugin as well as other privacy implication with SharedObjects. However, as a scripting and vector animating platform, Flash was amazing tech. And it makes damn nice RIAs and did great for video for its time. However it's clear that time is over due to some serious missteps on Adobe's part. So please don't get me wrong, there are many valid criticisms of Flash, but it was an innovative technology (and still is to a much less extent).

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    PocketPermissions Android Permission Guide
    1. Re:Sounds great, would prefer ActionScript / Flex by alostpacket · · Score: 4, Informative

      Sorry to reply to myself, but it seems I'm tired and wasnt thinking -- Big clarification: The Shumway player does support AS -- as it support SWFs, and thus naturally, AS3.

      --
      PocketPermissions Android Permission Guide
    2. Re:Sounds great, would prefer ActionScript / Flex by drkstr1 · · Score: 3, Interesting

      We got our first "no flash" order on a project awhile back, and I have cried a little on the inside every day I have worked on it. My first introduction to flash was compiling SWFs in Linux using the MXMLC compiler. In fact, I even wrote the Actionscript 3 syntax highlighting rules for KDevelop (Kate) 3.5, because that's what I had available on my system to use. The flash platform is an AMAZING technology stack, and it is sad to see it go to waste behind a wall of patents wielded by a bafoon of a company.

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      Fanboy Status: Apache Flex, C#, Eclipse, KDE, Pirate Party, Ron Paul, Slackware, Windows 7
    3. Re:Sounds great, would prefer ActionScript / Flex by quetwo · · Score: 2

      Not all SWFs are AS3 -- quite a few of the older ones out there are still AS2 -- and all but two of the demos they've provided are AS2.

      By looking at the code, it looks like they've implemented maybe half of the opcodes in the SWF spec for AS3. They got the easiest ones for graphics, but they are missing all the networking ones, most of the effect, and a lot of the event handling. They still have a LONG way to go before they can say they run even a portion of the Flash apps out there.

      On a side note to those who are interested in the project -- Apache just released a flash compiler (the former Flex compiler), and a second, next gen compiler for ActionScript. It's available on the Apache Flex Incubation Project (http://incubation.apache.org/flex). The next-gen compiler is pretty awesome, and very well documented...

  5. With a name like Shumway... by grouchomarxist · · Score: 3, Funny

    ...it's gotta be good.

    1. Re:With a name like Shumway... by DudemanX · · Score: 3, Informative

      I think it's an ALF reference. ALF's "real" name is Gordon Shumway.

    2. Re:With a name like Shumway... by surmak · · Score: 3, Funny

      ...as long as it does not eat your cat.

    3. Re:With a name like Shumway... by deniable · · Score: 2

      Someone's getting Lucky tonight.

    4. Re:With a name like Shumway... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      Before & After in Wheel of Fortune:

      Flash Gordon Shumway

  6. Oh, boy! by 93+Escort+Wagon · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Having experienced just how slowly pdf.js renders documents longer than a page or two - I can't WAIT to see how well implementing swf in javascript goes!

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    #DeleteChrome
    1. Re:Oh, boy! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      This is simply not true.
      I read New Yorker magazine in pdf.js, every file is ~100MB and ~100 pages and it's not slow at all.
      In chrome, I should add.

    2. Re:Oh, boy! by tlhIngan · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I block flash and I block javascript. I only whitelist js for certain sites but mostly, its all blocked.

      Which is why a browser-based method is better than a plugin-based method for stuff that Flash does. After all, if you allow Flash for one site, who knows what sorts of Javascript and resources it pulls from other sites?

      But a browser based version or HTML5 means site-specific restrictions are honored - a Flash video that wants to pull in javascript from ad trackers can do it via the Flash plugin, but if it was in HTML5 or a browser implementation, will still remain blocked.

    3. Re:Oh, boy! by FithisUX · · Score: 2

      I second your opininion. I use it for my pdf needs more and more. I use Sumatra only for local files. PDf.js is used for previewing or online documentation reading. Much more convenient than adobe.

  7. Just what I need! More Adobe middleware! by DavidClarkeHR · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Don't get me wrong, I love illustrator, and I don't think I could live without InDesign.

    But I do REALLY like the idea of html5 instead of flash. Sure, it was funny for awhile to call apple products crippled because they couldn't have a full web experience, but I've been having problems with Shockwave / Flash products for years.

    It does need to remain supported, I agree. And opened up? Great!

    But developed? Encouraged? Promoted? No thank you. I'd rather see the [blink] tag supported in facebook.

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    - Nec Impar Pluribus, or so I'm told.
  8. Does this mean we could possibly have CONTROL? by fishnuts · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Does this mean developers might actually implement 'MUTE', 'FORCE STOP', or 'RESTART' context menu items for shockwave apps? I despise going to read a page with ads and other shockwave sidebar widgets that make noise or chew up CPU cycles and have no way to pause/mute/stop them. It also bugs that you must reload the entire page to get a flash app to restart.

    It's beyond me why Macromedia/Adobe never wanted us to have those essential controls. The only thing we get, in some rare cases, are the ability to prevent the app/player from looping, or to turn down rendering quality.

  9. great.. by SuperDre · · Score: 2

    Just when people want to ditch the old format and move over to html5... but then again, webpages are becoming more bogged down with useless junk which only means you'll have to wait until a page is loaded for like 5 minutes.. When will we actually go and try to optimize webpages and make them blazingly fast and not memory hogs like they are becoming, so we can actually enjoy our new fast hardware instead of having the same speed with new pages as we had on our old hardware with the old pages..

  10. Re:Bug fix required - click to play by caspy7 · · Score: 2

    I've been using it in Beta and it works fine.
    I think it's due out in one of the next two versions.

  11. No privilege to install a browser by tepples · · Score: 2

    Please define "many browsers".

    There are many PCs whose primary user lacks the privilege to install a browser. And on mobile, a lot of deployed Android devices are still stuck at 2.2/2.3, hence no Chrome.