Flash Lite 3

[silver7x]

Is there a version of flash i should be using with the 6.1 build? Sorry i am pretty new to this, and the only post i found was from oct. of last year. Has anything changed since?
Thank you

[marm0lade]

Flash is not required for windows mobile, so its not a question of should you, its personal preference. The latest version of Flash lite is 2.1, which is pretty old. Flash lite 3 is out, but not available for windows, and unfortunately it doesn't look like adobe will be releasing it for windows mobile.

[silver7x]

thanks ... thats what i have been reading, but i guess i was hoping i was wrong

[GSLEON3]

Nope, I've had & posted several of my communications with the folks at adobe. They are NOT planning on a windows mobile release. I wonder if that has anything with the fact that MS is developing a rival technology, hmm?

[the_passenger]

forget about flash lite 3. We'll be using SilverLight mobile soon ;)

[GSLEON3]

forget about flash lite 3. We'll be using SilverLight mobile soon ;)

That was what was I referencing...However, this is MS so I think "Soon" can be taken out of the equation. Think "Deepfish", could've just named that one "Deep Sixed".

[mazdarati220]

i found the macromedia flah player on their site for windows mobile.. its even allowing youtube vids to come thru like pc.. it move slow at time, but i have many programs running on my tilt

gary

[neilson]

i found the macromedia flah player on their site for windows mobile.. its even allowing youtube vids to come thru like pc.. it move slow at time, but i have many programs running on my tilt

gary
http://www.news.com/8301-13579_3-9894639-37.html

March 16, 2008 9:01 PM PDT
Microsoft to license Adobe's Flash Lite
Posted by Tom Krazit | 6 comments

Even though it has plans to release a competing technology, Microsoft has agreed to license Adobe's Flash Lite technology for its Windows Mobile operating system and browser.

The two companies are expected to announce Monday that Microsoft has signed a license to use Flash Lite and Reader LE in future Windows Mobile handsets as plug-ins for Internet Explorer Mobile. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, such as what the companies plan to do when Microsoft releases Silverlight for Mobile, a competing technology.

Flash Lite is a stripped-down version of the ubiquitous Flash video player that allows mobile handsets to view Web sites created with the Flash technology. Think of Flash Lite as a slightly older version of Flash; the most current version of Flash Lite can't properly display Web sites created with the newest version of Flash, Flash 9, but it works with sites created using older versions of the technology.

As smartphones become more and more common, people are starting to get fed up with the basic Web surfing experience offered by many phones. They want something that looks more like a PC experience, with rich graphics and video. But that's hard to duplicate on a device with a smaller screen, less memory, a slower processor, and battery life requirements.

Enter Flash Lite. "Past technologies have failed trying to get into mobile by cramming a desktop experience into a mobile device," said Anup Murkaka, director of technical marketing for mobile and devices at Adobe. "The technology has to bend to the use cases, rather than the use cases bending to the technology."

Microsoft's Derek Snyder agreed. "One of the hallmark experiences on any smartphone is the Web browsing experience," said Snyder, a product manager with Microsoft's mobile-communications business. Strengthening that experience, as well as adding support for PDF documents through the Reader LE license, was the motivation for Microsoft to make the deal, he said.

Flash Lite has several limitations compared with regular Flash, beyond the inability to support much of Flash 9. Apple CEO Steve Jobs rather emphatically declared his disdain for Flash Lite at Apple's annual shareholder meeting, saying Flash Lite was "not capable of being used with the Web." Murkaka declined to comment specifically on Jobs' put-down, but noted that Flash Lite ships on 500 million mobile devices.

He did acknowledge that developers using Adobe's Flex tools can't build Flash Lite Web pages, although the newer CS3 suite of tools does support Flash Lite.

But one huge advantage of Flash Lite is that it's currently available for mobile devices. Microsoft's Silverlight for Mobile is not.

Silverlight is Microsoft's attempt to rein in on Adobe's position in the Web development market with Flash. Microsoft is fighting an uphill battle, though, in trying to get Web developers to build sites using its technology as opposed to Adobe's.

Earlier this month Microsoft said it wouldn't have a mobile version of Silverlight out until later this year. A technical preview is expected to arrive in the second quarter, but no other details have been released. Snyder declined to elaborate on the time frame for a production version of Silverlight for Mobile.

With Microsoft's Windows Mobile team now having to meet a surge in demand for Web-friendly mobile phones, led by the iPhone, licensing Flash Lite makes sense as a "for now" solution, at least until the company's own dog food is ready. The iPhone has been able to capture mobile Web surfers without any support for Flash technologies, something that other mobile devices running IE Mobile or Opera's mobile browser will likely try to exploit later this year.

Eventually, Microsoft expects to support both Flash Lite and Silverlight on its Windows Mobile handsets. "Flash is, for a lot of people, something they've already invested in," Snyder said. Having support for the incumbent while it tries to get Web developers on the Silverlight team makes sense; "it's good to have both," he said.

[vpoet]

Thank you for the scoop, neilson.

[the_passenger]

so, are we expecting WM7's interface will be Flashlite 3 based ?

[DaveShaw]

WM7 will more likley WPF (silverlight) based. Everything M$ .net looks to be going this way (for now). :)

Ta,
Dave

[duswdav]

Flash is not required for windows mobile, so its not a question of should you, its personal preference. The latest version of Flash lite is 2.1, which is pretty old. Flash lite 3 is out, but not available for windows, and unfortunately it doesn't look like adobe will be releasing it for windows mobile.

according to engadget and a couple other sites m$ licensed adobe for flash lite
woo hoo right.

[Noonski]

according to engadget and a couple other sites m$ licensed adobe for flash lite
woo hoo right.

Not directly.

They licensed the Flash Lite 3 Browser Plug In ;)

The old flash 7 Plug in is still available somewwhere.

[nick0]

On Skysports website the scorecenter is setup that you need a flash player so is there any way round it?.

Nick

[AllTheWay]

On Skysports website the scorecenter is setup that you need a flash player so is there any way round it?.

Nick

Use either Opera 8.65 or NetFront 3.5