Flash on Linux

As I am 95% switched to Ubuntu Linux (for several years now), I have been looking for solutions to those rare instances in which I was forced to boot the Windows partition just to run some software for which there is no linux substitute. Well, really, there were only two such situations left, one being my tax software and the other being Flash editing.

The tax software I need once a year so we can go with it, but what about Flash?
The sad truth is that there is no straighforward Flash alternative for linux. I really do not understand why. We have Open Office, we have the Gimp, we have just about everything we need for web development, but no respectable Flash for Linux??? Come on linux community, let's do it!

In the meanwhile, I tried to run Adobe Flash CS4 with Wine but it does not work. Then I tried an old trial version of Flash 8 and lo and behold, it runs on Ubuntu with Wine.

But then I wanted something a little more up to date because after all Flash 8 is quite aged by now, so I looked for Flash alternatives for the Windows platform. Then I discovered that there are a couple of nice ones: SwishMax2 and Sothink Quicker. SwishMax2 is definitely superior software, so I tried to install a trial version on Wine and at first everything looked nice (I had to install the Windows version of the Adobe Flash player beforehand with Wine though). However, when I try to export the movie into .swf format, the bugger crashes on me! I didn't quite understand why, since the movie preview works all right. What's the difference between previewing the movie and exporting it into .swf? I came to the conclusion that maybe, the people at swishzone did it on purpose in order to prevent people from running the application on linux. Too bad, because it's great software and if I still used Windows I'd gladly pay to register a copy.

Then I tried Sothink Quicker and I am happy to report that it runs great on Ubuntu 8.04/8.10 and Wine. The only problem I have encountered so far is related to the decompiling functionality of the software: when I try to import an .swf file into it, the guy crashes. Oh well, no big deal, as long as the export function works all right, which it does.

Sothink Quicker is not as polished and rich in functions as SwishMax2 and of course as Adobe CS3/ CS4 Flash, but it gets the job done and if you use Flash as a complement to your web design (as opposite to being a Flash-only professional developer), and at the same time you said good-bye to Microsoft and adopted linux, then I strongly recommend Sothink Quicker as great software which is at the same time simple and effective to get the job done quickly. The developers are from China and so the English help sometimes is not grammatically perfect, but everything else about the software is great so go for it and purchase your copy!

But if you still use Windows and are looking for an affordable Flash alternative, then I'd recommend Swish Max 2 as superior software. In fact you can run it on linux too when you edit the movie using the Swish proprietary file format, but then in order to export into .swf you have to send the proprietary movie file to a Windows based installation and export it from there. Hope the people at wine-hq will look into this and allow us to use a fully functional SwishMax2 on linux. By the way, Sothink Quicker sells for $84.95 while SwishMax2 sells for $149.95, and they both have trial versions for free download.

till next time...
umbertoweb