I keep getting the error box saying that i need to download flash player and its not found. I have uninstalled all of the flash player and reinstalled it 3 times but still get this error message. I cant look at some of my pictures and other things. Can someone Please tell me what i can do./

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i need a flash micromedia player upgrade coz my pc wont let me veiw any videos or pics without 1 why is this happening?

hello i need the software micromedia flash 6
please send this

I have a table created in html which I am trying to put in a txt file so that it can appear in a swf

I am unable to make the table appear

I can make text appear with &txt= but no table

Is there some format to put it in so that FLASH will see it?

Thanks

Edited by author 12-05-2002 07:29 AM
Iggy: You acknowledge the fact of "many well documented security flaws and privacy invasions in apps used by millions worldwide," but then seem to suggest that Flash 6 should be exempt from discussion until a hack occurs.

If you are saying that a sound security policy for end users is to not talk about vulnerabilities until 9.11 has occured, I would respectfully disagree. (Macromedia documents Flash problems and vulnerabilities assiduously here and elsewhere.)

If you are saying a sound communications policy for hugely popular software companies is not to advise the world that a new, potentially invasive feature has been introduced in its most popular product, I suggest that this is not only imprudent, but raises ethical concerns.

I am not "picking on" Macromedia, and certainly don't intend to lump it in with pernicious virus and trojan horse manufacturers. But Macromedia's public communications strategy surrounding the new Flash 6 videoconferencing capability deserves scrutiny. If its behavior here doesn't differ from the way other major software companies behave toward their end users, that doesn't make it any less troubling.

tom, there are many well documented security flaws and privacy invasions in apps used by millions worldwide. so it is strange you pick on the mx player. i share some of your concerns but disagree on your target.
for info on what is out there i'd recommend everybody to check out the forums at grc.com and investigate adaware @ www.lavasoft.de and always use a firewall like zonealarm or similar to see a little more of what their pc and various progs are up to. but tom unless you can tell me the mx player has been hacked, or the video settings are enabled by default or similar then i think you need a better target (and there are plenty of them to choose from).

Edited by author 12-03-2002 08:53 PM
Chuck, Ben, JD, etc. - if you got here from JD's note on the Flog, welcome. I am posting this here, but may refine it for a later posting elsewhere. It attempts to address some of the concerns you raise. One thing I want to say right here is, I'm just speaking for myself, as an end user who is interested in what his computer can and cannot do. I appreciate your efforts to enlighten me. There are some areas of this topic I believe you are refusing to acknowledge, and the following is an effort to bring these to your attention, and to Macromedia's.

==

I hadn’t planned to write more about this topic. Believe it or not, I have a great admiration for Flash as a tool. I am not attempting to outdo anyone’s stream of urine. I imagine what I am about to say will provoke even wider misunderstandings, so I’m going to try to be brief.

Unfortunately, it won’t be easy to be brief. The issue here goes far beyond Flash 6. It has to do with the social contractual relation created by the convergence of smart technology, real time networks, and a broad, technologically naive community of end users.

This issue goes well beyond the PC – in a short time, every device, from telephones to HDTVs to GPS systems will be networked.

A New Techno-Social Contract

The network brings highly sophisticated technologists and their multiple commercial agendas in close proximity to relatively innocent end users, of which I count myself one. There is a vast discrepancy in knowledge and power here, as more and more software, advertisements, marketing surveys, auto-updates, etc. etc. flow from corporate business outfits that aspire to be on every machine, performing multiple tasks, some of which impinge on issues of user control and user privacy. Without a rich grasp of communications challenges, this knowledge gap will foster a climate of distrust and paranoia. What is needed is a clear template, a new social contract to build understanding and trust between sources of technology and non-technical end users.

Your only hope is to communicate up front. Flash is a brilliant program, as I tried to make clear. It is doing major things for creative folks like Fiore et al and those who enjoy their work.

If you want to reside on half a billion computers, if you want your users to update to the latest versions, if you wish to introduce code that might not be ready to use now, but will be later, when we update to Flash 8.4 or whatever, then be up front. Before we download it, tell us what’s in it, what it does, what it can’t do. If it can do something now, but needs a $2 million server, say so. If it is designed to work with bits of code that will come later, so that it will someday darn our socks, say so, UP FRONT.

You are subject to a history of maladjusted geek relations with nongeeks. Microsoft has already poisoned the water for you, along with other companies that assume that the end user is subordinate to their architecture, their control, and their parameters for privacy.

I refuse updates from Microsoft, precisely because they tend to forget to tell me what exactly they are bringing into my machine.

The more you keep us in the dark, the more likely your arse will be burned with the fire from the candle we light trying to see.

Invasion of the Personal Computer Snatchers

You are not only in control by understanding technology that the end user can only accept on trust. You are allied with the most rabidly intrusive partners imaginable - aggressive advertising and marketing outfits who think my desktop, my screen, and my bandwidth, paid for by me, are theirs to use ever more imperialistically.

Whose “personal computer” is this, anyway?

Your valued partners with whom you are strategically allied obstruct my access to information I want by forcing me to endure increasingly invasive pop-ups, and bandwidth-hogging ''rich media'' ads. Expect your alliance with spam meisters to influence how you are perceived.

Humans don’t use Calculus to Talk to Each Other

I’ve always admired engineers. They work in a real world frame, use math and other sophisticated tools to cause things to come into being that actually work. Perhaps it is that truly awesome ability that has caused some in the engineering community forget that human communication, fundamentally, is not an engineering problem.

Every reservation I have expressed about Flash’s videoconferencing facility – and the weaknesses of its permission feature – is extrapolated from the paltry information available through Macromedia sources. Go to the links in my post here. And peruse the Macromedia Flash groups on Google. Time after time, you will find queries from users who work with Flash, curious to know more about two-way videoconferencing. You will find lots of speculation, a few chary hints from Macromedia representatives coupled with a fair amount of coyness.

See, for example, this thread, for example, or this one. Meanwhile, other folks are working on figuring out Flash videoconferencing on their own.

Summing up:

1. You are in two ways virtually ubiquitous – you sit on half a billion machines, and you are an increasing presence as a rich media tool on thousands of sites that use games, animations, flash intros, art, and rich media advertising.

2. You are allied with imperialistic and invasive uses of the network.

3. You have not been upfront, and do not have a clear grasp of what a truly rich communicative environment the tools you are developing need.

This market is yours to lose. You are creating one of the richest communicative tools out there, and communicating very poorly with your end-user community. You might just blow it.

Hi Tom. Chuck again. I wasn't planning on participating anymore in this discussion because I felt I had said all I had to say, but it is now going too far.

What started out as a very healthy and potentially productive discussion about security has turned into a pissing contest between yourself and JD. This helps no one and hurts the masses who are following the subject and getting misinformation from *both* sides out of an effort to win an argument.

Statements such as "Flash 6 can turn your computer, via its camera and microphone, into a large bug in your home or office." is just as irresponsible as you are claiming Macromedia is by downplaying the video capabilities of Flash. Your comment is a total and complete distortion of the truth. And while you link to problems that flash has had in the past, you have not linked to any information showing that the video feature of flash has been exploited. It hasn't been yet. And while it might be someday, in the interest of honestly and clarity, until it is, statements such as the above are just irresponsible and shouldn't be made.

For more clarity, you said "Flash 6 fail to mention two-way videoconferencing?". Because Flash 6 cant do two-way videoconferencing. If I spend $500 on Flash6 and you spend $500 on Flash6 and we both have cameras, guess what, we cant connect with each other. And if Macromedia had claimed you could in the features presentation, a whole bunch of people would have been upset when they bought flash and discovered they couldn't. The video/audio conferencing is a functionality of Macromedias very expensive Communications Server and without that, that camera is useless with flash unless you want to look at yourself. Again, you fail to mention this critical detail and anyone reading your articles will assume that you can do this with Flash 6 all by itself. By the way, you *will* find this feature in the fancy presentation about the Communications Server because that is what you have to buy to get it. MM would have gotten nailed if they had claimed videoconferencing as a feature of Flash6.

One last comment/question for you Tom. Why are you focusing so much on potential, yet un-exploited feature of Flash when there are MUCH more dangerous and known security issues in every version of Windows, Outlook, Office, Apache, MSN Messenger and on and on? Including apps that also have access to your camera? Now, back to your kid example. What is of much greater threat and deserves more attention currently is the many situations like the free RealOne player (many others do this too). Your kid will likely install that to see some cool video or something and even worse than running a flash file, unintentionally install a bunch of full-blown applications that include all kinds of invasive adware/spyware and if they wanted to, since they are applications, they can access your camera and microphone and never even ask your permission. This is a real threat to both security and privacy and much more likely to get exploited than potential of your kid using a gaming site and clicking allow on the cam settings, then the gaming site starting to watch you. Dont forget, even if he does grant the game site access, that one site is the only one who can, and only when you are logged into the site. No one else at any other time. Another important detail your readers need to know, yet you conveniently leave out.

I apologize for picking on you a bit, I just think this is an important issue that needs to be discussed openly, but with fair balance and facts to support bold statements from both sides. But thanks for providing a forum to discuss this that will reach users who have likely not followed past discussions about this elsewhere.

And to JD, this would have likely gotten wrapped up nice and quick if your initial comments to Toms post had not essentially discounted him and his position, which will put anyone on the defensive. Something simple such as "While this has been discussed several times in the past (links to slashdot) and we feel our security model is good, we continue to be open and would love to hear addition feedback from users as to how we can improve the information. Any suggestions Tom?".

Okay, that is way too much opinion from me.

-chuck

Tom

I read the exchange between yourself and JD and to my mind the key issues are that the Flash player always asks your permission before allowing a domain access to your camera and/or mic. Also, as JD points out if you believe settings may have been changed on your machine since your last use, it is good practise to check.

I don't believe this is a security issue, but it would be prudent for Macromedia to link to a TechNote from the download page.

Ben

Read your posting on your blog about Flash6 player. You are so far from reality the mind boggles. I am astounded that someone capable of stringing sentences together would have difficulty in researching this issue before waxing lyrically about the "dangers" of Flash. You are a rumour monger of the worst kind. Flash simply does not work the way you purport.

Right Ben - but part of the problem is, this "permission" feature might not be quite as secure as Macromedia would have us believe. See the thread to this post on JD's corporate blog.

Please remember that a user's local microphone and camera cannot be automatically activated by the Flash client without the user's express permission being granted.