[thelist] Macromedia.com redesigned

[David.Cantrell at Gunter.AF.mil]

> > The (public) internet was established to connect different
> networks on
> > a common protocol and allow the easy and common sharing of
> information
> > and
> > ideas. Requiring users to have a proprietary (albeit free) plugin to
> > access even portions of that information is not only contrary to the
> > ideology of what the internet is, but also (as we have
> seen) alienates
> > a
> > proportion (however "small" it is) of the internet population.

<snip/>

> Clearing things up, the SWF  file format spec is freely
> available
><http://www.macromedia.com/software/flash/open/licensing/fileformat/>.
>
>Anyone can make an app that creates SWFs without paying any licensing fees.

Yeah, and anybody can use COM on any platform because it's an open spec too:

	http://www.microsoft.com/com/resources/comdocs.asp

But I don't hear anyone lauding Microsoft for being an "open" company...

Just because Macromedia publishes its specification for Flash doesn't mean
it's not proprietary -- the two are not mutually exclusive. And as anyone
who has been online or even used a computer for /any/ length of time knows,
once you hand the keys over to a company and let them drive, they will
inevitably take you down a road you didn't expect, just to run up the meter.

So we are perfectly justified in being skeptical of Macromedia. Not because
they are /evil/, but because they are /commercial/, and their job is to make
money. You make money by making people like your software. Failing that, you
make them dependent on it. The latter is usually easier than the former, and
that's why Microsoft is in the position it's in.

-dave