35.6. The Flash Player Several applications now leverage the Flash Player, such as Macromedia Flash Media Server 2 for real-time audio and video communications, Macromedia Breeze for web conferencing and distance learning , Macromedia Captivate for software simulation creation, the Macromedia Flex Builder and Macromedia Zorn for web application development, as well as several third-party applications, such as Swift 3D (Electric Rain) and 3ds Max (Autodesk) for three-dimensional art, and Swish and Wildform for producing text effects and animations at a lower price point than Flash 8. The Flash Player, in addition, has now completely broken away from its roots as a web browser plug-in with several flavors to choose from. The Stand-Alone Flash Player has recently taken a big step with Macromedia Central harnessing it to combine the power of the Web with desktop applications. The Flash Player has also crossed over well into the world of handheld and mobile devices. There now exists not only the Flash Player for Pocket PCs, but the new Flash Lite and Macromedia FlashCast client-server solution for delivering rich data services to mobile phones. Flash is also available in a wide array of other consumer electronics, including set-top boxes, home control systems, toys, refrigerators, electronic keyboards, and many others. The best part is that all of these platforms can still be developed for, using the Flash authoring environment. To keep abreast of all these innovations, check Macromedia's web site at www.macromedia.com. You can search for any of the applications or players mentioned, and the site will direct you to several resources including forums, developer centers, download locations, and training. 35.6.1. Flash Player Versions Just as web browsing has moved from PCs to handhelds and now mobile phones, the Flash Player has morphed into new versions to support each of the different platforms. The Flash Players available currently are:
The Flash Player The standard player used with a web browser. At the time of this writing, the Flash 8 Player was the most current, supported by Internet Explorer, Safari, Netscape, Firefox, Mozilla, and Opera for PC, Mac, and Linux operating systems. For a closer look at the specific browser and player versions that are supported, check Macromedia's web site, www.macromedia.com/shockwave/download/alternates/.
The Stand-Alone Flash Player The player used for standalone Flash content. This player can interact with the computer's filesystem, though interaction is limited. This player does not require a web browser to view Flash content.
The Flash Player for Pocket PC The player used with Pocket PC 2002 and 2003. This player is supported by most current personal data assistants (PDAs) running Pocket Windows Explorer; it currently supports Flash 6.
Flash Lite The player used for mobile devices. The Flash Lite 1.0 player currently supports Flash 5 objects and Flash 4 ActionScript. Flash Lite 2.0 supports Flash Player 7 and ActionScript 2.0. For more information about Flash for mobile devices, see Macromedia's web site: www.macromedia.com/devnet/devices/. 35.6.2. Flash Power Tools The following is a brief overview of the different Power Tools that leverage the Flash Player as part of their solution. Each of these tools can be developed for using Flash MX 2004 or Flash MX Professional 2004.
Macromedia Flash Media Server 2 (www.macromedia.com/software/flashmediaserver/productinfo/features/) The Flash Media Server 2 allows Flash movies to have real-time streaming audio and video for collaboration, video on demand, and distance learning.
Macromedia Breeze (www.macromedia.com/software/flashcom/) Breeze harnesses the Flash Media Server 2 and Microsoft Power Point taking online training, marketing, sales, and web conferencing to a whole new level. After installing an add-on to the Flash 6 or 7 Players, users can share desktop applications and control the shared applications of other users over the Web.
Macromedia Flex (www.macromedia.com/software/flex/) Flex is a presentation server and a graphical user interface (known as the Flex Builder) for creating Rich Internet Applications following a standards-based programming methodology. The Flex Builder creates MXML, which can be read and displayed by a Flash movie. For example, an airport's arrival and departure system could benefit from Flex. The system itself could have a Flash frontend to allow for video advertisements and rich animations, but would require a robust backend with a lot of data communication with the frontend to handle the display of the flight information.
Macromedia Flash Central (www.macromedia.com/software/central/) Flash Central takes the power of web applications to the desktop by harnessing the Flash Player in its desktop client. Flash Central leverages AOL AIM and ICQ services for messaging and presence to create robust, cross-platform desktop applications.
Macromedia FlashCast (www.macromedia.com/software/flashcast/) FlashCast is a client-server solution that allows mobile devices to display rich data. FlashCast leverages the Flash Lite player and can be developed against using Flash MX Professional 2004. |
