Adobe Flash Player

The Adobe Flash Player is software for viewing animations and movies using computer programs such as a web browser. Flash player is a widely distributed proprietary multimedia and application player created by Macromedia and now developed and distributed by Adobe after its acquisition. Flash Player runs SWF files that can be created by the Adobe Flash authoring tool, by Adobe Flex or by a number of other Macromedia and third party tools.

Adobe Flash, or simply Flash, refers to both a multimedia authoring program and the Adobe Flash Player, written and distributed by Adobe, that uses vector and raster graphics, a native scripting language called ActionScript and bidirectional streaming of video and audio. Strictly speaking, Adobe 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. Since its inception, ActionScript has matured from a script syntax without variables to one that supports object-oriented code, and may now be compared in capability to JavaScript (another ECMAScript-based scripting language).

The Flash Player was originally designed to display 2-dimensional vector animation, but has since become suitable for creating rich Internet applications and streaming video and audio. It uses vector graphics to minimize file size and create files that save bandwidth and loading time. Flash is a common format for games, animations, and GUIs embedded into web pages.

The Flash Player is available as a plugin for recent versions of web browsers (such as Mozilla Firefox, Opera, Safari and Internet Explorer) on selected platforms. Adobe states that each version of the plugin is backwards-compatible, with the exception of security changes introduced in Version 10.

 

Supported platforms

The latest version of Flash Player, Version 10, is available for Windows (2000 and newer, Win9x no longer supported), Linux, Solaris and Mac OS X. Version 9 is the most recent official version currently available for the Linux/ARM-based Nokia 770/N800/N810 Internet Tablets running Maemo OS2008, classic Mac OS, Pocket PC and Windows 95/NT. HP offers Version 6 of the player for HP-UX. Other versions of the player have been available at some point for OS/2, Symbian OS, Palm OS, BeOS and IRIX. The Kodak Easyshare One includes Flash Play. The Flash Player SDK was used to develop its on-screen menus, which are rendered and displayed using the included Flash Player. Among other devices, LeapFrog Enterprises provides Flash Player with their Leapster Multimedia Learning System and extended the Flash Player with touch-screen support. Sony has integrated Flash Player 6 into the PlayStation Portable's web browser via firmware version 2.70 and Flash Player 9 into the PlayStation 3's web browser in firmware version 2.50. Nintendo has integrated Flash Lite 3.1, equivalent to Flash 8, in the Internet Channel on the Wii.

Adobe released an alpha version of Flash Player 10 for x86-64 Linux on the 17th November 2008. Adobe engineers have stated that 64-bit editions for all supported platforms are in development; alpha releases for Mac and Windows will come in future pre releases. Adobe said it will optimize Flash for use on ARM architecture (ARMv6 and ARMv7 architectures used in the ARM11 family and the Cortex-A series of processors) and release it in the second half of 2009. The company also stated it wants to enable Flash on NVIDIA Tegra, Texas Instruments OMAP 3 and Samsung ARMs. Beginning 2009, it was announced that Adobe would be bringing Flash to TV sets via Intel Media Processor CE 3100 before mid-2009. Later on, ARM Holdings said it welcomes the move of Flash, because "it will transform mobile applications and it removes the claim that the desktop controls the Internet." However, as of May 2009, the expected ARM/Linux netbook devices had poor support for Web video and fragmented software base.

Although SWF has recently become an open format again, Adobe has not been willing to make complete source code available for free software development. The source code for the ActionScript Virtual Machine has been released as a project named Tamarin under the terms of an MPL/GPL/LGPL tri-license. It includes the specification for the ActionScript byte code format. This project is jointly managed by Mozilla and Adobe. The full specification of the SWF format is available without restriction by Adobe. The free software players Gnash and Swfdec, are quite incomplete at this time, however since SWF is now an open format, it should have a much higher quality going forward as developers implement the official SWF specifications.

 

Mobile operating systems

Following table shows Flash Player support for mobile operating systems:

Mobile OS	Adobe Flash version
Windows Mobile	7
Symbian OS	Lite 3.1
iPhone OS	none
Palm WebOS	None
BlackBerry OS	None
PSP XMB	5
Android	10
Maemo	9

 

Internet Privacy/Persistent Identification Elements

Flash Player is an application that, while running on a computer that is connected to the Internet, is designed to contemporaneously interact with websites containing Flash content that are being visited online. As such, under certain configurations the application has the potential to silently compromise its users' Internet privacy, and do so without their knowledge. By default, Flash Player is configured to permit small, otherwise invisible "tracking" files, known as Persistent Identification Elements (PIEs) or Local Shared Object files, to be stored on the hard drive of a user's computer. Sent in the background over the Internet from websites to which a user is connected, these files work much the way "cookies" do with Internet browsers. When stored on a user's computer, PIE (.sol) files are capable of sending personally sensitive data back out over the Internet without the user's knowledge to one or more third parties. In addition, Flash Player is also capable of accessing and retrieving audio and video data from any microphone and/or webcams that might be either built in or connected to a user's computer and transmitting it in realtime over the Internet (also potentially without the user's knowledge) to one or more third parties.

While these capabilities can all be affirmatively blocked and/or disabled by the user, the Flash Player application does not provide an internally accessible "preferences" panel to accomplish this. Instead access to the various settings panels necessary to manage the application's "Privacy," "Storage," "Security," and "Notifications" settings can be achieved through a web-based "Settings Manager" page located on the "support" section of the Adobe.com website, or by third party tools (see Local Shared Object). Each of the functions can be enabled/disabled either "globally" to cover all websites, or set differently for individual websites depending on how the user desires Flash Player to be able to interact with each one.

Although Flash Control Panel Settings in theory allow users to protect their privacy, they should also be aware that suitably crafted Visual Basic Script or similar code can overwrite any user defined settings before the Flash Player Plug-in is called by a webpage.

In addition to cookies, many banks and other financial institutions also routinely install Persistent Identification Elements using Flash Player on users' hard drives when they establish and access their accounts, as do other interactive sites such as YouTube.

 

History

• Macromedia Flash Player 2 (1997)
• First version under Macromedia brand
• Mostly vectors and motion, some bitmaps, limited audio
• Support of stereo sound, enhanced bitmap integration, buttons, the Library, and the capability to tween color changes.
• Macromedia Flash Player 3 (1998)
• Added alpha transparency, licensed MP3 compression
• Brought improvements to animation, playback, and publishing, as well as the introduction of simple script commands for interactivity.
• As of 1998, Macromedia has shipped 100,000 Flash products.
• Macromedia Flash Player 4 (May 1999)
• Achieved 100 million installations of the Flash Player, thanks in part to its inclusion with Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.
• Saw the introduction of streaming MP3s and the Motion Tween. Initially, the Flash Player plug-in was not bundled with popular web browsers and users had to visit Macromedia website to download it; As of 2000, however, the Flash Player was already being distributed with all AOL, Netscape and Internet Explorer browsers. Two years later it shipped with all releases of Windows XP. The install-base of the Flash Player reached 92 percent of all Internet users.
• Macromedia Flash Player 5 (August 2000)
• A major leap forward in capability, with the evolution of Flash's scripting capabilities as released as ActionScript.
• Saw the ability to customize the authoring environment's interface.
• Macromedia Generator was the first initiative from Macromedia to separate design from content in Flash files. Generator 2.0 was released in April 2001 and featured real-time server-side generation of Flash content in its Enterprise Edition. Generator was discontinued in 2002 in favor of new technologies such as Flash Remoting, which allows for seamless transmission of data between the server and the client, and ColdFusion Server.
• In October 2000, usability guru Jakob Nielsen wrote a polemic article regarding usability of Flash content entitled "Flash 99% Bad". (Macromedia later hired Nielsen to help them improve Flash usability.)
• Macromedia Flash Player 6 (version 6.0.21.0, codenamed Exorcist) (March 2002)
• Support for the consuming Flash Remoting (AMF) and Web Service (SOAP)
• Supports ondemand/live audio and video streaming (RTMP)
• Support for screenreaders via Microsoft Active Accessibility
• Added Sorenson Spark video codec for Flash Video
• Support for video, application components, shared libraries, and accessibility.
• Macromedia Flash Communication Server MX, also released in 2002, allowed video to be streamed to Flash Player 6 (otherwise the video could be embedded into the Flash movie).
• Macromedia Flash Player 7 (version 7.0.14.0, codenamed Mojo) (September 2003)
• Supports progressive audio and video streaming (HTTP)
• Supports ActionScript 2.0, an Object-Oriented Programming Language for developers
• Ability to create charts, graphs and additional text effects with the new support for extensions (sold separately), high fidelity import of PDF and Adobe Illustrator 10 files, mobile and device development and a forms-based development environment. ActionScript 2.0 was also introduced, giving developers a formal Object-Oriented approach to ActionScript. V2 Components replaced Flash MX's components, being rewritten from the ground up to take advantage of ActionScript 2.0 and Object-Oriented principles.
• In 2004, the "Flash Platform" was introduced. This expanded Flash to more than the Flash authoring tool. Flex 1.0 and Breeze 1.0 were released, both of which utilized the Flash Player as a delivery method but relied on tools other than the Flash authoring program to create Flash applications and presentations. Flash Lite 1.1 was also released, enabling mobile phones to play Flash content.
• Macromedia Flash Player 8 (version 8.0.22.0, codenamed Maelstrom) (August 2005)
• Support for runtime loading of GIF and PNG images
• New video codec (On2 VP6)
• Improved runtime performance and runtime bitmap caching
• Live filters and blendmodes
• File upload and download capabilities
• New text-rendering engine, the Saffron Type System
• ExternalAPI subsystem introduced to replace fscommand()
• On December 3, 2005, Adobe Systems acquired Macromedia and its product portfolio (including Flash).
• Adobe Flash Player 9 (version 9.0.15.0, codenamed Zaphod) (June 2006) previously named Flash Player 8.5
• New ECMAScript scripting engine, ActionScript Virtual Machine AVM2. AVM1 retained for compatibility.
• Actionscript 3 via AVM2.
• E4X, which is a new approach to parsing XML.
• Support for binary sockets.
• Support for Regular Expressions and namespaces.
• ECMAScript 4 virtual machine donated to Mozilla Foundation and named Tamarin.
• Adobe Flash Player 9 Update 1 (version 9.0.28.0, codenamed Marvin) (November 2006)
• Support for full-screen mode.
• Adobe Flash Player 9 Update 2 (version Mac/Windows 9.0.47.0 and Linux 9.0.48.0, codenamed Hotblack) (July 2007)
• Security Update
• Adobe Flash Player 9 Update 3 (version 9.0.115.0, codenamed Moviestar or Frogstar) (December 2007)
• H.264
• AAC (HE-AAC, AAC Main Profile, and AAC-LC)
• New Flash Video file format F4V based on the ISO Base Media File Format (MPEG-4 Part 12)
• Support for container formats based on the ISO base media file format
• Adobe Flash Player 9 (version 9.0.124.0, codenamed Vogon) (April 2008)
• Critical security update
• Adobe Flash Player 9 (version 9.0.151.0) (November 2008)
• Critical security updates
• Adobe Flash Player 9 (version 9.0.159.0) (February 2009)
• Critical security updates
• Adobe Flash Player 9 (version 9.0.246.0) (July 2009)
• Critical security updates
• Adobe Flash Player 10 (version 10.0.12.36, codenamed Astro) (October 2008)
• New Features
• 3D object transformations
• Custom filters via Pixel Bender
• Advanced text support
• Speex audio codec
• Real Time Media Flow Protocol (RTMFP)
• Dynamic sound generation
• Vector data type
• Enhanced Features
• Larger bitmap support
• Graphics drawing API
• Context menu
• Hardware acceleration
• Anti-aliasing engine (Saffron 3.1)
• Read/write clipboard access
• WMODE
• Adobe Flash Player 10 (version 10.0.22.87, codenamed Nemo) (February 2009)
• Critical security updates
• Adobe Flash Player 10 (version 10.0.32.18, codenamed Squirt) (July 2009)
• Critical security updates
• Adobe Flash Player 10.1 beta (version 10.1.51.45) (November 2009)

Source : www.wikipedia.com