Flash Player and Adobe Reader to combine

Great, so now launching a Flash app will take as long as launching Photoshop... a cornerstone of the Acrobat Reader.

Adobe is totally out to lunch on this one...another dumb idea along with activation, which has been a big pain to legit users since it was introduced.

Can you say bloatware?

And hopefully each time a flash movie loads it displays a large, obtrusive splash screen image. ;)

This is the best adobe can do. Just think about how many people have Flash Player installed, they all will get to know the name Adobe and they all will be able to view PDF's.

"We will build on that to create compelling customer solutions."

Yeah right. I think what Adobe's salesmen are really saying is this:"We will build on that to create compelling customer SALES".

The Fish Rots From the Head
http://daringfireball.net/2005/04/fish_head

In Adobe's defense, they've really sped up the load time in the Acrobat 7 plug-in. Haven't really tried it on my Mac (I prefer Apple's native support), but I no longer fear PDF links in Windows.

I like the idea behind this, but like others have said here, I am concerned that this will seriously slow down the loading time of the Flash player--not good.

I am officially scared now. If this is the first move, it makes you wonder that some people are sitting around in a room going - "I've got a great idea..." I thought part of Studio 8 was that flashpaper - a way to show documents without having to launch acrobat.

Check back with me in 3 months. We'll see how much damage has been done. I'm scared.

Y'know, i kinda doubt that rolling Flash into acrobat will make it load much slower than it does already. It already takes (it seems) a whole minute or more to load the reader -- what's an extra second or two for Flash (but, boy, what a multimedia document that will be, huh?)?

The big thing is if they decide to kill Flash as an independent player as it is now. THAT would be worth getting upset over. But I doubt Abobe's quite that stupid.

I don't think that you'll now have to load Reader when viewing a Flash site... I think it has more to do with integrating flash into pdfs. Still odd that Flash Paper gets no nod or mention.

In addition to Flash movies taking forever to load, pdf files will now have splash screens with skip intro links. And inconsistent animated buttons and scrollbars! Yay!

Who was the bright guy that said, "Hey, there are only two technologies on the internet that can bring a six-month-old PC to its knees... Let's combine them!"? I say shoot that man.

I wish Macromedia bought Adobe!

Hmm, I wonder if Adobe just shot themselves in the foot with this announcement vis-a-vis Microsoft Sparkle (aka Expressions), which I realize isn't currently meant to be a Flash competitor. I see two possibilities:

1) Adobe tries to integrate PDF into Flash, the plugin becomes enormous, people balk at downloading it, Adobe backtracks, and keeps the two apps separate (I don't see the PDF plugin becoming smaller, at least based on past experience).
2) Microsoft sees an opportunity to win over the Flash market, after several failed versions (typically true with MS), develops an excellent, fairly small plugin (2-3MB) that does what Flash can do and more, and splits the market, forcing designers like us to buy two apps - Flash and Sparkle, giving us more headaches to deal with.
I realize they're both worst case scenarios, but given Adobe's arrogance towards it's customers of late ... , I don't know. I should have been an engineer. So much saner.

Just when the Flash plugin begins to escape from under the Slowest/Most Crash-Prone Plugin Ever title, Adobe saddles it up with the heir to the throne.

Seems like everybody is afraid, I'm not really in fear about this. I believe that if the guys who kept the Flash Player small over the past few years are still in charge of adding PDF rendering to the Player (which can probably already be done with just actionscript), we will have a real winner here. If they really screw it up adobe-style, then we will all be doing more Ajax. Neither one of those scenarios is scary, just different.

I think worrying about the plugin loading speed is going about this the wrong way.

Honestly, I don't think there will be a plugin. You'll launch Reader once; it's your new web browser.

Welcome to Web 2.0, brought to you by Adobe.

Does this mean that we have to endure Flash banner ads in PDF documents?

What are they smoking over there?

From the FAQ:
"(including open standards such as PDF and SWF)"

Like, huh? Since when is SWF open? The license on the documentation of the SWF format states that you may not produce programs that display SWF, just tools that generate it. Now, the license was misplaced and you could get the spec without ever agreeing to or even seeing the license, but it's still not what I'd call open.

Update: Sorry, ambiguous phrasing in the first draft of that FAQ, currently under correction -- see David Mendel's weblog correction much earlier today:
http://www.flashant.org/index.php?p=483&c=1
http://weblogs.macromedia.com/jd/archives/2005/12/player_future.cfm

I'll escalate this internally, we need to get that text improved before more people draw the wrong conclusions from it, my apologies...!

Je me demande ce que le format PDF et Flash on vraiment en commun pour qu'on les joignent ensemble. Il me semble qu'il s'agit tout simplement d'une manoeuvre maladroite de la part d'Adobe pour prendre le dessus sur le très menaçant Sparkle de Microsoft

I don't think Adobe will bloat out the Flash plug-in, I think Adobe realizes that would be a mistake. Integrating Flash and Reader has advantages. Reader currently has cool stuff you can do with JavaScript, but ActionScript would be better. If there was an application like Reader that could have applications built on top with ActionScript and Flash components, now we are talking about a rich interface on a document or form that can have live data AND be printed. This is a win, and a direct competitor to Microsoft's ActiveForms or whatever they call it. Turning that around, if there was a subset of PDF where Adobe could shrink the size of Reader down to cell phone compatible size ( say FlashPaper in a whisper ) leveraging some of the Flash player code, that is a win. I don't see Adobe shoehorning the entire ( 70 MB ) Reader into something compact like the Flash player, but combinations of the technology deployed in an appropriate way could be very interesting, particularly for forms and data access with the result printable. Think converting Flash objects to PDF objects. Adobe traditionally was about documents and the workflow to create them and distribute them. I see Adobe treating a SWF as a document, or adding the interactivity of a SWF to a previously static document.

Three phrases should be among the most common in our daily usage. They

are: Thank you, I am grateful and I appreciate.

Hey, maybe Flash will even inherit some decent text formatting print rendering capabilities.

(Off topic)

Hey Todd, why the long silence?

Say, you wouldn't be planning a podcast over there, wouldja?

NO FREAKING WAY! FOR THE LOVE OF GOD NO! What happened to the power of flash being "light weight". I hate how long it takes to open a PDF on ......... well....... anything! Flash Paper gave a good alternative then opening a PDF in Acrobat Reader. I doubt they'd do this....they are too smart.......................right?

Okay I freaked out before, Please Read:

- What are Adobe's plans for Flash Player and Adobe Reader?
at: http://www.adobe.com/aboutadobe/invrelations/adobeandmacromedia_faq.html

I think it'll be okay cause it's a long term goal to make a universal client. It looks as though they plan on keeping it seperate for now (which is SMART!) Maybe they plan on using Flash Technology to help make Reader Lighter or something. I'm sure they getting info from FlashPaper.

Whew! That was a scary thought!

Seeing the Adobe logo on the Macromedia.com site gives a sense of finality that I was previously lacking.

My hope that the only effect this hosti... merger would have would be that flash get a decent timeline, ala after effects, is becoming more and more a pipedream.

Yes Virginia, there is a monopoly.

I think that it's a bad idea... Really it wild be launching too long.

This article here describes more on Adobe Apollo, the project this is named and how they plan to keep seperate versions of both apps around as well. Another article on the site mentions how Flash Paper will probably be intgrated with Acrobat as well.

http://labnol.blogspot.com/2005/12/adobe-apollo-acrobat-reader-flash.html

it would be great if some of you would actually read the FAQ before commenting.

"Our long-term plan is to develop a "universal client" by combining PDF, Flash and HTML in a single, integrated runtime. Of course, we will continue delivering the Flash Player as a small, efficient runtime for content and applications on the web, and Adobe Reader for viewing and interacting with PDF documents and forms. The integration of these technologies into a unified framework creates a ubiquitous platform that runs on virtually every device, and dramatically expands the opportunities to create compelling solutions."

Maybe its just me, but Adobe's corporate culture has taken on a very "microsoftian" flavor since Bruce Chizen has taken the helm...

Personally, the idea that one company will now control all of the sotware I use on a daily basis scares and depresses me. Competition breeds excellence. The most "compelling customer solutions" are created when companies compete. I don't feel like this is going to benefit me one bit. We now have ONE " suite " for design pros just like the biz world has office. Great.

Speaking of things that totally suck, what in the hell has happened to Adobe's web site? 1998 called and wants it conservative business site back. SHAMEFUL. Remember how good it looked when Hillmac Curtis and Co. were helping them? That was a different Adobe. Art was in their DNA. This is no longer the case I guess... Stuffed shirts and bean counters at Adobe are responsible for maintaining the corporate site apparenly.

I have mixed feelings about this, mostly negative. Though I'm still interested/worried/excited about what other kinds of things the Adobe and Macromedia marriage shall procure.

Also, this is my first time on your site, and I'm enjoying it thoroughly. Thanks!

I think that it’s a bad idea… Really it wild be launching too long.

Hmm I wonder if this means they will just be advancing the "flashpaper" app. They were getting pretty close in what they were able to do web wise. Hopefully the flash player will not be anywhere near of the size the acrobat reader is currently.

Microsoft's Expression Suite isn't going to require a plugin. These development tools were created with the intent to integrate with Visual Studio. I would expect to see these uses deployed in .NET, and I imagine the only requirements would be on the server and not the client end.

fyi, as a couple have noted, we have updated the FAQ to be clearer.

We are not combining the Flash Player and Acrobat reader plugins.

More info here:

http://weblogs.macromedia.com/mesh/archives/2005/12/flash_player_an.cfm

mike chambers

mchamber@adobe.com

How do I download flash player for my son? He has an AlienWare computer that did not come with flash player.

Appreciate any help available.

Thanks in advance.

Elizabeth, searching on "get flash player" will bring you right there.

("Alienware" makes hardware, and it looks like their computers ship with Microsoft Windows, which includes the Macromedia Flash Player. I'd still recommend going to the Macromedia site to get the current Player, though.)

jd/adobe

Elizabeth I can help you write on E-mail.

Thank you for sharing your slideshow script
I know this is the wrong place for this, but...
I just installed your slideshow in one of my sites and it works great. I tried using the following instructions to make a link but I do not have enough to understand it.
Can you post or email some xml samples of how to do this?
------
i wonder… how hard would it be to put in an ‘optional’ attribute on the XML image tag for something like a ‘link’ ?

Not hard at all, as others in this thread have pointed out. You could easily put a 'caption="text"' attribute in the xml nodes, create a variable for that text when the xml is parsed, and then apply the string to a text field.
-----
Thnak you

pgt

Ah, yes. Nothing like an out-of-context quote to spice up a weblog and stir some controversy. Between the lines "Our long-term plan is to develop a 'universal client'..." and "...[creating] a ubiquitous platform that runs on virtually every device..." is this important sentence: "Of course, we will continue delivering the Flash Player as a small, efficient runtime for content and applications on the web, and Adobe Reader for viewing and interacting with PDF documents and forms."

oops. someone beat me to it. sorry. After reading half the page I skipped down here to post and didn't see Chandler's item.

Nice job! At you the excellent site.

Very interesting site, beautiful design, thank.