[Gnash-dev] Gnash, Flash, Adobe, and cash

[James Northcott / Chief Systems]

Hello,

My business partners and I are currently working on a Linux-based application that requires Flash playback.

Adobe has specifically excluded our application from bundling a Flash player under the terms of their free distribution license, and our efforts to negotiate some sort of paid licensing agreement have stalled.  At this point, we are looking for alternatives, and it would seem that helping Gnash would be a viable option for us.

This leads me to ask the following questions:

1.   What is stopping the Gnash team from fully implementing the Flash 9 file format?  Where could we help the most?

I understand there are some legal issues with those who have agreed to the Adobe EULA making contributions to Gnash.  I'm also sure that there are manpower issues, as well as funding issues.  I would appreciate someone taking the time to explain where the largest issues lie.  We have some programming resources available, although we have no experience with the Gnash codebase at all, as well as a potentially large number of sample Flash movies that play correctly in the Adobe player but not in Gnash.

2.   What kind of monetary investment would be necessary to significantly speed up Gnash development?

I realize that this may be a difficult question to answer, but we are quite serious.  We were prepared to pay Adobe to license their player, but this seems to have hit a dead end - could our contribution to Gnash help speed up development, and if so, how large a contribution would be required to overcome the blockers for Flash 9 support?

We understand the open source model, and we are not interested in owning the copyright or changing the license of the Gnash code.  We are simply willing to pay to get Flash 9 playback in our product, if this ends up being within our budget.

I appreciate any feedback you have for me.

James