IT Professionals

Flash Video Goes P2P

Posted by on May 19, 2010 | 4 Comments

Despite the “we-hate-Flash-express” gaining stream, we see Adobe offering something that, last time I checked, HTML5 based video was not — bandwidth sharing through P2P.

The idea is that an upcoming release of Flash will enable those sharing rich Flash media to do so without use of a single source of bandwidth. And this is definitely something that I think has been long since overdue on many fronts.

This “P2P-enabled Flash swarm” could change the performance of many videos out there. But the big question I have is about availability. While it sounds like a great plan to eliminate much of the bandwidth costs surrounding video usage, I am still skeptical as to how much benefit that will provide the common user.

Do you think this matters? Perhaps, instead, you see this as yet another “don’t hate us” option for Adobe to save face? Hit the comments; share your thoughts on this.

[awsbullet:Flash CS4 Professional]

  • Jeff

    P2P is a fancy way for companies to save money while sticking it to the consumer. They have to pay big bucks for their media hosting, so instead they will abuse the local ISP unlimited plans etc. The Internet is already heading to metered use and this is going to help that along. By forcing us to essentially pay for their bandwidth, we will suffer with slower speed usage, long waits on rarer video, and just as much ad spam.

    To me it’s like ups draining a galon from my tank to keep costs Down while charging me full price for shipping. If we are going to be hosting for them, I want a cut. The amount of security holes in P2P and flash make them both scary, together it’s going to be an Internet wild west. Wait till you go to YouTube to watch the newest funny video and the hash gets poisoned and you get a bug. HTML 5 has a noose around adobe’s neck, they are about to pull their own handle.

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  • http://www.natrobius.info Nathan Davies

    It’s not working…. I still hate flash.

  • http://www.justenrobertson.com Justen

    I’ve been wondering where this technology is for several years now. I knew it was technically possible and with sites like Youtube could take a huge chunk out of operating costs; I always assumed it didn’t get done due to copyright fear. Maybe the environment is shifting. Interesting that Adobe is first-to-market, I didn’t see that coming.