From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Sat Mar 6 11:29:28 2010 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 8EE16106564A for ; Sat, 6 Mar 2010 11:29:28 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from freebsd@edvax.de) Received: from mx02.qsc.de (mx02.qsc.de [213.148.130.14]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 745B28FE34 for ; Sat, 6 Mar 2010 11:28:03 +0000 (UTC) Received: from r55.edvax.de (port-92-195-7-176.dynamic.qsc.de [92.195.7.176]) by mx02.qsc.de (Postfix) with ESMTP id 624831E4C0; Sat, 6 Mar 2010 12:28:02 +0100 (CET) Received: from r55.edvax.de (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by r55.edvax.de (8.14.2/8.14.2) with SMTP id o26BS1SC003531; Sat, 6 Mar 2010 12:28:01 +0100 (CET) (envelope-from freebsd@edvax.de) Date: Sat, 6 Mar 2010 12:28:00 +0100 From: Polytropon To: "C. P. Ghost" Message-Id: <20100306122800.c79d6088.freebsd@edvax.de> In-Reply-To: References: <20100305120021.52F79106566B@hub.freebsd.org> <20100306044916.ce02523e.freebsd@edvax.de> <20100306100107.076b65be.freebsd@edvax.de> Organization: EDVAX X-Mailer: Sylpheed 2.4.7 (GTK+ 2.12.1; i386-portbld-freebsd7.0) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Flash viewer for FBSD X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list Reply-To: Polytropon List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Sat, 06 Mar 2010 11:29:28 -0000 On Sat, 6 Mar 2010 12:15:37 +0100, "C. P. Ghost" wrote: > On Sat, Mar 6, 2010 at 10:01 AM, Polytropon wrote: > > If they don't want to make one, there's no way to convince > > them. Since the majority of free and standardized operating > > systems isn't oriented at market share, there is no reason > > for Adobe to follow a crying "Please!" :-) > > There is only one way to convince them: through legislation! Legislation won't influence economy - it's the other way round. Sadly. On a free market, the masses dictate what will happen. And if the masses don't WANT to be free, their freedom will be taken off them. Freedom of choice? No, you better go with what we provide you, because that's the best for you. And now shut up and buy our crap! :-) > You may live in a world of bliss where you can access your online > bank via standardized HTML, where you can fill in your IRS (or > equivalent) forms, various applications etc. without Flash, but > many parts of the world are a lot more dependent on Flash. In the context you've mentioned, I would have thought of Java in the first place, not "Flash". And I know that there are whole "branches of economy" that are trapped in the "Flash" problem - once you're in, you're convinced that you can't get out. (There are other problems like this.) As a pure private person, I can be lucky not to depend on "Flash", and not have to be told that I'm using the "wrong" operating system. I know that not everyone is that lucky. > Of course, one can always send complaints to those banks and > public services who use Flash-only interfaces, but those complaints > usually get ignored and thrown in the grey dumpster. If you try to > escalate your complaint, the letter goes from the grey into the red > dumpster, but you're still effectively locked out. Yes. > That's the problem with near-monopolies of proprietary formats: > sometimes you can't escape them and have to resort to tricks > (like emulations etc...) to make them work. I agree, but I'd like to emphasize that those "tricks" are always a good chance for migration, such as I have predicted, seen, experienced and done it with OpenOffice. The growing interest in heterogenous IT environments where interoperability is important will help to make the "decision carriers" aware of how to decide: Go with open standards and continue work, or stick with proprietary and closed products and have a surprise from time to time (such as "We can't open our documents anymore!" or "This has to be rewritten!") If you work with standards, then interoperability, compatibility and transition is no big deal. -- Polytropon Magdeburg, Germany Happy FreeBSD user since 4.0 Andra moi ennepe, Mousa, ...