[linux-audio-user] Flash audio

[Rob]

On Sunday 31 August 2003 14:14, RTaylor wrote:
>  Adobe's viewer is free... so's Corels. Installation's no more
>  complex than installing the Flash viewer. Both companies
> offer

Ease of installation doesn't count as much when every proprietary 
browser (and most Linux distributions) comes with Flash 
preinstalled.  

>  As far as audio goes... Real's Helix project gives you the
>  http://www.realnetworks.com/products/producer/
>  https://www.helixcommunity.org/2002/intro/potential-projects
>  tools to do anything you need at the same level of quality
> that any other system on the 'net can give you.

Let me know when it's integrated with the SVG tools, with 
synchronization and all, the way MP3 and other audio formats are 
integrated with SWF.  Have you actually looked at what people 
are doing with Flash these days?  These guys are visual artists, 
and they don't want to hear about SMIL and interleaved MPEG-4. 
They want to hear about "File/Save As", and they're willing to 
pay (and put up with proprietary formats) for it.

>  It's as capable and usable as SWF... There's absolutely no
> reason not to use it.

When I see someone do something as nifty as the homestar or 
campchaos.com stuff using the hodgepodge of tools and formats 
you're describing, I'll believe that.

>  Any artist worth his salt researches his tools to a fairly
> high degree. {Tho' that does seem to be going out of favor}

Those who do will come to the conclusion (currently a correct 
one) that they'll reach 90% or more of users using Flash and.... 
substantially less for SVG.  And Macromedia will sell another 
$500 worth of Windows or Mac-only software.  Just as I think the 
PNG guys were short-sighted in trying to introduce another 
unsupported format (MNG) for animations, rendering PNG an 
incomplete alternative to GIF, I think that if the SVG guys are 
really trying to replace Flash (rather than just another 
graphics metafile format) they will need to find a way to 
integrate other media that makes sense to artists, not just to 
nerds like you and me.

Rob