I agree, the fact that we could depend on the latest version of
Quicktime to play anything already created was a big plus in
considering which technology to use in delivering video/audio/
interactive content. Now that Flash is broken by default, what's next?
I don't consider the end-user as having to change a buried player
preference a fix, it's already considered an inconvenience by some to
have to download and install QT.
Nor, do I consider having a developer having to change any already
created material a fix.
Apple has to fix this and soon, and apologize to the developers that
have been burned...hopefully Apple has not gotten too big to remember
its pre-iPod-iTMS days, when its minuscule market share was kept
alive by a minority of dedicated developers that stuck their necks
out for something they believed in.
There are few enough QuickTime developers left now, given the
overnight migration of web video to Flash, I fail to see why Apple
cannot treat them a little better.
While I have been a proponent of Apple technologies in the past, this
makes me rethink our entire commitment to QuickTime, and it may be
time to re-learn Flash, now that it has a nice video codec.
Bottom line is that there is still no video technology: Flash, QT,
RM, or WM that does it all well: live streaming, on-demand-streaming,
good legacy support, built-in interactivity, play on portable
devices, high-quality full-screen codecs, capture-edit-archive, etc.
We are not going to dump QT, but that warm fuzzy feeling that it will
take care of us if we use it is gone, and we are going to evaluate
all media delivery technologies a lot more objectively in the future.
And as there are Apple employees on these boards, I trust that they
will report back to their superiors the extreme unhappiness this
change in QT has created, and urge the people upstairs to do
something fast.
Frank Fulchiero
Digital Media Specialist
Connecticut College
From: Francesco Schiavon <email@hidden>
Subject: Re: QT 7.1.3 and Flash support
The whole idea of QuickTime being backwards compatible was that
movies that were created in earlier versions would still work in
the future. The solution of a dialogue box would have the same
impact as the "buy QT Pro" dialogue of the past; it would scare
users. On the other hand, although your suggestion is better than
simply disabling Flash support, it pretty much acknowledges that
Flash is would now be a third class citizen in QuickTime.
And yes, this is a serious issue for many developers.
