The document summarizes the evolution of the Flash platform, including its origins, current state, and future directions. It discusses where Flash came from as a tool for digital art and experimentation. It then outlines the current Flash Player and related products like Flex and AIR. Finally, it explores Adobe's open sourcing of various Flash technologies and projects aimed at expanding Flash across devices and platforms.

1. THE EVOLUTION OF THE FLASH PLATFORM
Peter Elst | Flash Platform Consultant

2. What will we be talking about?
What is the Flash Platform?
Where did we come from?
Where are we now?
Flash myths
Where are we going?

3. What is the Flash Platform?
The Flash Platform is a set of products and services leveraging
the Adobe Flash Player that target the web, desktop, mobile and
devices.
- Peter Elst, May 2008

4. Where did we come from?

6. Timeline, timeline, timeline

7. The Skip Intro Phenomena

8. Rich Inter[net|active] Applications
RIA white paper by Jeremy Allaire, Macromedia - 2002

9. Digital Art & Experimentation
Erik Natzke, Joshua Davis, Rob Hodgin, Jared Tarbell

12. Where are we now?

13. Flash Player 9 / ActionScript 3.0
API consistency, everything is a class
DisplayList API
ECMAScript for XML (E4X)
DOM3 event model
Runtime errors
Namespaces
Binary sockets, ByteArray
Reflection API
…

14. Flash CS3

15. Flex Builder 3

16. Adobe Integrated Runtime
AIR is a free cross operating system runtime that runs on PC,
Mac and Linux and allows developers to build native desktop
applications using web technologies such as HTML, JavaScript,
Flash and Flex
Applications can be built entirely in HTML and JavaScript
Adds filesystem access, local database support, drag 'n drop,
windowing, icons, notifications,…
http://www.adobe.com/products/air/

17. Flash Lite 3
Latest version of the Flash Player for mobile
Comes with all recent S60 and other devices
Supports video streaming, ActionScript 2.0 syntax
http://www.adobe.com/products/flashlite/

18. Flash Media Server 3
Streams live and on demand video content to the Flash Player
Supports streaming to mobile devices
Flash Media Streaming Server vs Flash Media Interactive Server
http://www.adobe.com/products/flashmediastreaming/
http://www.adobe.com/products/flashmediainteractive/

19. DRM?!#
Adobe is taking its first steps supporting DRM in the Flash
Player and AIR
Flash Media Rights Management Server encrypts streams from
the Flash Media Server
SWF verification is a way to verify that the SWF file has not been
tampered with

20. Papervision3D

21. FC64

22. Flash Myths

23. Flash and search engines
Myth: Flash content can't be indexed by search engines
Google and other search engines implement the Adobe Search
Engine SDK which allows indexing static text within an SWF
Let's give that a try!
Adobe is talking to Google and others to bring 'context' into
these search results

24. Flash and deep linking
Myth: Flash can't do any deep linking or support browser button
navigation
Flash, Flex support basic implementations of browser button
support and deep linking in the latest releases
SWFAdress is a community initiative that takes this a lot further
http://www.asual.com/swfaddress/

25. Embedding Flash
Myth: Flash can't be embedded as valid XHTML
There are a number of solutions available using JavaScript to embed
Flash content
The most popular project is SWFObject, a lightweight JavaScript
library that you use to write Flash content out to a div in your HTML
SWFObject does Flash Player detection and can display alternative
content, making it ideal for SEO
http://code.google.com/p/swfobject/

26. AIR versus Silverlight
Myth: comparing the Adobe Integrated Runtime and Microsoft Silverlight
AIR is a cross operating system runtime that allows developers to create
desktop applications using web technologies, Microsoft Silverlight is a
browser plugin
It does not make sense to compare the two -- Silverlight versus Flash is a
better comparison

27. Where are we going?

28. Open Source and Adobe

29. labs.adobe.com

30. Tamarin
Tamarin is the virtual machine used in Flash Player 9 to render
ActionScript 3.0
The code was donated to the Mozilla Foundation on November
7th 2006 and is to be used as the ECMAScript/JavaScript
engine in a future release of the Firefox browser
http://www.mozilla.org/projects/tamarin/

31. Tamarin Tracing
Tamarin Tracing is a virtual machine aimed at constrained
environments (read mobile and devices)
Allows a full ECMAScript / ActionScript 3.0 engine to run on
devices with limited resources
http://wiki.mozilla.org/Tamarin:Tracing

32. Flex SDK
The Flex SDK was released as open source on April 26th 2007
There is a public bug base shared with the engineering team, you
can vote on bugs and influence priority
http://bugs.adobe.com/flex/
Nightly builds of the Flex SDK are available

33. BlazeDS / AMF
BlazeDS and the AMF format have been open sourced on
December 12th 2007
Provides developers with a lightweight version of Livecycle Data
Services, providing integration with a Java backend and pushing
data to Flash clients
http://opensource.adobe.com/wiki/display/blazeds/BlazeDS

34. Open Screen Project
Partnership with various manufacturers and content providers,
including: Cisco, Intel, BBC, MTV, Sony Ericsson, Nokia, …
announced on May 1st 2008
The goal is to bring the Flash Player and AIR runtime across desktop,
mobile and devices in a unified platform with over the air updates
What does that mean?
- No more license restrictions on the Flash Player, FLV
- Anyone can develop their own Flash Player
- No more license fees for embedding the Flash Player

35. Flash quot;Nextquot;
The next version of the Flash authoring environment was shown
at the MAX conference in Chicago
Focus of this product cycle is expressiveness

37. XFL
FLA files have historically always been in a binary format
XFL is a zip based format that contains all project assets and an
XML document that describes the layout
Adobe products will output to XFL and Flash will be able to
bring that in and build its project file from that

38. Pixel Bender
Previously known as project Hydra
Pixel shader language that creates effects for Flash, Photoshop,
After Effects, etc.
Everyone will now be able to easily write their own lightweight
filters and use them across products
http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/flashplayer10/demos/pixelbender/

39. Pacifica
Pacifica is a service that allows you to integrate high quality
VOIP, messaging and presence in your Flash, Flex and AIR
applications
Based on the SIP protocol and allows P2P communication after
the connection is set up through their server
http://pac.ifica.net

41. Buzzword

42. Photoshop Express

43. Flash / C++
Experimental research project by Scott Petersen
Cross compiles C and C++ code into ActionScript bytecode
Simulates multi-threading in the Flash Player
http://blog.digitalbackcountry.com/?p=1095

45. Thermo
Thermo is a product aimed at visual and interaction designer to
prototype Flex applications that can then be handed over to a
development team while maintaining the integrity of the design
Attempts to solve issues with the designer / developer workflow
http://labs.adobe.com/wiki/index.php/Thermo

47. Resources
www.peterelst.com
skipintro.blip.tv
labs.adobe.com
opensource.adobe.com
adobe.com/devnet
feeds.adobe.com

48. Get in touch!
Peter Elst
Flash Platform Consultant
Email: info@peterelst.com
Twitter: peterelst
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/peterelst
Feel free to grab a business card, buy me a beer and/or get in
touch with your questions, comments, feedback!