Tom Livingston wrote:
On Tue, 17 May 2005 14:13:50 -0400, Mike Foskett <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Stat based on these figures from Macromedia:
I might add that these are merely posted on MM's site. The study was independent.
http://www.macromedia.com/software/player_census/flashplayer/
There is a link that speaks to the company that did the survey...
Can someone please educate me to the claim here;
http://www.macromedia.com/software/flash/survey/
that;
"In March 2005, NPD Research, the parent company of MediaMetrix, conducted a study to determine what percentage of Web browsers have Macromedia Flash pre-installed. The results show that 98.3% of Web users can experience Macromedia Flash content without having to download and install a player."
1) I have never come across a browser, which installed with Macromedia Flash pre-installed.
2) I never knew that 98.3% of Web users can experience Macromedia Flash content without having to download and install a player.
If they are coming from the standpoint that Flash was already installed (by someone), that to me seems to not be clearly stating the whole picture they are basing their scenario on and not presenting it in a true objective fashion.
Last time I did a check on a series of browsers for the accuracy of HTTP_ACCEPT (a few years ago), it was quite unreliable. I had flash installed on all browsers, but not all of them reported this to the server, yet it was registered in their plugins. If there are more reliable methods of detecting plugins I appreciate people sharing them.
Then there are the users out there that have flash installed and other 3rd party software to stop Flash from playing, so that they can control it.
I agree with the suggestions to the various implementations of Flash to solve the original problem posted to this site, I think when all is taken into account, usability, design, accessibility, that is the best strategy.
But statistics can be used to serve misinformation, and what I see on the Macromedia site gives me no reason to have any confidence in an accurate evaluation via clear and thorough methodology.
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