Stefan Richter wrote: > Even if Macromedia made promises or statement on this list or elsewhere it > would mean nothing and you are quite right, they could pull the plug at any > time.
Of course, I don't assume for a second that Macromedia would make any such agreements on a mailing list. However these discussions are already painting a better picture of Macromedia's attitude and expectations. That's all positive as far as I'm concerned. > This very fact will also make any serious commercial deployments of products > such as RED5 (once ready) a risky business. > To be honest I am surprised how 'laid back' Macromedia has appeared so far, > not many companies would be up for this. The fact of the matter is, however that apparently noone really knows currently what the legal situations are. Perhaps Macromedia are, but they haven't let on. > In regards to the perimeter fence, this hasn't been erected yet. The > discussions here will mean nothing in the long run unless some legal > documents are signed. Even Mike cannot make comments on behalf of MM in this > regard. I don't agree. Of course there is a perimeter fence - irrespective of whether either party is aware of it's extent. It's a learning process .. as illustrated last night. We pushed the boundaries a little, and Macromedia spoke up - and we let off. Now we have a fairer idea of what Macromedia will tolerate. > It's up to Macromedia/Adobe to lay out the rules for the game. Having the > referee play on one of the teams doesn't make much of a great sport and > leaves the other side wondering if it's worth playing at all. It can't really work any other way ;-) The difference in the case of osflash is that we are all about enhancing the platform that Macromedia are engineering. We're all fighting the same battle, so really it shouldn't be seen as a game of 2 sides. There's no "us vs them". It's "us + them vs the world" ;-) > I sincerely hope that the outcome of everyone's efforts will benefit both > sides. I also honestly believe that any success of an open source product > such as RED5 will have a positive impact on commercial products such as > FMS2. Yes I believe so too. It's not just FMS2 that will benefit. I believe personally that Flash will become more and more desirable as a development platform on a global scale as the cost of ownership drops for those who are not using it in a commercial way - which can only benefit the platform as a whole. For example .. trivial perhaps, but still valid .. but how many Java IRC applets do you think we will see once the average joe can afford to run a server? Perhaps we'll see a lot more fun multiplayer Flash games too :) Bottom line is, most of these open source projects open up the platform to a whole bunch of people who would not otherwise be interested. In the case of FCS/FMS2, Anyone with a commercial prject, or the money for a personal license will go with the Macromedia brand every time. - IE _______________________________________________ osflash mailing list [email protected] http://osflash.org/mailman/listinfo/osflash_osflash.org
