26 replies to this topic

[chrissy72]

Did I hold my wrists wrong when I did it?

Too funny TomK!
Thanks guys, I was trying to find the right links to help and keep the thread bumped hoping one of you would be able to help Vijay with the correct advise.

[terry1966]

to be honest chrissy i think your and pilates links gave all the info requested about both anyway.

[vijay.gupta]

That's correct Terry. I was just late in replying to the thread as I did not receive the notification of the replies on my mail id. Thanks all for such a wonderful information. Hey Terry, there is one confusion, you said: Flash costs about $400. Flash is an open-source format Did you mean to say that Flash Professional CS5 using which flash files/content is created worth $400 but then how can flash be open source when license for that is being given in $400? Sorry for too back and forth on this...

[Doug]

it's like everything else to do with software,
the coding you use to write the program in the first place decides what player(shockwave or flash in this case) the user is going to need to play/watch it on their pc's.

Flash files load more quickly than Shockwave files.
Shockwave is more versatile. You can create more complex games, more elaborate interactivity and more detailed animation.
You can use more types of files with Shockwave. You could, for example, import a Flash file into a Shockwave movie, but it doesn't work the other way around.
Flash is more universal. More than 90 percent of Web users have the Flash plug-in installed, while a little less than 60 percent have the Shockwave plug-in.
Flash creation software is cheaper. Director costs a little less than $1,000, while Flash costs about $400.
Flash is an open-source format. Anybody can see how it works and is free to adapt it for their own purposes. Director uses a compiled file format, so it is extremely difficult to modify the program.

http://www.howstuffw...-animation6.htm
http://www.askdaveta..._shockwave.html

"Creating" media content, and "viewing" the final created product, are vastly different activities.

A company that I work for, uses a $10,000 three dimensional modeling utility with which solid items can be designed in technical format to be sent to factories for manufacture.
Heck, it even costs $1200 annually for the maintenance subscription just to keep up with the utility's updates and service plan.

But once a product design has been completed, the image can be sent to customers along with a "free viewer", for customers to review prior to purchase of the product item.
_________________

Think in another venue... Motion pictures which cost millions of dollars to film and produce, can be viewed by anyone with a Television, or anyone with a computer that has MS MediaPlayer or other "open source" media player such as VLC media player.

[vijay.gupta]

Thanks for wonderful analogy Doug. I got that but I did not get the meaning of flash having open-source format? Does open source format means that it can be viewed by any software that is freely available? We can say any format open source only if it can be viewed/used by software that is freely available. Am I correct? Open Source format content can be created by any software that is paid just like flash. Am I correct? OPen Source does not control whether the creation software is free or not just in this case?

[Doug]

We can say any format open source only if it can be viewed/used by software that is freely available. Am I correct?

No.

"open source" refers to software for which the original source code is made freely available and may be redistributed with or without modification.

http://www.google.co...lient=firefox-a

The "opposite" of open source is "proprietary"; meaning that the code source of the software is not allowed to be changed nor even known by users and competitors.

If a user of a "proprietary" software application were to ask the question: "How does your software make that (the function) happen?"
The answer would be: "Sorry. That's a trade secret which you are not allowed to know."
Even if the user/asker was to be persistent and tried to discover how the software worked, (for instance, by reverse engineering), the person would still be prevented from using the code source information, and might in many cases be in violation of copyright protection law.

If a user of "open source" software application were to ask the question: "how does your software make that (the function) happen?"
The answer would be: "Sure. No problem. You can view the source code and even make changes to improve how you use it for yourself, and even might be allowed to have the changes included in future distributions of the software, if the change was good enough or popular enough that others wished to use it too."
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My prior examples were about the issue of some application programs (whether open source or proprietary) being available at no cost, and some costing money.

Movies are expensive to make. Some products and procedures in the making of a movie are commonly known, such as use of cameras, microphones, film, digital image insertion, voice dubbing, and the like. But other products and procedures may be proprietary. A stunt-man may have perfected a trick, but keeps it secret (proprietary) so that others cannot easily do the trick. Film is film, but some brand-name film may be exceptionally good for recording action scenes or close-ups. If a brand-name film is better in some way, they will most likely keep that feature as "proprietary" (secret) so that they insure that users will buy and recommend their product.

Some "proprietary" software is released at no cost (free).
The technical drawing/modeling software that I referred to early, used by my company, is very expensive to use.
But we and the software company want as many people to "see" the product images, so even though it remains a secret (proprietary) it is given to customers for free.

Both "proprietary" and "open-source" softwares are designed to be used by creative people to produce products or serve a purpose.
Both are designed so that the using public is able to view and enjoy the product or service, usually for free.

Software can be:

Free and not a secret -- Open Source
Cost money and not a secret -- Open Source

Free but a secret -- Proprietary
Cost money and a secret -- Proprietary

[vijay.gupta]

Then, how can flash be open source? Is the source code for flash freely available?

[Doug]

Flash Player is available at no cost, but is owned by Adobe Systems, Inc. Flash products (code for SWF file videos) were given to the general public, by Adobe Systems back in 1998. Since then, Adobe has developed other Flash variations, some of which have been openly disclosed, but have restrictions on how they can be used. Adobe Systems can place limitation on how Flash Audio and Flash Video are used. Adobe Systems, Inc. also charges money for people who wish to use Flash Creator to make new videos or sound tracks. There are serious arguments presently occurring, which contend that we (computer and internet users) should have a completely open-source software for handling video and audio. Until that argument is resolved, we are stuck with Adobe Flash and other proprietary systems, and maybe a few softwares that are already open-source, but I don't know of any.

[vijay.gupta]

Yes. But that does not make flash open source?

[Doug]

A truly Open Source software would be governed by the rules of Creative Commons.

Can I use it? Yes, use it for whatever you like.
Will you show me how it works? Yes, you can see the source code which is posted to the public.
Can I change it? Yes, change it however you like.

Open source and proprietary software are not always neatly sorted in black and white.
There are shades of gray.

Example of gray:

Can I use it? Yes, but you have to follow our rules.
Will you show me how it works? Yes, but you cannot change it.
Does it cost money? No. But some features that may be developed in the future may cost money, whether or not we tell you how it works.
________________________

All "Why Questions" have an answer.
The answer is "Because..."

Sometimes the "Because..." is absolute. as in: "Because it must follow the rules of mathematics and physics."
Sometimes the "Because..." is arbitrary. as in: "Because it is the right thing to do."
Sometimes the "Because..." is based on Rules. as in: "Because we made a rule... You can use our software, but you have to follow our rules."

to learn more about Open Source and the Creative Commons, please read: http://creativecommons.org/

[terry1966]

nice answers doug. yes flash is open source and you don't even need adobe flash player to view it any more if you don't want to use it, there are other players around or being worked on.

[vijay.gupta]

Thanks all for explaining this as I was thinking of it as black and white only and not thinking it as gray