[arch-general] [arch-dev-public] dropping flashplugin x86_64

[Jeroen Op 't Eynde]

On Thu, 17 Jun 2010 11:46:11 +0200, Jan de Groot <jan at jgc.homeip.net>  
wrote:

> I don't care much about performance, but what is irritating is that
> whenever some website loads anything flash-related, my CPU gets
> speedstepped to max frequency and my laptop fan prepares my laptop for a
> takeoff. When you're on battery, this can mean you'll lose half of
> battery runtime, just by having a browser window open that includes a
> flash banner.
> This isn't only a problem on x86_64, but on every non-windows platform.
> Maybe it extends to windows also, but I haven't tested that in years.
> Besides the performance problem, flash also makes browsers unstable. I'm
> very happy with the out-of-process plugins in Firefox 3.6.4 prereleases,
> it's just too bad that I don't use firefox for daily browsing.

I didn't like flash but kept it to play games occasionally (and yes,  
youtube a little, max 1 vid a day). Since it doesn't run on x86_64 and  
there isn't an easy way to install the 32bit version and make it work with  
Opera 10.6 beta, I dropped it.

Opera 10.6 and Chrome 5 support WebM, so will Firefox 4, Opera 10.6 and  
Firefox 3 both support Ogg Theora, so yes I think the <video> tag is  
ready. IE is always slow on adopting new technologies so I can't see it as  
a serious browser (no matter if it has 50% market share). I forgot about  
Safari, well that is just a strange kid. Apple ports the browser to  
Windows and claims to have a cross platform browser, what about Linux? :-s  
On the codec side it doesn't support WebM nor Ogg Theora, a new IE6 if you  
ask me.

For the games, <canvas> would be great, and indeed the Astroid game works  
smooth. I think I should open a topic on the forums with more of these  
games websites. I don't know how far the support for canvas is, but my  
default browser Opera 10.6 does.

On the topic of open-source versus closed-source, I wont discus it. Both  
have advantages and disadvantages, I just prefer to use the software that  
just works (like Opera, WebM, Chromium, Firefox). Flash doesn't work for  
me, the same with IE and Safari. Youtube should really convert ALL there  
videos to WebM, old and new, it will become the standard in the next  
months.

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