Newly appointed Web Developer's & Designer's Journal Editorial Board member
Aral Balkan (pictured) - of OSFlash.org - answers a few brief questions
about the amazing promise that the Flash Platform holds in the age of Web 2.0
and the role that Balkan sees for open-source Flash in that equation.
What is OSFlash?
Aral Balkan: OSFlash is home of the Open Source Flash community. It is a
watering hole for open source developers to meet, talk about, and contribute
to new and existing open source projects for the Flash Platform.
Is OSFlash a Website or is it an initiative?
AB: It's an initiative, a closely knit community, a resource, and a platform.
I see my own role as enabler, providing the tools and resources that our
amazing community of developers can use to weave their ma... (more)
Open source must in some way present itself as a bit of a dichotomy to Adobe,
now that it has acquired Macromedia. It is generally accepted that open
source solutions foster innovation and adoption. However, with an open file
format and a free player, is it possible that some projects could eventually
challenge Flash's own role by creating competing tools?
Jim Phelan writes: In a major re... (more)
Newly appointed Web Developer's & Designer's Journal Editorial Board
Member Jim Phelan writes: OSFlash, MTASC, FlashDevelop, Red5,
FlexUnit...This article from WebDDJ vol 3 no 5 looks at a welter of
initiatives that testify to the growth of the Flash Platform.
In a major repositioning effort in June of 2005, Macromedia (now, of course
Adobe, but then still an independent company) unveiled ... (more)
Not long ago developers and IT professionals looked at Flash with disdain.
The anti-Flash camp had contempt for its lack of accessibility, minimal
standards compliance, and of course there was the infamous back button
debacle. But things have changed. Large companies are embracing Flash for
rich media delivery. Developers are jumping on the bandwagon in swarms. In
the last year there's b... (more)
Anyone who regularly visits Macromedia's Web site has inevitably seen the Red
Bull Copilot and Volvo V50 Web sites. These elegantly crafted applications
are perfect examples to make the case for Flash video: they combine the rich
user experience of a Flash application seamlessly with high quality streaming
video.
Macromedia purports Flash video to be a technology that is "outside the box,... (more)