Debian dumps Flash ... and why you might want to try Debian and Slackware

For me a Flash movie is a great saving in resources compared to a straight .avi file, and it's the only format I can use for some purposes. I'd really hate not being able to play those.

But you can still use it on Debian by means of using 'one more' non-free repository, not?

Like I say in the review, I've never been able to install Flash from the repositories and actually have it work. I always have to get it through Iceweasel. In PCLinuxOS, it worked the way it is supposed to -- from the repository and not through Firefox.

I don't know if Gnash has made it to Debian yet -- or Ubuntu for that matter -- but I'd sure like to try it.

Gnash has a long way to go. It doesn't render everything perfectly, and even YouTube videos can be problematic.

Quoting:But you can still use it on Debian by means of using 'one more' non-free repository, not?

Actually, flash is in contrib, not in non-free. The reason for dropping flash I think is that Debian has a policy not to put new versions in the stable distribution. Since they can't get anymore support for the flash version shipping with stable, they had to drop it. Newer versions of flash can be found in backports.org where you can find all kinds of newer software for Debian stable.

Ah, here's the Debian bug that explains why flash is moved to backports.org: http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=457291

Everyone should follow the link in Sander's message above -- the discussion therein is quite interesting.

It's a shame that poor little ole Adobe Corp. can't afford to maintain it properly. I understand it's a task of enormous magnitude and global consequences. Oh, and we're getting 64-bit Flash....when?

I have a swfdec-based player installed. I'm trying not to use it (because of a chronic dislike of Flash) but it does play YouTube videos. Last checked: today. So: so long, proprietary crud!