Where's the 64-bit plugin? (ZDNet)

Where's the 64-bit plugin? (ZDNet)

Posted Aug 31, 2006 15:34 UTC (Thu) by bos (subscriber, #6154)
In reply to: Where's the 64-bit plugin? (ZDNet) by alspnost
Parent article: Interview with Mike Melanson, lead engineer on the Linux Flash Player team (ZDNet)

In a previous life, I had to occasionally hack on the Linux Flash player source code. It wasn't bad code, but it wasn't very clean, either. I'd have expected a port to a 64-bit environment to take a few months of full-time work for a small team at that time, and the player has become considerably more complex since then.

Considering that most Linux-on-x86_64 users can simply run a 32-bit version of Firefox, and that the regular Flash player works fine there, I can somewhat understand Adobe's lack of urgency in doing a port, especially given the tiny number of prospective users to be satisfied by such work.

The GNU swf player has a laudable goal; if you want to unyoke yourself from reliance on a proprietary vendor whose priorities don't match your own, roll up your sleeves and join in.

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