I should add one assumption that I'm making, which is that Flash will never be considered the *primary* content authoring solution for Sugar activities.
If it were to become so, given the current state as outlined by David's 4 points, there needs to be significant support by Sugar Labs for the Flash development tools, financially and with code. But from my perspective, the challenges associated with making it a primary content authoring system are so large as to be not worth pursuing when a few simple tweaks to the current software stack would get you 90% of the way there. Cheers, -Wade On Sun, Jan 4, 2009 at 9:23 PM, Wade Brainerd <wad...@gmail.com> wrote: > Personally, I don't believe that Sugar Labs the organization needs to be > concerned with any of these four points. > > The question is whether the Sugar *software* is flexible enough to adapt to > the needs of its users. Who are we to say what they should install, and > what tools they should use to make their content? > > Currently Sugar is incapable of running software which is not specifically > designed for it. This precludes smaller organizations who cannot design > custom Sugar activities from producing good content. Once the Sugar > software is more flexible and able to run arbitrary programs (Gnash, Flash, > Silverlight, GTK, Qt) without massive time investment and hacking on the > part of the content producers, the other questions won't even reach this > list. > > Best regards, > Wade > > On Sun, Jan 4, 2009 at 8:38 PM, David Farning <dfarn...@sugarlabs.org>wrote: > >> Bryan Berry started a great thread about activity development a few >> days ago. In the initial post he proposed using flash as means of >> developing content. Before taking the thread any farther I though we >> should stop and look at what flash actually is. >> >> The term flash is often interchangeably used as: >> 1. A brand >> 2. A player >> 3. A development environment >> 4. A protocol >> >> Yep, confusing. As we continue the discussion, I thought we should >> look at how 'flash' relates to Sugar and to more generally to OLPC and >> Open Source. I have CCed MaryBeth from Open Media Now and Rob from >> Gnash to help clarify the many shortcomings in my explanations. >> >> First, the brand - >> Flash is primarily a brand. It was originally created by MacroMedia >> and has been purchased by Adobe. The brand consists of the player, >> IDE, protocol, and the support and marketing provided by Adobe. As a >> brand, Flash is competing head-to-head with Microsoft's Silverlight. >> >> Second, the player - >> The most visible part of flash is the player. The _Adobe_Flash_Player >> is a proprietary product which is developed, supported, and >> distributed by Adobe. Currently, the Adobe Flash Player can only be >> distributed with Adobe's permission. Binary code for the player can >> be downloaded for most operating systems and distributions. >> >> Third party redistribution is strictly prohibited without permission. >> As such it would not be possible for Sugar Labs to distribute the >> Adobe_Flash_Player in its code bundles. Deployments can, and often >> do, add the Player as an available activity. The Player can be >> legally redistributed over an organization's intra-net. >> >> Third, the authoring tools - >> Adobe's business model is to give away the player and sell the >> authoring tools. As a result, Adobe sells several very good, yet, >> expensive authoring tools. Adobe's development tool costs >> approximately $750 US. >> >> Fourth, the Standards - >> Flash deliverables come in two formats .swf and .flv. Swf and >> ActionScript, the development language use to create .swfs have been >> open sourced. I believe that the ActionScript source code is jointly >> held by Adobe and Mozilla. There are possible legal questions about >> the patent encumberment status of some of the media codecs used in >> swfs and flvs. We would need clarification from the Software Freedom >> Conservancy on these issues. >> >> So, counting backwards how does this affect Sugar Lab? >> Fourth, the Standards - >> We need to wait for feedback from the SFC and Open Media Now. >> >> Third, the authoring tools - >> Adobe has done a very effective job eliminating the competition for >> flash authoring tools. http://osflash.org/ has a number of open >> source development tools. I am not enough of a flash developer to >> judge if the authoring products are mature enough to be useful or not. >> Are there any Flash developers out there, can you judge the quality >> of some of these products? >> >> Second, the player - >> The Free Software Foundation has flash player project called Gnash. >> The project is makin slow yet steady progress towards being a fully >> capable swf player. The project suffers from lack of support. Many >> Open Source users either download the Adobe player or forgo using >> flash. The itch factor is pretty low. >> >> As a product, Gnash is approaching, yet is not yet ready for, prime >> time. I spent New Years Day with my sister's kids( ages 11, 7, and 4) >> looking at their favorites sites under Ubuntu/Flash, Ubuntu/Gnash, >> Xo/Flash, and Xo,Flash. I bet that was the first time they have ever >> heard a adult tell them to, 'come on, play it again, just one more >> time, please...' about their favorite games:) >> >> There was a steady decrease in the availability and usability of sites >> with Xo and Gnash. We need to wait for feedback from Gnash about the >> product's technical limitations and the project's development >> limitations. >> >> Finally, the brand - >> Adobe has recently asked Gnash to call their player a SWF player >> rather than a flash player:) >> >> I appreciate your feedback on the technical aspect of Bryan's propose. >> In the next few days, I will try to summarize the (1) >> organization/development and (2) the educational/pedagogically issues >> of his proposal. >> >> thanks >> david >> _______________________________________________ >> IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) >> i...@lists.sugarlabs.org >> http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep >> > >
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