John Dowdell wrote
>>
Yes, the file format runs on multiple devices, but not all content will
run identically on all devices. In hallway talks with other Adobe
staffers today this is something we'll have to work on, cross-device
creation guides, not just for SWF but also for HTML and video.
>>
Hmm, some time ago I saw some comments from an Adobe staffer
regarding an open source
flash player project. They made some very good points regarding the
problems of "forking" the player - in that
it would lead to consumer confusion as to what were the capabilities
of each player and what they needed installed to run what.
It seems to me that as Flash is being rolled out for more different
devices this forking problem is raising its ugly head.
Not only do we have to cope with different versions of Flash on
personal computers but we also have different versions for phones
(Flash lite 1.0 and Flashlite 2.0) and now a "cut-down" version of
Flash 6 for the PSP. Now I suspect that Adobe are
aware that this is a problem but are being squeezed between the
politics of what manufacturers want to put on their machines and the
technical limitations of these devices.
As to what we do about it I have two suggestions. One of them is
pretty straightforward - the other less so.
1) Create a definitive "FlashMark" benchmark program which lets you
test your hardware and see how fast it goes.
Manufacturers would also be encouraged to publicize the results from
their devices. I can see this being popular with companies like Nokia
because they could encourage you to buy a new phone because its
FlashMark was much better than your old one. It would also be useful
for benchmarking PCs, rather than the usual 3D game/video encoding
benchmarks which get used at the moment and with the rollout of dual
core chips are becoming increasingly less useful for gauging flash
performance. Ideally you'd also be able to run the development
environment at a lower FlashMark to simulate running on another device.
2) Get stricter with manufacturers regarding the capabilities of
different players. Introduce a simple system of "player capabilites"
and then run a certification scheme whereby you certify that
different devices will run a certain level of player
with no glitches. I suspect that Adobe is moving towards this and
that players will settle down a bit more when version 8.5 comes out
and at the moment they're waiting for it and willing to tolerate
dodgy players to encourage a wider takeup.
The great strength of Flash as a distribution platform is that I can
write a program and know that it will run on almost any PC in general
without me having to worry that the user won't have the right
libraries or that a particular function might not work. This is
obviously going to get more difficult with a larger number of devices
but I think its a worth working at.
Hmm, that's enough from me - what do other people think? It would be
great to have an official "road map" from Adobe because the other
defining feature of all this device development is that information
seems to come out on a bit by bit which
makes it difficult to plan ahead with any certainty.
Joe
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