Thank you louishen.
That is appalling isn't it? Adobe then, has a monopoly on video content on the internet. Who knew?
Are you sure though? It seems unbelievable.
If you want to view Flash content, you need Flash. It's as simple as that. You can't view content in a format that doesn't exist on their servers. That said, there are some workarounds for some sites (such as using VLC to play YouTube clips).
The problem here isn't actually Adobe. In fact, Flash provides a method of viewing content that solves a lot of problems. Given that each browser supports different video codecs, Flash provides a simple cross platform and browser agnostic means of serving up content. It could be argued that Adobe has managed to make things easier for content distributors. Don't get me wrong - I hate Flash with a passion. That said, from a distributors point of view, it's great.
Actually, they don't. There are plenty of other codecs. It's just that the content you want to view was created with Flash. That's a decision the creator made, not a monopoly.
You have a choice, don't view the content.
Flash provides a method of viewing content that solves a lot of problems. Given that each browser supports different video codecs, Flash provides a simple cross platform and browser agnostic means of serving up content.
Yes but Flash content has to be viewed through a Flash player and while there are alternative Flash plugins, Adobe's is leagues ahead of those given that it is an Adobe technology. It's impossible not to use a plugin and in all honesty, if you need to view Flash content, the official plugin from Adobe is the best route to take.The reason I find it astonishing is that if I want to view a jpeg file, or an mpeg file, or a tiff or avi file, there are very many options as to what software I choose to view the content. But with flash content I am restricted to adobe software. Surely alternative methods of viewing the content directly have been developed. No?
Yes, but when video is uploaded to YouTube, it is transcoded as a Flash video. It doesn't matter what you upload since it's all converted anyway.I cannot accept your argument. What you are saying is that all the video content on youtube was created using flash and therefore I need flash to view the content. That is patently not true. producers of content for youtube use all manner of means to create video content, yet I can only view the material if i have flash installed on my machine. It doesn't make sense to me.
Now, you could use YouTube's HTML5 beta but that only supports a portion of their videos (this number grows by the day).
I cannot accept your argument. What you are saying is that all the video content on youtube was created using flash and therefore I need flash to view the content. That is patently not true. producers of content for youtube use all manner of means to create video content, yet I can only view the material if i have flash installed on my machine. It doesn't make sense to me.