Flashforward Austin: Flash Enters Its Second Decade
Co-founders Good and David Stubenvoll, two former Adobe employees, came together to develop a vlogging application back in late 2005. They soon realized that the Java servlet they developed could be valuable in the rapidly growing video market. The server itself is streamlined, stable, and remarkably lightweight, with a total filesize of about 250k—conceivably small enough to run on a mobile device. It is currently deployed and being tested in Linux Fedora4 server environments.
The two sites that currently using WowzaFlash server are Blogcheese.com, a dead-simple vlogging tool, and Sideflicks.com, a social video messaging system that lets users easily create, share, and accept personal video messages on their own web pages.
One concern with alternative streaming solutions such as WowzaFlash Server is potential legal issues with Adobe regarding its RTMP protocol. "I currently don’t see where we could be challenged. We have been in to speak with them [Adobe] more than six months ago," says Stubenvoll. "We told them exactly how we did it, the methodologies we used, and, as near as I can tell, we’re in very good shape. We were very honest about what we had done."
When asked about the emerging competition to Flash Media Server—WowzaTV and the open-source project Red5—a representative from Adobe declined to comment.
WowzaTV is still in the development stages, and is seeking beta testers with applications that can utilize and push the boundaries of the existing technology, adding functionality and custom features to the server. Licensing costs have not yet been determined. Visit the company's website for more information and to apply for the beta.
Overall, it’s clear that the Flash platform is a hotbed of innovation in the online video market. From the inspirational video projects showcased in the Flashforward Film Festival to the video "mashup" apps, to the packed video-related sessions, the creativity of the Flash community can only grow the market for Flash Video in the future.