switching from i386 to amd64

[Polytropon]

On Sun, 16 Dec 2012 13:05:47 +0100, Ralf Mardorf wrote:
> On Sun, 2012-12-16 at 18:45 +0700, Erich Dollansky wrote:
> > flash
> 
> For Linux there are no issues with the proprietary 64 bit flash, but
> there will be no new versions of Flash any more for Linux. If FreeBSD
> should use the Linux version, than Flash in the near future either way
> won't work any more.

That shouldn't be _that_ complicated, as "Flash" is going to
be extinct soon (primarily to the lack of it on mobile devices
with their growing "market share"). HTML5 will take over the
world instead. :-)



> IIRC Flash only is needed by some browsers and only
> for videos that e.g. start with an advertising and special tasks like
> that.

Oh, if it would be that simple... :-(

Sadly, for some developers, "Flash" has gotten a replacement for
HTML. They design their whole pages _inside_ "Flash", so if you
don't have it installed, you get an empty page. Their excuse is
"interactivity".

Still more and more online games (those you can play in the web
browser) migrate to HTML 5 technology which offers good support
on many platforms (and not only on the latest "Windows").

And if you're using Firefox, there are plugins available that
allow you to download video content instead of dealing with the
"Flash" player the site wants you to use. This also encourages
the idea of wathcing such content offline with your favourite
player, which is mplayer. :-)



> I'm not sure, but AFAIR HTML 5 can replace Flash, assumed a video
> doesn't start with an advertising and things like that.

It already does this in more and more locations. Regarding video,
there's still the problem created by patent lawyers and other
strange guys: the coded. HTML 5 can support many formats for
video content, even free formats (that do not require anyone to
pay royalties in order to use it), but in how far those are already
distributed among browsers and systems, that's a totally different
question.

However, the "out of the box experience" gets better. Soon the
functionality of "Flash" will be integrated per default in modern
web browsers. Just imagine how stupid it would be if I created a
web page that requires you to download a proprietary plugin (with
lots of security holes!) in order to see a PNG image, to see text
in green color, or to render text centered. Sounds idiotic? It is!
And it's mostly what applies to "Flash". :-)



> For Linux Adobe will continue providing security upgrades for 11.2 in
> the future, but that won't help, when websites expect newer versions.

Correct, so this is another good reason for finally dropping "Flash"
and move on to better alternatives.



Side note:

I've been experiencing working "Flash" for many years now without
any trouble on FreeBSD. Sometimes I wish it wouldn't work anymore.
It makes the web much more readable. :-)



-- 
Polytropon
Magdeburg, Germany
Happy FreeBSD user since 4.0
Andra moi ennepe, Mousa, ...