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WHAT’S GOING ON WITH THE ADOBE® FLASH® PLATFORM AND WHY IT IS STILL RELEVANT FOR EDUCATION

Joseph Labrecque

Adobe Summer Institute | July 25th 2012

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Joseph Labrecque, MA

Senior Interactive Software Engineer University of Denver - Office of Teaching and Learning Adjunct Faculty

Proprietor / Owner Fractured Vision Media, LLC

Adobe Community Professional Adobe Education Leader Adobe Influencer

Author Packt Publishing O’Reilly Media video2brain Adobe Press Peachpit

Artist An Early Morning Letter, Displaced shivervein

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Joseph’s Books, DVDs, & Videos

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Here is some more… Published in:

Adobe Developer Connection ZDNet ActiveTuts+ CodeBass InsideRIA UX Magazine …and channels like YouTube!

Appears in…

Adobe Inspire Magazine Adobe Developer Center LifeHacker The Flex Show DU Today The Clarion The Source Flash and Flex Developer Magazine Runtime Expectations …and more, and more.

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November 9th 2011

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What Happened?

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Mobile Flash Player Why did Adobe Decide to no longer develop the Flash Player for Mobile Browsers? • The Flash Player was not going to achieve the same

ubiquity on mobile as it has on the desktop. • Ubiquity of HTML5 on mobile browsers. • Differences in how users consume rich content on mobile

devices compared to the desktop. • Scalability of developing plugins for mobile browsers. • Shifting some resources from Flash to HTML5 http://www.mikechambers.com/blog/2011/11/11/clarifications-on-flash-player-for-mobile-browsers-the-flash-platform-and-the-future-of-flash/

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Mobile Flash Player

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We feel that Flash continues to play a vital role of enabling features and functionality on the web that are not otherwise possible. As such, we have a long term commitment to the Flash Player on desktops, and are actively working on the next Flash Player version. http://www.mikechambers.com/blog/2011/11/11/clarifications-on-flash-player-for-mobile-browsers-the-flash-platform-and-the-future-of-flash/

Desktop Flash Player

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We are continuing to develop Adobe AIR for both the desktop and mobile devices. Indeed, we have seen wide adoption of Adobe AIR for creating mobile applications and there have been a number of blockbuster mobile applications created using Adobe AIR. http://www.mikechambers.com/blog/2011/11/11/clarifications-on-flash-player-for-mobile-browsers-the-flash-platform-and-the-future-of-flash/

Mobile AIR

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We know Flex provides a unique set of benefits for enterprise application developers. We also know that the technology landscape for application development is rapidly changing and our customers want more direct control over the underlying technologies they use. Given this, we are planning to contribute the Flex SDK to an open source foundation in the same way we contributed PhoneGap to the Apache Foundation when we acquired Nitobi. http://blogs.adobe.com/flex/2011/11/your-questions-about-flex.html

Flex Framework

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Exodus!

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Post-Apocalypse

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Adobe: “FLASH IS NOT DEAD”

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Flash Player 11.0 [October 2011] Flash Player 11.1 [November 2011] Flash Player 11.2 [March 2012] Flash Player 11.3 [June 2012]

Flash Player

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Adobe AIR 3.0 [October 2011] Adobe AIR 3.1 [November 2011] Adobe AIR 3.2 [March 2012] Adobe AIR 3.3 [June 2012]

Adobe AIR

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December 2011 – July 2012: • The Apache Flex Project has

received the entire Flex Framework.

• The Apache Flex Project has received the “mxmlc Flex Compiler”.

• Flex SDK 4.8.0 parity release! • Awaiting “Falcon” compiler. http://incubator.apache.org/flex/

Apache Flex

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• Mobile Simulator • Captive Runtime • Native Extensions • Sprite Sheets • PNG Sequences • CreateJS • SDK Manager • Stage3D • LZMA Compression

Flash Professional CS6

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• Part of CS6 Master Collection and Creative Cloud

• Flex SDK 4.6 • Mobile

Flash Builder 4.6

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ActionScript Native Extensions

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Captive Runtime

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PPAPI “Pepper” Plugin API

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BlackBerry 10

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Windows 8 “Metro”

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Flash Player 11 :: ~80% Flash Player 10 :: ~15% Flash Player 9 :: ~1% “Not Detected”* :: ~4% http://riastats.com/ Flash Player (all versions) 95.66% http://www.statowl.com/

DU.EDU Stats* = ~96% *Includes iOS

Flash Player Statistics

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• 1.3 billion people with no install. • 24 out of 25 top Facebook games are Flash Player. • Facebook: Angry Birds Friends – 18 million people. • Every 8 weeks – 200 million people opt-in to silent

installs. • 200 million is over 3 times the number of XBOX360

units sold since 2005. • Hundreds of millions of Flash Players can be

updated in 48 hours. • 400 million connected desktops update to the new

version of Flash Player within a week of release.

Flash Player Statistics (cont.)

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Flash Player Statistics (cont.)

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What’s New?

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• Stage3D • Cubic Bezier Curves • removeChildren() • isPlaying() • JPEG-XR • H.264 Encoding • Native JSON • 64-bit Runtime

Flash Player 11 • Secure Random #’s • Secure Sockets • Socket Progress Events • G.711 Audio • LZMA Compression • Garbage Collection • Async Bitmap Decode • High Resolution Bitmap

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• ActionScript Native Extensions • Captive Runtime • Camera Position API (mobile) • Device Speaker Control (mobile) • Background Audio Playback (iOS) • Color Depth Setting (Android) • StageText and StageVideo (mobile) • Encrypted Local Storage (mobile)

AIR 3

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• Support for Android 4.0 • Security Enhancements • Final version planned for Android

Flash Player 11.1

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• Updated Native Text (Android) • Updated Native Extentions (iOS5) • Security Enhancements

AIR 3.1

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• Stage3D -- Drivers Gating Relaxed to 2008 • Right-Click and Middle-Click Events • Mouse Lock and Relative Coordinates • Throttle Events • Domain Memory Access • Multithreaded Video Decode (desktop) • Background Updates (Windows)

Flash Player 11.2

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• All the Flash Player 11.2 goodies except auto-update.

• Improved compilation times.

AIR 3.2

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• Full Screen Keyboard Input • Frame Label Events • Mouse Release-Outside Event • BitmapData Quality Draw Commands • BitmapData Native Encoder (JPEG, PNG, JPEGXR) • Driver Info Details • NetStream -- Low Latency Audio • Stage3D -- Texture Streaming • Background Updates (Mac)

Flash Player 11.3

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• All the Flash Player 11.3 goodies except auto-update.

• Aspect Ratio Handling (mobile) • USB Debugging (iOS) • Enhanced Background Behavior (iOS) • Stylus Support (Android) • Simulator Support (Mac) • AppStore Support (Mac)

AIR 3.3

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• AIR - Does not apply • Use BOTH Stage3D

and DomainMemory • AND make over

$50,000 USD

Flash Player Premium Features

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Flash in Education

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ALORA (records management)

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CourseMedia (media distribution)

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VideoManager (catalog)

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VideoManager (stream)

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• Server based AIR! • Trancoding “brain”. • Talks well with native

operating system, Adobe Media Servers, and custom web applications.

http://ctl.du.edu/staff/josephlabrecque/crunchbuddy.htm

CrunchBuddy (smart ops)

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• Flash Player is the “Console of the web”

• 9 out of 10 top Facebook games use Flash Player.

• The iOS App Store, Android Market, and Amazon Appstore feature best-selling #1 games.

• Abundance of tooling, workflows, and frameworks.

Gaming (desktop and mobile)

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Both 2D and 3D simulations work well in Flash Player.

http://kurst.co.uk/samples/fbglobe/

Simulations

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Other Targets

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CreateJS • Classic tweens & easing • Bitmaps, text, vector art, sounds • Groups, movieclip & graphic symbols • Shadow & glow, add blend mode, cache • Labels & timeline JavaScript • Warnings

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Sprite Sheets • Export image sequences

from symbols & bitmaps in Library

• Transform symbols & export sequences from Stage

• Process automation using JS APIs

• Create sprite sheets from symbols in Library or on Stage

• JSON, XML, JS output • Extensible data output

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Adobe Edge

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Unity

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Making Choices

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Adobe might say: • Gaming / Simulations • Premium Video

In reality, use Flash Player when you are okay with a desktop-only experience and need the reliability, power, and richness Flash Player provides.

Flash Player in the Browser

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• MOBILE! • Desktop apps • Server-based apps • Need ANEs • Translate web-based

Flash Player experience to devices which have no Flash Player.

Adobe AIR Package

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• When you are only targeting ONE single platform.

• When you absolutely need the speed and power of native.

Native Application

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One strategy for mobile: • Use Flash Player experience on

desktop. • Fallback to a lighter, canvas or

DOM experience for mobile. • CreateJS is a great enabler!

Flash Player w/ Canvas

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HTML & Friends

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HTML vs. Flash / HTML & Flash

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Looking to the Future

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• ActionScript Workers 1.0 (Flash Player) • ATF textures with Stage3D • Stage3D constrained mode – 2005 • StageVideo.attachCamera • Camera.copyToByteArray / Camera.copyToVector • LZMA compression for ByteArray • AIR iOS Push Notifications

Flash Player 11.4 + AIR 3.4

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Performance is the primary goal when we approach how to evolve ActionScript. Adobe aims to increase developer productivity by simplifying the language, improving tool support, and boosting bug prevention. Having reduced unnecessary complexity, we will be in a position to innovate within the Flash runtimes much more quickly.

ActionScript “Next”

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The primary goal of this work is to provide a modern implementation of the core Flash runtimes and the ActionScript virtual machine in order to significantly improve script execution performance and provide a foundation on which Flash can move forward over the next decade.

Flash Player “Next”

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• Rebuilt! 64-bit! • Modernized codebase • What else??? • Shhhh…

Flash Professional “HellCat”

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• We know it is coming… August • Streamlined – lots of fluff removed.

– Flash Catalyst – Data Wizards – Design View …I actually love design view

• Falcon compiler! • Apache Flex! • ActionScript Workers! • More?

Flash Builder 4.7

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• Renamed “Flash Media Server” since it serves to more than just Flash Player.

• Targets Flash Player, AIR, iOS, more? • Adobe Access 4 integration. • Advanced DRM for iOS HLS streams. • Same DRM protection as other targets. • Great for big-name broadcasters.

Adobe Media Server 5

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Advanced profiling tool.

Works with release version of Flash Player.

Step through calls with visual accompaniment.

Adobe Monocle

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• Free & Open Source • Platform independent • Amazing Performance • Familiar API • Embraced by Adobe • Powered by the Community

Starling

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• Free and Open Source • Starling Integration • Materials / Shaders • Cameras • Lights • Primitives • Physics • Frame-based animation • Prefab3D companion app

Away3D

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ActionScript 3 code library built on top of the Adobe® Flash® Platform Stage3D APIs that allows for rapid development of interactive 3D content. Experimental!

Proscenium

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CitrusEngine [http://citrusengine.com/]

StarlingPunk [http://www.andysaia.com/radicalpropositions/starlingpunk/]

Flixel [http://flixel.org/]

Axel [http://www.axgl.org/]

FlashPunk [http://flashpunk.net/]

SmashIO [http://smash.io/]

AS3isolib [http://code.google.com/p/as3isolib/]

2D Game Libraries

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Alternativa3D [http://alternativaplatform.com/en/]

Away3D [http://away3d.com/]

Flare3D [http://www.flare3d.com/]

Unity [http://unity3d.com/?flash]

Unreal Engine [http://www.unrealengine.com/flash/]

3D Game Libraries

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Thank you.

@JosephLabrecque