[Trac #1103] web/flash unusable, even with old stuff

[Zarro Boogs per Child]

#1103: web/flash unusable, even with old stuff
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 Reporter:  AlbertCahalan  |        Owner:  rsavoye
     Type:  defect         |       Status:  new    
 Priority:  blocker        |    Milestone:  Trial-1
Component:  web browser    |   Resolution:         
 Keywords:  flash          |  
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Comment (by jg):

 >
 > > The Adobe player, is of course, very far from "free software".
 >
 > Yes. Using the Adobe player would feel like an insult to some of us
 hackers writing apps for the XO. It's better to just accept that our flash
 solution is not ready yet, and might never work OK on such a weak CPU.
 I've been doing without flash for years because both free solutions seem
 to destabilize firefox; my bug #1105 suggests that this has not changed.
 Oh well. Wikipedia doesn't accept flash anyway.

 Rob, here's the problem: certain countries have built extensive
 educational content using Flash.  It is *far* from our preferred format,
 for many reasons, somewhat similar to (but more so than) pdf, as the
 format is closed. More so than PDF, as people with disabilities are
 generally left out in the cold. For example, Thailand has extensive
 educational content written in Flash, by an educator who at one point was
 a candidate for the minister of education.  It's good content: we are
 trying to help the kids of the world here.

 So depending on the circumstances, some schools will find minimal flash
 support acceptable, others  will have a higher bar, but still others will
 have existing content that may require the Adobe flash player until we
 have free solutions, just as much as pdf and general web support.
 Thankfully, gecko means we're to the "as good or better than Microsoft for
 web browsing", poppler has, over the last 18 months gotten to the point
 there are few pdf docs it can't read, and gnash is getting there, but
 least mature of the set, through no fault of yours: Adobe has not opened
 the spec, it is clearly the hardest of the three at this time.

 We *really* do appreciate your work on Gnash, and without it our leverage
 on Adobe is much less than with it.  Keep up the good work, and do not
 consider that some some countries have content that may require some use
 of Flash 9 as an insult in the slightest.

 The more of the time we can successfully use gnash or swfdec, the more
 leverage we have with Adobe, whom we continue to press on this topic.

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Ticket URL: <http://dev.laptop.org/ticket/1103#comment:4>
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