[EMAIL PROTECTED] enlightened us with: > None of you seem to know what you are talking about.
That's not a way to make friends. I very well know what I'm talking about. None of the issues I've raised are negated by what you say, so every single one still stands. > Flash also behaves consistently cross-browser, cross/platform That's where you are wrong. Flash on Mac/MSIE behaves differently than other platform/browser combinations. There are also many browsers and platforms that can't use Flash. Even though Flash is available for Linux, it isn't available for my Zaurus, for instance. > -- and most features cannot be disabled by the user. (compare that > to a user being able to turn off JS, or Java -- something often > mandated in a corporate environment.) It's either "all on" or "all > off." And in many corporate environments, it's off. > Flash has such a large install base, that it could be argued it is > the most widely available platform for delivering media-rich > "applications" over the web. True, but 99.9% of all Flash usage is more an annoyance than truely useful and "rich". > (And code does not involve anywhere near the same level of attention > to kludges and workarounds that one would have to use to replicate > similar feature -- where possible -- in different browsers and > browser *versions.*) -- ActionScript is a horrible klidge it itself. Don't try to portrait it as something else. > Not to sound like I work for MM/Adobe, but, here's what the Flash > Player can do at *run time*: When should it do that if not at run time? At compile time? > Flash can render text -- w/ custom-defined and packaged fonts. (not > possible in a browser!) It can apply a limited set of CSS to the > rendered text, BTW. But when using my scrollwheel to scroll the page it is used on, my browser stops scrolling when the mouse is over such a flash file. Very annoying! > Flash can load/parse/serialize/send XML. So can JavaScript. > Flash can POST and GET a variety of data (true, it may access > browser controls to manage this.) So can HTML. > Flash can access you webcam, allowing you to create your own video > chat/IM app. So can NetMeeting and many others. > Flash can load and render jpegs, gifs(v8), and pngs(v8) -- and in > version 8, composite all that w/ vector graphics (+video?) -- *and,* > sample the resulting display pixel by pixel. (passing that data > back to a server would allow dynamic creation of a jpeg or gif.) But version 8 is not even available for Linux. > Flash 8 has a new "file upload" ability that goes beyond what a > browser is capable of: You can *multi-select* files, filter files > by type or size, and have programatic access to the state of the > upload. It accesses an Operating System GUI control to do this -- > and I have tested that these features work in MSIE, Moz FF, and > Safari on OSX. *** But version 8 is not even available for Linux. > Flash can #animate# stuff!!! So can GIF and MNG. > Flash is like a 2 MB download that works in almost *every* browser > out there. Not on Linux/x86, nor Liinux/ARM, nor Linux/MIPS, .... > (like: a built-in interpreter for a > late-version-EcmaScript-compliant scripting language -- that, in > many ways, is far more capable than what is available w/ JavaScript > in most browsers!) But it is horrible to work with. I can know, I've had to develop quite a few advanced Flash websites for my work. My work even went to the high folks at Disney. I don't need to brag, but apparently I do need to show you I *do* know what I'm talking about. > *** This feature can be used for a web-based CMS! It would > blow-away anything (non-Java) now available for managing and > uploading assets. LOL I can write an application that runs circles around Flash. And it would have the advantage it isn't web-based either - yes, I see that as an advantage. Web-based is overrated. I ask of you to take a look at the serious issues many people have with Flash. It's not just geeks and nerds that are annoyed by non-functioning scrollwheels, badly designed GUIs, and badly searchable websites. People that are less familiar with the web are even more annoyed, but are less capable of expressing that in a structured and well-defined way, because they simply lack the jargon. Sybren -- The problem with the world is stupidity. Not saying there should be a capital punishment for stupidity, but why don't we just take the safety labels off of everything and let the problem solve itself? Frank Zappa -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list