Today, we released the 12th anniversary edition of ASV¹ (ASV 2012/05) and also SWF Revealer 2.08 update.

Thank you all!

Update (2012/05/17): To add some value to this dull post:

In the first days, people sent us their own SWFs to get back the decompiled AS, in order to believe that ASV really worked as advertised. We required people  include their name in the SWF so that we know it’s their own work…

Here are the samples we had on our site:

ASV 1.0 with SWF v4

movie2.swf (~6k), by Scott Romack, submitted on May 30, 2000.

movie2.txt (~2k) ASV 1.0 text output.

Duplicate Movie Clip (“motion”, “motion” & x, x + 16384)

ASV 2.0 with SWF v4

curves9.swf (~7k), by Branden J. Hall, submitted on June 6, 2000.

curvers9-1.txt (~8k) ASV 2.0 text output to Flash 4 syntax

curves9-2.txt (~7k) ASV 2.0 text output to Flash 5 syntax

ASV 2.0 with SWF v5

analog_clock.swf (~10k), by Marcos Pinto.

aclock.txt (~2k) ASV 2.0 text output.

¹Action Script Viewer – the first SWF/Flash decompiler released on May 16, 2000.

On March 28, 2012, Adobe announced and introduced the anxiously awaited Flash Player Premium Features for Gaming, with Flash Player 11.2 and AIR 3.2. Also Roadmap for Flash Runtimes was updated. (BTW, the problem with the road-map is that it’s just some plans, ‘official gossip’ as I call it, it offers no commitment or legally binding promise from Adobe. And it can get updated anytime…).

What has the cat dragged in?

Good news is that using domain memory and (Alchemy introduced and officially documented) fast memory opcodes by themselves is not considered as premium use. Only using both domain memory and Stage 3D is considered as premium. So it seems Adobe listened to the community and did what it could. (‘a fair compromise‘ – Mike Chambers).

Licensing starts on August 1 -we have a grace period and any prior work will get to use the premium features royalty free-, there will be no charges for the first $50K of revenues (but 9% after that). AIR including for mobile applications for iOS and Android, will be royalty free.  There’s a FAQ about all this.

Another good thing is that Adobe states ‘no intent‘ for making any existing feature premium in the future (but any new feature may come as premium). In any case, it’s up to the community and individuals to trust Adobe about any intentions…

In summary, it looks as if only big gaming studios, who would use Alchemy to convert their million dollar 3D games to Flash for the Web only (as AIR usage is royalty free), are the target (and $50K entry point will protect small studios). ‘These premium features will allow console developers to deliver unprecedented, AAA console quality games to over a billion computers’ says Tom Nguyen, Sr. Product Manager, Gaming at Adobe.

Community response

[in no particular order]

Nicolas Cannasse, creator of MTASC and Haxe, called this the Speed Tax for 3D games: ‘Adobe just made DECENT SPEED a “premium feature”‘.

Nicolas Cannasse

Joa Ebert, another name who needs no introduction to anyone in the Flash community, in his post titled ‘Collateral Damage‘, announced: ‘I am no longer committed to supporting any Flash related open-source projects‘. A sad development indeed.

Joa Ebert, Flash on the Beach 2009

Tweet from Peter Elst

Robert Penner, author of famous easing equations – if you remember them, good old times-, author, former Adobe Flash Team member, tweeted the following: ‘I thought Adobe was supposed to make money by building the best tools and services, not by cutting them & selling the platform. I’m not saying Adobe is wrong to change their Flash platform strategy. But I’d rather they be successful with great tools & free platform.‘.

Robert Penner in Flash CS4 About Box

Omar Gonzalez, Senior Software Architect @ Almer/Blank, tweeted: ‘I don’t think I’ve ever seen a company destroy so much of their own intellectual property in such a short amount of time. #amazing #Adobe‘.

.Net magazine covered the story

There were also positive reactions, I think mostly because some people thought the $50K is big enough a barrier that will protect them, some are clueless newbies who just heard about Alchemy opcodes and decided they are not affected, some use AIR exclusively and didn’t care about anything else, some sincerely found initial conditions for licensing acceptable, and some, I believe, felt that that to contain the damage, they have to back the decision publicly… And then some, chose to remain silent…

Below are links to some discussions on Google+:

Richard Davey: https://plus.google.com/106676047029022880747/posts/arRMVLEQdiN

Jesse Freeman: https://plus.google.com/113373098067901951782/posts/hJZMKnGh6We

Jesse Warden: https://plus.google.com/109537902154361720350/posts/Nmvh8HY4BG6

Other developments…

On March 31, Daniel Bunte had a blog post titled How we managed to get Alchemy1 working with FlashPlayer 11.2 Incubator and the secrets of SWF Tag 92. So it seems, Adobe will  use a different method for enabling premium features. This is a technical detail, still I find it important to mention here.

Kurt Melander commented on my previous post and said: ‘…speaking from the e-learning development side and as a US DoD defense contractor, the digital signing may be due in large part to the downgrading of flash and Shockwave from the DoD CIO office in terms of risk for mobile code. Shockwave .dcr format is now no longer allowed on military networks and is classified “1x”,  flash was downgraded from a “3″ to a “2″, lower numbers meaning higher risk to the network. One of the main reasons for this downgrade is the lack of Flash and Shockwave to recognize or validate digitally signed code.‘

Jethro Villegas, former Engineering Manager and Software Architect for Flash Professional, commented: ‘Digitally authenticated SWF files can be so useful in many ways.‘ I can’t agree more.

So, most probably, digital signatures in SWF files will stay for one reason or another.

Was premium features really necessary?

Thibault Imbert

Thibault Imbert, Sr. Product Manager for the Flash Runtime at Adobe, had the following comment at Nicolas’ post:

‘…because games could generate millions of revenue with maybe 200 copies of Flash Builder and Flash Pro sold. Is it a good business? Not really.‘

I also think Mike Chambers‘ (currently Director, Developer Advocacy for web platforms at Adobe) following comment there is important:

‘The model where Adobe invests all of the resources in developing the Flash Player, and then projects such as Haxe and Unity pull developers away from Adobe tooling is one that was not sustainable under the old model. Under the new model, it doesnt matter which tools and technologies you are using to develop Flash content, since revenue is generated based on the runtime and not tooling.‘

So-called Alchemy opcodes are officially well-documented.

So, it is clear that Adobe needed more money to support Flash Player development. But was the right answer Premium Features? Why wasn’t AIR developers targeted? Why wasn’t right click context menu introduced as a premium feature? Is $50K the optimal amount? Is 9% the optimal percentage? What will the nominal fee for Premium Features Developer Program be (which will be introduced after grace period ends on August 1, 2012)? Will it be be worth all this?…

As I stated in my previous post, IMO SWF format is now a closed format. As someone programming for SWF format since April 1998 and co-author of the first Flash decompiler (since May 2000, which we still update daily) and many SWF related tools, I am qualified to make that statement. Closing SWF format will have ‘dire consequences’. (Our reaction as Manitu Group will be increasing pricing for our commercial applications, as we think premium technologies, require premium tools that cost premium prices).

Some last minute improvements to premium feature set has been a good thing nevertheless, but my personal opinion is that it won’t be sufficient to save the SWF format, hence the Flash platform. But we may have gained some time. And who knows, maybe more…

So, has Flash really died this time with the introduction of premium features as I predicted?

No hablo inglés.

Update: Robin Debreuil posted following comment while sharing info about this post at Google+:

Robin Debreuil

‘I’ve heard of the death of Flash more times than I can count over the years. I think the difference this time is the claims are coming from the people that use it, and the ‘killer’ is the company that makes it. Time will tell I guess.

The quote that sums it up for me is:

“The model where Adobe invests all of the resources in developing the Flash Player, and then projects such as Haxe and Unity pull developers away from Adobe tooling is one that was not sustainable under the old model”

I’m sure that is true, but really it is saying Adobe can’t compete in spite of all the advantages inherent in making the platform. Look at FlashDevelop – made for free by two people (and no doubt some friendly help) and it blows away Adobe coding tools. Not because it is cheaper, because it is better.

So if you can’t compete, sure, business model two, try to wring money out of your platform standard as you slowly choke it to death. The real question though is why can’t they compete? If my money was tied up in there, I’d be asking that question a lot.’

And here is Mike Chambers’ reply: (I won’t be cloning the discussion, this is the last update I’ll have here, read more at its source).

Mike Chambers

‘I dont think it is a question of competing. Adobe could put in the resources to build a 3d authoring tool that competes with Unity, but why would it want to? Unity already is awesome, and can target Flash Player.

Why not create a model where Adobe doesn’t have to build every single tool that targets the Flash Player in order to ensure that there are resources to continue to invest in the Flash Player? Why not create a model that better reflects the core value of Flash, which is the reach and richness that the Flash Player provides?‘

Update2: Ray Cutro‘s G+ post titled Speed Tax for Speedy death of Flash Platform is a good read as he mentions certain points which I deliberately avoided, and illustrates sincere disappointment of a passionate developer.

SWF file format, the format for Flash files, is proprietary. Flash has been criticized for this by many, including late Steven P. Jobs.

But SWF format has been open, since 1998 with the initial release of SWF specifications. And this is what we all said against proprietary format argument.

Openness of SWF format meant that any 3rd party can create SWF files without the need to get permission from Macromedia or use any Macromedia software (now Adobe). Then we saw 3rd party SWF related utilities flourish, from Claus Wahlers‘ JPEG to SWF converter to Swish text effects to animation packages like Toon Boom Studio. (We also made a living around SWF format).

This openness has been a very important ingredient of Flash’ success. Even with open SWF format, Adobe still has the upper hand, because they control the Player³ and hence the new features: 3rd party apps can only use existing features but Adobe software can make use of the latest features.

If some features of the Flash Player is to become premium, this means SWF format is no longer open, just documented (assuming Adobe continues releasing SWF specs).

As we all know, Flash suffered many blows in the last few years and declined. Flash could have become the software on every appliance in the world for ever; thanks to the competence of Adobe suits who couldn’t stand up against S. Jobs of Apple, Flash retreated to gaming world (and DRM infected video delivery)¹.

Now, with Flash Player 11.2, open SWF format is going away.

[Adobe introduced domain memory and some opcodes, that performed faster memory operations, for Alchemy project (C to AS3 conversion). AS3 was not fast enough, so many 3rd party developers made use of these opcodes to create Flash content and more importantly libraries. Flash Pro couldn't make use of the opcodes but Haxe did, our own Azoth  did, Joa Ebert's tools did. That was the power of Flash and open SWF! (Soon will be history)].

I’m on no pre-release program so can speak freely (and ignorantly). Adobe decided to make money off -maybe what they saw as a dying platform- Flash by charging for what they call premium features. SWF files created for new 11.2 player won’t be able to use so-called Alchemy opcodes, unless they are signed².

[Old content, created for older players, older SWF versions will still be able to use the opcodes in the name of backward compatibility (But AFAIK, not the libraries/SWCs if they are loaded by a newer version SWF file). So this move is deliberate and has no technical justification - only greed for more money, I would say. Well, this is nothing surprising, Adobe seems to lay off more talent as they make more money...]

What is really pathetic is that they are promoting (demoting) an existing feature to premium. (If a totally new feature was introduced as premium, that would have been easier to digest).

This move will make the SWF format closed… So, a free version of Alchemy 2 is irrelevant here. Any Adobe software that creates SWF files is irrelevant.

This is a major change (blow) to the Flash eco-system. Here’s what Nicolas Cannasse, creator of MTASC and Haxe, wrote about this in a recent comment:

“The ability to fully target the flash player has suddenly transformed from being free to being locked-in. That hurts the confidence of many developers (including me) which was already quite down with recent announcements”.

And if this happens (now seems inevitable with Player 11.2 release), I, hereby, predict Flash’s death.

Well, some say Flash is already dead.  Release of premium runtime features will only be my personal recognition for the date of death. Flash will not suddenly go away or disappear, for sure.  But it will be the point of no return.

With Player 11.2 release, we will welcome a dead Player with Premium features. I will not install it on any of my personal computers I actually use* – I heard web still exists without Flash…

¹ And Flex is abandoned to Apache. (You may say it is now better for Flex, but you see, Flex is now just a footnote. Sad.)

² Signing files against modification, or, as signaling approval are totally different subjects.

³ Adobe also controls the distribution of the player.

* I intend to keep latest 11.1 version and not update, as long as I can. Afterwards my computers will be Flash runtimes free.

ASV 1.0 was released exactly 11 years ago…

And today we released the 11th anniversary version:

Thank you all for your support. Flash community is one of the best out there for sure.

I wish you all a happy new year! Healthy and wealthy…

Now stop reading this and go hug your loved ones.

Moving to WordPress after 7 years of MovableType with TypePad (Thanks for the ride).

(Truth is I don’t blog much anymore – I mean, even less than usual, I was never a heavy blogger – but I’m on twitter regularly – mostly I retweet and mark favs…).

Anyway, the move seems went fine – I will fix image links later, there are not many in any case.

Merry Christmas, happy holidays and whatever you may be celebrating!

Interesting news came from Microsoft’s PDC (Professional Developers Conference): Microsoft: Our strategy with Silverlight has shifted, by Mary Jo Foley.

(Read more at Microsoft’s Silverlight dream is over, by Tim Anderson, or a summary at Is Microsoft Turning Off the SilverLight?, Harry McCracken).

In short, Silverlight is now retired from its position as Flash Killer, coined about 3 years ago. MS thinks HTML5 will be the webs future, and it will be sufficient. Silverlight lives -not officially dead but will transform-, just like .NET… Here is what I wrote in May 2007: Silverlight must Live!

Flash is stronger than ever, as proved by the recent Adobe MAX 2010, and another so called Flash Killer is now gone…

Update: More on the Web:

Is Silverlight Done? Microsoft Shift in Strategy to html5 at *drawlogic

Microsoft Has Seen The Light. And It’s Not Silverlight at TextCrunch

On the “death” of Silverlight by Keith Peters

PDC and Silverlight announcement at Silverlight Team Blog

Silverlight Questions by Scott Guthrie (Nov 4, 2010)

What MS guys say doesn’t change the current situation a bit.

It was 1994, me and me brother were into music and computers (in that order). It was the year we created a MIDI driver for Windows 3.1 (Windows 95 was still in beta at the time).

The device driver converted audio input to MIDI notes. We could directly record from line input to MIDI sequencer software. It effectively converted our regular electric guitar to a MIDI guitar, provided that we played single notes at a time.

It was a good start but certain things and life prevented us working more on it. Anyway, the pitch detection algorithm we used was something my brother worked on…

Back to 2010… Now that microphone data is accessible with Flash player 10.1, we decided to make use of the algorithm and provide a free online chromatic guitar tuner.

A quick search reveals that there are only a couple of similar online tuners with pitch detection but they are all Java. Ours is proudly Flash.

It’s not open source, but we encourage you to peek at the source, using AS3 Sorcerer…

1994 seems so back in the past now, ancient. Yet at the same time it feels it was a blink ago… We still do plug in our axes from time to time, actual C source of the 16 bit device driver is lost long ago, but the algorithm, XAMDF, lives on…

Hope you find it useful. Happy tuning…

“Azoth is a free  ’Alchemy Opcodes Injector’, a Windows console (Win32 command-line) application, for AS3 Flash programming, that lets you replace method calls to a certain AS3 class (included with Azoth) with equivalent Alchemy opcodes in a SWF file. This provides superior performance for accessing a ByteArray as memory, than you can achieve with AS3 alone”.

We released Azoth on April 20th – but didn’t find time to announce it, officially. Philippe Elsass made the introduction better than I could, by also actually comparing currently available solutions. [AS3 – Fast memory access without Alchemy].

Yesterday we released 1.02 update, and now Azoth is officially announced. Hope you find it useful…

Google is kicking Apple’s nuts repeatedly…. #googleio #io2010

-oscartrelles (May 21, 2010)

Google I/O Keynote day 1 had 25,000 concurrent live viewers online. Flash just doesn’t work, crashes browsers and kills kittens.

-stefanrichter (May 21, 2010)

Annnd there goes another 20 minutes of my life to Robot Unicorn Attack… though I did get up to 3 dolphins this time!

-waxpraxis (May 21, 2010)

Vic Gundotra at @googleio: “It turns out that on the Internet, people use Flash”

-ivanski (May 21, 2010)

Apparently VP8 is: not as good as h264, a patent minefield and a crappy codebase. http://bit.ly/bc1mcS

-elsassph (May 20, 2010)

If someone emphasizes “open” in something that is open already it means that this someone prepares for “closed”, “locked” or “censored”.

-quasimondo (May 20, 2010)

Just realized articles about “H.264 vs Flash” make me feel the same way “Silverlight vs AIR” did. Not quite “Bicycle vs Fish”, but close.

-jdowdell (May 20, 2010)

grape juice flowing nicely. I think the grape juice has had it though, tastes a bit like wine.

-undefined (May 19, 2010)

It’d be great if wi-fi was open and standards-based. Then all those connectivity problems would go away. Oh, wait.

-parkerkrhoyt (May 19, 2010)

Google IO shows why Flash is important – to innovate features that later can be standardized and mainstream. All good.

-bryngfors (May 19, 2010)

I get it, #GoogleIO shows off all the tech that makes #Flash obsolete, then asks #Adobe to come on & talk about supporting the legacy crap!

-TheFlashBum (May 19, 2010)

If you spend more time planning code than coding, you may be happier in a foreign, remote location doing something boring.

-debreuil (May 18, 2010)

An API should only allow one way to do something, and that should be enough.

-debreuil (May 18, 2010)

RT@codinghorror I suspect some of you Mac users are not Thinking Different™ enough. Think DIFFERENTER, damn you!

eco_bach (May 17, 2010)

but notice that for all apple’s slickness, it only ever got around 10% of the market. android has now surpassed iphone in numbers.

bit101 (May 17, 2010)

lots of android vs. iphone posts today. pc vs. mac all over again. make the hardware and control the software, it’s easy to be consistent.

-bit101 (May 17, 2010)

I find it kind of funny that no one names Flash when celebrating YouTube’s 5 years birthday. I think Flash was a big reason for its success.

-bryngfors (May 17, 2010)

for the first time in a few years i am glad i get payed in dollars and not in euros

-cwahlers (May 17, 2010)

I think auteur theory spills over into electronics, such as how the news makes it sound like Steve Jobs built the iPad himself. Yeah right.

-benheck (May 17, 2010)

…though Steve Jobs beat me for the “Most Influential Person in Flash” #FATC award – should have Kanye’d him.

-gskinner (May 16, 2010)

If you stick your head far enough up your ass can you blow yourself from the inside? Apparently yes.

-debreuil (May 16, 2010)

Woot! Just won my first Star Craft II game.

-mesh (May 16, 2010)

Having a 32GB CF card in my SLR is awesome. Never have to worry about running out of space!

-mdowney (May 16, 2010)

Just got word that Facebook has lifted the restriction on Feathers Visage (http://feathersvisage.com). Your apps should start working again.

-aral (May 15, 2010)

Apple, the company that got us excited about copy and paste. Now we can’t wait for them to give us folders!

-bryngfors (May 15, 2010)

NEWSFLASH: Flash Player is no more secure than the browser it’s running in. Flash content has *more* security restrictions than HTML/JS.

-troygilbert (May 15, 2010)