Note: This column represents the opinions
of the writer and as such, is not purported as fact
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If there has been one quietly successful product that has emerged from the
dot-com boom it would have to be Macromedia's Flash.
As a tool designed to provide vivid multimedia content delivery through the
use of surprisingly small files it almost without peer and is now "standard
equipment" on most websurfer's PCs.
From its early beginnings as a simple method of creating cartoon-like
animations, it has grown into a very sophisticated and full-featured
scripted presentation language supporting levels of interaction
that allow a host of online games to be built with it.
The Aardvark PC-Based Digital
Entertainment Centre Project
Yes, at last, this feature
has been updated again! (31 Mar 2003)
Macromedia's strategy of giving away the Flash player that installs as a
plug-in for most browsers has ensured that is now a ubiquitous component
of everyone's websurfing kit -- and this has meant that selling Flash
development tools is an easy job.
So what could possibly go wrong?
Advertising, that's what.
Have you noticed the slow but steady increase in the number of highly animated
banner ads that are built using Flash?
Unlike your average static or animated GIF, these Flash banners are usually
far more "in your face" and despite the compact filesize normally associated
with a Flash presentation, they also tend to chew a bit more bandwidth.
Advertisers seem to have also twigged to the fact that many of the banner-blocking
mechanisms used by savvy websurfers don't filter out these Flash ads.
At a time when advertisers are battling hard to get their banners seen and
Net users are working just as hard to block them, Flash is obviously
an attractive option for delivering annoying messages to your screen.
Once installed, the Flash player will play anything it encounters (including
ads) and its removal or disabling is not obvious -- so most people will be
stuck with it.
If advertisers start (ab)using Flash to create large quarter-page highly
animated and bandwidth-intensive ads,
as it appears they will,
then I strongly suspect that Macromedia may find the popularity of its product
begins declining.
If Flash gains the reputation of being little more than a mechanism for delivering
annoying ads then who's going to bother installing it?
Spam and Trespass
Yesterday's column created a bit of a stir.
One reader seems to have misread the piece and thinks that I
"publicly admitted to hacking".
Perhaps he should re-read the article.
This does raise the interesting question however -- when does it become
unethical to publish evidence such as the screendumps presented yesterday?
If a reporter breaks into parliament and steals secret cabinet papers then
they're obviously breaking the law -- but what if someone anonymously delivers
copies of those same papers to their desk and publishing them would be
in the public interest?
When it comes to stomping out spam I am prepared to push the boundaries of what's
acceptable and I justify the publication of yesterday's screendumps by simply
stating that trespass is a two-way street.
If a spammer is prepared to trespass uninvited into my mailbox by filling
it with their unsolicited, unwanted spam -- then they have no grounds for
complaint when someone trespasses into their mailbox in return.
Of course I'd love to get some consensus from Aardvark readers in this matter.
Do you think it was unreasonable to publish yesterday's screendumps?
And of course if any Aardvark readers have an opinion on today's column or
want to add something you're also invited to chip in and
have your say.
Yes, You Can Donate
Although the very kind folks at iHug continue to generously sponsor the
publication of Aardvark, the bills still exceed the income by a fairly
significant amount. It is with this in mind therefore that I'm once
again soliciting donations from anyone who feels they're getting some
value from this daily column and news index. I've gone the PayPal
way of accepting donations because the time involved in processing a bunch
of little credit-card billings sometimes exceeds the monetary value they
represent. Just click on the button to donate whatever you can afford.
NOTE: PayPal bills in US dollars so don't accidentally donate twice
what you were intending :-)
Contacting Aardvark
As always, readers are invited to submit their comments on material covered
in this column. If you'd like your comments published here then please
be sure to use this form and select For Publication.
Other media organisations seeking more information or republication rights
are also invited to contact me.
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