Flash Player
Maintainer:	Adobe Systems
Preview release:	9.0.0.297 / 2006-05-08
OS:	Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows, Linux, Solaris
Platform:	Web browsers
Use:	media player
Website:	http://www.adobe.com/products/flashplayer/

The Macromedia Flash Player is a multimedia and application player created and distributed by Macromedia (a division of Adobe Systems). Flash Player runs SWF files that can be created by the Macromedia Flash authoring tool, Macromedia Flex or a number of other Macromedia and third party tools. Following Adobe's purchase of Macromedia, it will be rebranded "Adobe Flash Player" as of version 9. Image File history File links Flash_Player. ... Software maintenance is one of the activities in software engineering, and is the process of enhancing and optimizing deployed software (software release), as well as remedying defects. ... Adobe Systems (NASDAQ: ADBE) (LSE: ABS) is an American computer software company headquartered in San Jose, California that was founded in December 1982 by John Warnock and Charles Geschke. ... A software release refers to the creation and availability of a new version of a computer software product. ... 2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... May 8 is the 128th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (129th in leap years). ... An operating system (OS) is a software program that manages the hardware and software resources of a computer. ... Mac OS X is a proprietary operating system developed and sold by Apple Computer, Inc. ... ‹ The template below has been proposed for deletion. ... Linux (also known as GNU/Linux) is a computer operating system. ... Solaris is a computer operating system developed by Sun Microsystems. ... In computing, a platform describes some sort of framework, either in hardware or software, which allows software to run. ... Icons for Web browser shortcuts on an Apple computer (Safari, Internet Explorer, and Firefox). ... A media player is a piece of application software for playing back multimedia files. ... This page as shown in the AOL 9. ... Macromedia was an American graphics and web development software house. ... Adobe Systems (NASDAQ: ADBE) (LSE: ABS) is an American computer software company headquartered in San Jose, California that was founded in December 1982 by John Warnock and Charles Geschke. ... SWF (Small Web Format (commonly, but wrongly referred to as Shockwave Flash - Shockwave being the format produced by Director), often called simply Flash) is a proprietary vector graphics file format produced by the Macromedia Flash software. ... // == Macromedia Flash == ==]] Using Macromedia Flash 8 (bundled in Studio 8) in Windows XP. Maintainer: Adobe Systems (formerly Macromedia) Latest release: 8 / September 30th, 2005 OS: Windows (no native Windows XP Professional x64 Edition support), Mac OS X, Linux (i386 only, via wine [1]) Use: Multimedia Content Creator License: Proprietary Website... Macromedia Flex is an umbrella term for a group of technologies initially released in March of 2004 by Macromedia to support the development and deployment of rich internet applications based on their proprietary Macromedia flash platform. ... Macromedia was an American graphics and web development software house. ...

Macromedia Flash, or simply Flash, refers to both a multimedia authoring program and the Macromedia Flash Player, written and distributed by Macromedia (to be acquired by Adobe Systems), that uses vector and raster graphics, a native scripting language called ActionScript and bidirectional streaming of video and audio. Strictly speaking, Macromedia Flash is the authoring environment and Flash Player is the virtual machine used to run the Flash files, but in colloquial language these have become mixed: "Flash" can mean either the authoring environment, the player, or the application files.

Flash Player has support for an embedded scripting language called ActionScript (AS), which is based on ECMAScript. Over the years, AS has evolved from a primitive script that didn't even support variables to a respectable programming script that can be used to make rather complex games and other applications. ActionScript is an ECMAScript-based programming language used for scripting Macromedia Flash movies and applications. ... ECMAScript is a scripting programming language, standardized by Ecma International in the ECMA-262 specification. ...

The Flash Player was originally designed to display 2-dimensional vector animation, but has since evolved to support Rich Internet Applications and streaming video and audio. Today, most web browsers have Flash Player built-in, and can view Flash files right on web pages as if they were images. The Flash files themselves usually consist of vector graphics, meaning that instead of rendering individual pixels, Flash Player renders lines and fills to create dynamic shapes that can be adapted in real time. Because of this, most Flash movies tend to have more of a cartoon-look as opposed to a realistic appearance. This is not so much a bad thing, however, because it makes web-based animations and simple programs/games very easy to deliver to wide audiences, and because of the way Flash compresses SWF's, even ten-minute-long Flash movies will usually have a file size in mb that can be counted on one hand. Also known as RIA, Rich Internet Applications are the expected next iteration of software development. ...

Of course, Flash Player is not without limitations. A standalone version of Flash Player is not provided by Macromedia (you must download the entire trial of Flash in order to get it), and with Flash Player version 8 in particular, a number of users are reporting problems with installation and use. Hopefully, such problems will be fixed by the time Flash Player 9 rolls around.

Supported Platforms

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The Flash Player is available on a wide range of platforms, operating systems, and devices, including GNU/Linux x86, Windows, Mac OS 9/X, Solaris, HP-UX, Pocket PC, OS/2, Symbian OS, Palm OS, BeOS, IRIX, and Playstation Portable Image File history File links Circle-question. ... GNU (pronounced ) is a free software operating system consisting of a kernel, libraries, system tools, compilers and many end-user applications. ... Linux (also known as GNU/Linux) is a computer operating system. ... x86 or 80x86 is the generic name of a microprocessor architecture first developed and manufactured by Intel. ... ‹ The template below has been proposed for deletion. ... Sherlock 2 for Mac OS 9 with the new metallic appearance Mac OS 9 was the last version of what has since become known as the classic Macintosh Operating System (Mac OS), introduced by Apple Computer on October 23, 1999. ... Mac OS X is a proprietary operating system developed and sold by Apple Computer, Inc. ... Solaris is a computer operating system developed by Sun Microsystems. ... HP-UX (Hewlett Packard UniX) is Hewlett-Packards proprietary implementation of the Unix operating system. ... A Pocket PC A Pocket PC, abbreviated P/PC or PPC, is a handheld-sized computer that runs a specific version of the Windows CE operating system. ... OS/2 is an operating system created by Microsoft and IBM, later developed by IBM exclusively. ... Symbian OS is an operating system, designed for mobile devices, with associated libraries, user interface frameworks and reference implementations of common tools, produced by Symbian Ltd. ... Palm OS is an operating system made by PalmSource, Inc. ... BeOS is an operating system for personal computers which began development by Be Incorporated in 1991. ... IRIX is a System V-based Unix Operating System with BSD extensions developed by Silicon Graphics (SGI) to run natively on their 32- and 64-bit MIPS architecture workstations and servers. ... The PlayStation Portable (officially PSP) is a handheld game console produced by Sony Computer Entertainment. ...

Approximately 95% of PCs have some version of the Flash Player installed, making it a very attractive development and animation platform for developers. New versions of Flash player typically take about a year to achieve 85% market penetration.

Flash is being rapidly adapted to deliver mobile phone content, with the number of mobiles phones supporting Flash Lite increasing substantially year-by-year. In addition to phones, Sony has recently integrated Flash Player 6 into the Playstation Portable's web browser via firmware version 2.7. Sony Corporation ) is one of the worlds largest media conglomerates founded in Tokyo, Japan. ... The PlayStation Portable (officially PSP) is a handheld game console produced by Sony Computer Entertainment. ...

History

Player versions

• Macromedia Flash Player 2
  • First version under Macromedia brand
  • Mostly vectors and motion, some bitmaps, limited audio
• Macromedia Flash Player 3
  • Added alpha transparency, licensed MP3 compression
• Macromedia Flash Player 4
• Macromedia Flash Player 5
• Macromedia Flash Player 6 (March 2002)
  • Support for the consuming Flash Remoting and Web Service (SOAP)
  • Support for screenreaders via Microsoft Active Accessibility
  • Added Sorenson Sparc video codec
• Macromedia Flash Player 7 (September 2003)
  • supports streaming audio and video
  • supports ActionScript 2.0, an Object-Oriented Programming Language for developers
• Macromedia Flash Player 8 (August 2005)
  • support of GIF and PNG bitmapped images
  • new video codec
  • improved runtime performance
  • live filters such as blur and drop shadow
  • file upload and download capabilities
  • crisp pixel-perfect text rendering
  • adds On2 VP6 video codec
• Flash Player Lite 1.0 and 1.1
  • Based on Flash Player 4
• Flash Lite 2.0 (December 2005)
  • Based on Flash Player 7

SOAP is a protocol for exchanging XML-based messages over a computer network, normally using HTTP. SOAP forms the foundation layer of the Web services stack, providing a basic messaging framework that more abstract layers can build on. ...

Current (Developer) Player

• Flash Player 9 [Public Beta 3] (prevously named Flash Player 8.5).
  • New ECMAScript scripting engine, ActionScript Virtual Machine AVM2. AVM retained for compatibility.
  • Actionscript 3 via AMV2.
  • E4X, which is a new approach to parsing XML.
  • Support for binary sockets.
  • Support for Regular Expressions and namespaces.
  • Rebranded to Adobe Flash Player.
  • To be launched officially (northern) Summer 2006 along with Flex 2.

An Internet socket is a software abstraction, designed to provide a standard API for sending and receiving data across a computer network. ...

See also

• Macromedia Shockwave Player

Macromedia Shockwave is frequently confused with Macromedia Flash. ...

External links

• [1] - A popular flash website by a man named Neil
• Macromedia.com Official Flash Player information and download page. Due to the recent acquire of Macromedia by Adobe, this will redirect you to www.adobe.com
• Gnash GNU Flash movie player - a free open-source Flash Player
• Flash Movie Player - freeware 3rd party Flash player for Microsoft Windows with extended functionality (based on the Macromedia Flash Player)
• Flash Player older versions - All of the old versions from version 2 to the latest one