WHAT IS THE FLASH PLAYER FOR POCKET PC?

First, here's a link to download the Flash Player for Pocket PC. There are many people who are looking to dive in right away, so here it is: www.macromedia.com/software/flashplayer/pocketpc/download/.

A little background: There are currently over 450 million worldwide users of the Flash Player; it's one of the most downloaded pieces of software in history. It's the low-bandwidth, animation, web application super-scripting darling that has made the web more than static pages of content. Developers have built e-commerce sites, banks, MP3 players, animated series, TV commercials Flash has been used in some manner in pretty much anything that can display an image. Now with all the devices already here and on the horizon with rich color screens, and speedy processors, Flash has made its way into these new vessels of creativity.

Over the last few years Macromedia has worked hard to create SDKs (Software Development Kits) so hardware vendors and developers can deploy Flash to other platforms. Some of these other platforms, such as TV, gaming consoles, and more are covered later in this book. Also, Macromedia and Microsoft have formed a partnership to distribute the Flash Player with Windows XP and Embedded XP, so expect to see Flash running on many of the platforms Microsoft has its fingerprints on, from tablet PCs to Ultimate TV and the Xbox.

Windows XP Embedded is the componentized version of the leading desktop operating system enabling rapid development of the most reliable and fullfeatured connected devices. Based on the same binaries as Windows XP Professional, Windows XP Embedded enables embedded developers to individually select only the rich features they need for customized, reduced-footprint embedded devices. All the device drivers, peripherals, and applications you use on the desktop can easily run on such devices as: set top boxes, home gateways, information appliances, kiosk/gaming consoles, network attached storage, and retail point-of-sale terminals.

Part of Macromedia's Flash Player offering has been the Flash Player for Pocket PC. Basically, the Flash Player for Pocket PC installs to a Pocket PC and behaves just as any other ActiveX control or plug-in. Later in this chapter we'll get to the specifics of what the Flash Player can and can't do, but for now, let's discuss why a designer or developer would want to use the Flash for Pocket PC.