flash releases update, changes prices, and the update process

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flash releases update, changes prices, and the update process

posted @ Tuesday, December 04, 2007 3:29 PM | 11 Comments

"Competition is dropping prices, increasing quality and making everyone’s internet a better place." (ryan stewart)

flash just did an update to the flash player. i believe (according to their site) this takes it to v9.0.115.0 (at least for IE on windows). what's included in this update? primarily H.264 encoding support in the player. this has been in beta for a while, but now 'official' from adobe. the second announcement involves their (adobe) pricing/licensing changes around flash media server products, something that has been somewhat criticized for a while as cost-prohibitive. the new pricing looks like a real aggressive price drop based on their own admissions.

looks like they listened. part reaction to competitive heat? maybe, but as noted above...competition helps end consumers and forces all vendors to think different, increase quality and make it better for us (consumers). i agree.

i went to the flash site to check out the new features after reading the press release. since i didn't have the new version of the plugin i thought what a perfect opportunity to see this upgrade experience. i'm using IE7 on windows vista. my first thing i see is

great, i know i need it and this links to me an 'express install' which i presume is like an inplace installer similar to silverlight's options. i click it.

maybe redundant to some (the original flash movie already alerted me to that), it confirms that i want to install that upgrade. i do, click yes.

at this point i'm presented with this (although a new instance of IE is also opened up as well). ok, fine i close the browser and now have the ability to check it out as i see a 'Launch' button now. however, in IE when i click it i get a javascript (null) error and am unable to launch the popups. seems we all still haven't solved the 'get around the popup blocker problem.' -- out of curiosity i load firefox now and see what i get...here's the first screen (after going to the same page):

ok, i thought i already did that (common user question), but being a techie i know that some plugins load differently in each browser, i (as a techie) can accept that...i click download.

i'm taken to here to accept the EULA and download. hey, what happened to 'express install'?

downloaded .exe and done, open it up.

oops, need to close FF before i do that...okay, closed and then installed.

again, out of curiosity i go to my mac. i'm presented again with a different experience, requiring me to download a .zip file which contains a .dmg and also asks me for what type of mac i have (intel or PPC -- is that a mother-in-law proof question? -- i know silverlight does this check for you). i didn't take screenshots of that upgrade, but it looks identical to this screencast i did of a pure flash install (yes, the upgrade process took the exact same steps).

my point here is to NOT say 'adobe sucks' because of their install process. my point is that install/upgrade processes aren't as simple as we all make them out to be. especially in browserville. there are different platforms, versions, browsers, etc., etc. mike downey (a pm with adobe) had commented on the silverlight install experience being somewhat cumbersome (on a mac). it isn't ideal, but that doesn't mean that it doesn't match existing experiences (for the mac). even given that in IE on windows i was presented with an express install option, but in firefox i wasn't, means there are some things that adobe considers too when creating an install experience.

my point -- it isn't as simple as it looks with all the platforms out there. my intention isn't so say "see, told you so" -- but rather to point out the similarities and perhaps parity in those experiences. sure, flash has huge penetration, but does their latest update? i think there are probably other ways of upgrading the plugin, but i went to the source vendor page and this is how they are doing it, presumably prescribed guidance.

i'm eager to see the first sites who really take advantage of the H.264 encoding (not youtube style, but pushing the edge).

Comments

Bill Reiss

12/4/2007 4:09 PM | # re: flash releases update, changes prices, and the update process

Umm didn't you mean to say "my point here is NOT to say 'adobe sucks' because of their install process?"
timheuer

12/4/2007 4:40 PM | # re: flash releases update, changes prices, and the update process

bill: yes thanks for proof reading for me -- corrected
Jack Bond

12/4/2007 6:18 PM | # re: flash releases update, changes prices, and the update process

Let me save you the trouble, "Adobe sucks." I started praying for their destruction when they sued you over your XPS/PDF plugin. What made it really repugnant was when they fell back on the lame, 'Microsoft giving it way is bad for consumers' nonsense.

P.S. It wouldn't hurt to increase the width of this text area, especially since it is contained in a significantly wider div.
Ben Hayat

12/4/2007 6:48 PM | # re: flash releases update, changes prices, and the update process

Hey Tim;
I have a request that's a bit off topic but I thought I ask.
I'm beginning to beat the drum and try to educate some prospect about Sl power and capabilities and why we should use it for future development.
Currently, for some reason, it seems like everyone wants their Web apps developed in Flash. My request is, can someone from MSFT put a paper together that outlines why SL is and will be more superior than Flash? This way, every developer doesn't have to come up with his own stories why Sl is better than Flash!

What do you think?

..Ben
timheuer

12/4/2007 7:42 PM | # re: flash releases update, changes prices, and the update process

jack: it would be pretty hard to convince me that adobe sucks. PDF? arguably their biggest success. But even as a developer and wannabe graphic dude, i can't argue with the success (and defacto standard) of photoshop and illustrator. while i don't think i can find my way around illustrator well, photoshop is my friend. i've heard nothing but good things about their pro products like lightroom and premiere, although i have no experience. looking at their product catalog, they are growing to a size of company with offering spanning so much that they are going to come under the same 'you suck' fire that others do. i'm sure some of their things aren't the best just as some of microsoft's aren't the best. i'm hoping competition drives down prices for photoshop ;-)
Ian Easson

12/5/2007 6:56 AM | # re: flash releases update, changes prices, and the update process

I have to say one thing in defense of their new version.. IT ACTUALLY INSTALLS! I have been without Flash since I reinstalled Vista a month or so back. If you go to the Flash forum, you will see that many people complain that Flash won't install, and that all the knowledge base articules about how to troubleshoot this don't help. Well, I went to install the new version, and it actually installed! Amazing!
Bart Czernicki

12/5/2007 1:40 PM | # re: flash releases update, changes prices, and the update process

Well at least they are not pushing the IE Toolbar with the update like with Adobe Reader :)
Ambivalence

12/5/2007 3:03 PM | # re: flash releases update, changes prices, and the update process

I'll be happy when Silverlight also runs correctly under vista.... It's gone to the back burner since no amount of coaxing can get it to run for me under vista/ie7.
timheuer

12/5/2007 3:10 PM | # re: flash releases update, changes prices, and the update process

ambivalence: it doesn't work for you? that's only what i've run it on! do you have UAC turned on in vista? does silverlight not even install.
Ambivalence

12/6/2007 5:38 PM | # re: flash releases update, changes prices, and the update process

I had 1.0 installed.. no beta versions. It always reported that it wasnt installed and needed to be. So i uninstalled it, and put in 1.1, same difference. Except now it says i am running a newer version. So i just uninstalled 1.1, and went back to 1.0. I always get the "Get Silverlight" banner, and reinstall ad neauseum but never get past that. I have restored my machine back to factory at least once. UAC is on, when i've turned it off, IE flakes out completely. I've run IE as an admin, and that helps Flash run always, instead of just "sometimes". I bought this laptop with vista as i thought it would be the best platform to play around with XAML stuff... I've never gotten around to XAML as of yet... and i've come to despise vista. I have gone through the registry looking for problem keys that i've seen reported but no dice.
Bob Pomeroy

1/14/2008 10:08 AM | # re: flash releases update, changes prices, and the update process

Ambivalence:
Switching between Silverlight 1.0 and the 1.1 alpha can definitely lead to problems (one is an alpha and there are some shared files).

If you uninstall, reboot the machine (to make sure the PendingFileRenameOperations reg key isn't going to bite you later) and then reinstall Silverlight 1.0 it *should* work.

If it still doesn't work at that point, check the ACL on your HKCR key - something out there strips the ACL from HKCR (which is bad) and Silverlight won't work right if you install on a machine with no HKCR ACL.