Flash for Linux -- It's Not for Users [LWN.net]

Flash for Linux -- It's Not for Users

Posted Feb 16, 2007 14:23 UTC (Fri) by khim (subscriber, #9252)
In reply to: Flash for Linux -- It's Not for Users by wookey
Parent article: Flash for Linux -- It's Not for Designers (internetnews.com)

Isn't that rather sidestepping the question - why did google and youtube choose it?

Google Video used modified version of VLC initially. They switched to Flash later. And the reason is obvious: Flash is already installed on millions of desktops, any other plugin must be installed manually. End of story. Flash won.

The fate of any other player will be the same. Of course it can be good idea to offer something other as "premium" content (better quality, for example), but here the patents are big problem...

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Flash for Linux -- It's Not for Users

Posted Feb 16, 2007 17:57 UTC (Fri) by endecotp (guest, #36428) [Link]

> Flash is already installed on millions of desktops, any other plugin
> must be installed manually.

I feared that this was the case but wasn't sure.

Perhaps if Mozilla could be persuaded to ship with MPEG support built in, that would help a bit. Are there any major technical, legal or other obstacles to that?

Flash for Linux -- It's Not for Users

Posted Feb 20, 2007 1:07 UTC (Tue) by jamesh (subscriber, #1159) [Link]

Well, MPEG is heavily patented in a number of regions. So Mozilla.org would either have to risk being sued or pay a per-unit royalty for each browser they distribute. Not really feasible.