Flash8 may be released August 8, will also enter the network video market

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Macromedia plans to unveil the Flash 8 veil early next month highlighting the rise in video performance, which industry insiders believe will set off a new wave of competition in the online video market and subvert the entire Network video application market (such as the choice of the movie's web premiere right over the video stream).

An industry insider who understands the company's development plans says Macromedia is expected to release the latest version of Flash, Flash8, on August 8, and will be officially released in a few weeks flash8!

PS: This is a good message for developers who want to see Flash8 early.

Flash, formerly known as FutureSplash, is a popular vector animation plugin in the early days of the Internet. Macromedia Company later acquired the FutureSplash, and renamed it Flash2, slowly developed to FLASH3, Flash4 ... The Flash8 that will be released until now. From the original vector animation Plug-ins, slowly extended to the website animation, design creation, game development and Flash application development, video applications and so on. Now has become the development of Web application development and other fields have a strong vitality of competitors. Macromedia positioning it as an application software development platform. And in China more developers and creators use it to make flash animation movies, FLASHMTV, by the likes of millions of netizens, this can not but say is a Chinese characteristics.

The industry believes that making developers and users more interested in the future of Flash video processing capabilities (streaming video applications, as yesterday flashed the launch of the "Yahoo use flash interactive communications and video applications" As described in the article) but this positioning will certainly affect the most interested in the software's video processing capabilities, in particular, those who think the new version will significantly improve video coding performance and video compression format, and a variety of other performance benefits to enable it to Microsoft's Windows Media technology, RealNetworks's real format and Apple's QuickTime format pose major challenges and threats.

Tim Bajarin, an analyst at Creative Strategies, said the new Flash8 had a big boost in video applications. Positioning it as a media engine (translator: Media decompression, video applications, streaming media, voice and I/O management, etc.) will cause real, Apple, and Microsoft's attention and unease as it will develop into a competitive competitive platform for streaming video.

Macromedia refused to comment on the detailed release time, so we can only continue to look forward to, hehe.

Macromedia has indicated that Flash 8 will have significant changes and improvements, and many are related to video processing capabilities. Flash 8 supports a new encoding format--on2 Technologies Company's VP6 video encoding, which employs the VP6 video compression technology licensed by the US company On2technologies. (Translator Note: VP6 claims that video quality exceeds Windows Media 9, Real 9, and H.264 under the same bit rate.) VP6 Video encoder is currently used by China's EVD. ）

Two companies say the coding format is much better than the Flash MX 2004 Video Coding format. Flash 8 also supports transparent features that enable design developers to integrate text, vector graphics, and other flash components in Flash video.

Macromedia says Flash8 's new, attractive video feature will benefit everyone from the advantages of Flash video technology, especially its cross-platform extension. Because the files are small and bundled with Windows and other operating systems, Flash is almost ubiquitous. According to Macromedia, more than 98% of PCs connected to the network have different versions of Flash players, and more than 100 device manufacturers integrate Flash into their devices.

Tests in recent months have shown that Macromedia has been successful in surfing the RealNetworks and Windows Media Video clips for users. In the traditional experience, surfers try to access RealNetworks and Windows Media Video clips often need to download bulky players, or choose a higher speed broadband connection or other way.

In contrast to real or Windows Media, Flash video does not need to download a dedicated player, which means that video clips can be played on a Web page, and Flash developers can design their own playback interfaces, setting buffers and other technical parameters.

Macromedia's potential competitor claims that Flash's functionality is too weak to be lightweight and does not provide some of the features that are important to media communicators and consumers.

RealNetworks, senior vice president of the media, Michael Schutzler, said Flash has no digital rights management (DRM) capabilities, and studios are very concerned about DRM digital encryption, and we focus on valuable intellectual property, And there is a close connection to DRM digital encryption. Flash is suitable for advertising promotion, it is obvious that the film company will not choose it to advertise promotion.

Microsoft defended its own Windows Media Player by saying that Windows Media players can do many things that flash can't do. Also specifically referred to 15 satisfactory content services, easy to manage the media library, equipment synchronization, CD burning and so on. In an e-mail interview, Microsoft's director of Windows Digital Media, Kevin Unangst, said that while Flash was unanimously recognized today on the Internet, it was limited to playing short and streaming content. The scalability of Windows Media Video 9 allows it to be used in a wide range of areas ranging from standard cell phone videos (such as mobile TV) to a new generation of high-definition DVDs.

Macromedia declined to comment on comments that it was Microsoft's rival, saying Flash and Windows Media were geared towards different markets. Macromedia's Chief software designer, Kevin Lynch, says he believes there is no direct competition between Flash video and Windows Media. Our consistent direction is that network video (video embedded in a Web page) is in a different direction from the pattern that Windows Media has for downloading videos, whole slices, and some additional features.

Analysts believe that even if Macromedia "give up" the appropriate large video client's entire download, Microsoft and RealNetworks to Flash video technology development and popularization are not happy.

Chris Swensen, analyst with NPD, a market research firm, said that over time, Macromedia would continue to increase the functionality of flash, which would pose a competitive threat and erode the video market.

"At least in the field of online video, Flash has started and will be at the forefront," said one analyst.
"I never doubted that Microsoft and its Windows Media player would break the market occupied by Flash video, and that some well-known sites had voted for Macromedia," a Forrester analyst said. He thinks there will be more attention and research when new players and software are released, at least that will force Microsoft to rethink some of their product's problems.