[osflash] SWF9 and FLV File Format Spec released

[Martin Wood-Mitrovski]

> which I answered being a joke argument,
> because sorry most of the flash I experienced running
> on PSP and mobile device are games, and as the same
> as games for bigger device (XBOX, WII, etc.) those flash games
> are not designed at all for impaired people,
> this is simply not the audience target;
> which imho is a valid argument.

but its not a joke. its one aspect of the current state of affairs which *could* 
be remedied by not having such a restrictive licence on the spec.

its a very important aspect and something that is all too easily forgotten, but 
its not the only point. Just because your experience only extends so far doesnt 
mean that the world ends there, unfortunately its a result of that kind of 
mindset which is limiting what is available for people who require accessibility.

I think this point really just highlights that the reasoning behind the spec 
licence is actually in direct contradiction with reality. The player landscape 
is *less* consistent because people cant use the spec to fill in the gaps.

> and I realized that i was just losing my time trying to argument with
> an "universalist"
> which obviously has an agenda against Adobe and Flash and enjoy a
> little too much
> contrcuting a big controversy abotu a sensitive topic such as accessibility
> (cf a troll defintion http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_troll ).

I know what a troll is, and I still maintain that he's not trolling. He isnt 
creating a controversy, the situation exists and it could be better. I 
personally feel somewhat ashamed of my own lack of implementation of any kind of 
accessibility in every app i've built, especially considering that most of my 
work is for educational usage in schools.

> I would rather spend time argumenting about why/what could change in that spec
> to make open source people more happy without just ranting at Adobe
> for the sake of it.

Well, its not about changing the spec, its about the licencing of the spec. The 
content of the actual spec is irrelevant because I cant read it without 
fundamentally undermining my opportunities, whether they be in open source or in 
closed source software.

The current situation with gnash and other tools is one important part which is 
directly affected, but I also have to consider its impact on my own work. Its 
not too far fetched to imagine that I could be offered some potential work in 
the future that requires some kind of swf reading / playing (in fact its quite 
likely for me) so to protect my availability for such work I have to avoid 
reading the spec.

martin.