The biggest reason for Flash is cross platform compatibility without
having to install different players. With the release of Flash 9 beta,
Flash now has all platforms (Windows, OSX and *ux) covered.
QT runs in Windows and OSX but not in *ux. While it is possible to play
a stream off DSS in *ux, it would require the user install VLC or
similar which makes QT less than aone stop solution.
WMT only is Windows now as they have dropped their own player
development and are now relying on the Flip4Mac product (which is not
going well).
In managed environments (an area my company caters to), we see WMT still
hold the dominant position. However, we are seeing issues with Mac
users due to Microsoft's brain dead decision to drop their own OSX
player. The Flip4Mac product just sucks in regard to features and
compatibility... maybe some day they will make it work). As Macs grow
in market share, we are seeing more compatibility problems (thanks
Microsoft). We are also seeing some Linux users complain. BTW, not all
managed desktops support Flash.
This places my company in the position of also looking to add an
alternative stream solution. While we have supported QT in the past, I
feel our best long term solution is Flash as it will cover more
platforms that QT. I do wish Apple would release a Linux QT player as
that would help. But, that would still leave the feature shortages of
QT when it comes to live streaming (no scripting for synchronized slide
shows and no MBR).
Right now, Flash is winning big on the consumer side and it is
reasonable to expect that to filter over to the managed corporate side.
I had hoped to see an iPod effect where corporate managers would want
their machines updated to include QT so they could do more podcasting
but we have not seen this happen in any significant numbers. Corporate
IT is just not adding QT to the mix. This is probably ddue to the fact
that IT is swamped with Windows security issues. Talk to any IT group
in corporate and they will tell you rolling out alternative players or
even installing codecs is so far down on their list of things to do that
it just won't happen without a C level directive.
I'm new to QTSS and new to this list server. I'm a little curious as
to whether or not folks are considering moving from QTSS to Flash and
if there's good reason not to.
Please no flaming. I'm simply asking a blunt question prior to
investing more time in QTSS. Our server is already set up and we're
doing QTSS, so it's not like I'm a Flash user looking to convert others.
