Update (May 31, 2002):
Undoubtedly related to the flaw mentioned in the May 1, 2002 update, it has been confirmed with repeated testing that the Flash 6 plugin can (and will) freeze Netscape 4 and Netscape 6 under other circumstances. If multiple instances of either of these Netscape browsers are opened on pages with Flash movies, the browser will begin to slow down, then freeze (sometimes crashing, even freezing the computer). There is yet to be any official reaction from MacroMedia regarding this behavior, though many webdevelopers are becoming intimately acquainted with it as more and more surfers upgrade to the Flash 6 plugin and discover that pages that formerly loaded effortlessly now freeze their browsers or crash their computer.
The obvious solution is to avoid situations where a page opens a new page via a target="_blank" or target="_new" tag, however, this does not address the millions of pages already deployed that use these tags to ease and aid in navigation. The more straighforward and superior fix is for a new Flash 6 plugin to be released that does not exhibit this tendency for out-of-control processes that freeze browsers and crash computers. Flash is possibly the most important animation graphic format on the 'Net at this time with more than 400 million surfers Flash plugin ready.
Update (May 1, 2002):
Imagine discovering even one more flaw in the Flash 6 plugin! Sound impossible? It's not impossible and there is a new flaw only recently discovered by many webdesigners. As previously emphasized, this flaw is with the Flash 6 plugin, NOT the software program Flash MX (6). The new flaw has to do with using multiple Flash movies on a page. In most cases noted, the individual movies were a mere 10 - 15K each, yet if there were several of them on a page (a frequent occurance), the page caused Netscape 4.7x and Netscape 6.x to grind to a slow hault, ultimately freezing. The page would initially start to load, then the browsers would slow down, then spiral into an out-of-control loop that caused the browsers to freeze. The only known workaround at present is to only use one Flash movie per page as even extremely small Flash movies can produce this effect.
Opera 6, Internet Explorer 5.5/6, WebTV and Linux KDE are not affected by this Flaw. It has only been observed and reported as happening with Netscape 4.7 and Netscape 6. MacroMedia has yet to acknowledge or respond to these flaws, though they are now calling the new Flash MX (6) authorware a "public tryout" rather than a "new final product". This change was noted several days ago. Mayhaps they noticed the problems and rather than publicly admitting them have chosen instead to rename a "final product" to a "public tryout" while the wrinkles get ironed out? This wouldn't be the first time a major software producer has done so.
Update (April 12, 2002):
The fun knows no easy end with the new Flash 6 plugin! It should be noted that the various flaws we are reporting here have ONLY to do with the Flash 6 plugin and are NOT flaws with Flash MX (Flash 6), the new version of the popular authorware that writes Flash movies. Obviously, you need the plugin to view the movies. The flaws are apparently part of the plugin, not Flash MX. It should also be noted that the official name for Flash 6 is Flash MX, but the two are mostly interchangeable as Flash MX is the new version, and Flash 5 is the previous version. Why the name went from Flash 5 to Flash MX is anyone's quess.
A new flaw recently noted has to do with how the Flash 6 plugin interacts with Java. It does so rather badly. While no lockups nor freezes occur, the Flash 6 plugin loses its ability to play sounds in the presence of Java. Since playing sounds is an important part of the Flash experience, this new flaw, though not fatal as the ones below are, is totally unacceptable. One of the coolest features of Flash is its seamless and transparent ability to add sounds to .jpg quality animations, elevating them to online animated movies and making Flash authors as important as Director (another MacroMedia image authorware) authors. Java and Flash are frequently mixed on pages by multimedia conscious authors.
There is, as of now, no official reaction regarding these flaws, though the many sites that specialize in Flash have multiple reports about the strange behavior of the plugin. In addition, those sites that post public .fla's (the native filetype for Flash) have yet to add separate categories for Flash MX. They stop submissions at the version 5 level.
Update (April 4, 2002):
Due to several recent rashes of selfexecuting VBS (Visual Basic Script virii), the design team testing ALL of our Flash movies for the Flash 6 freeze flaw had to completely dump their caches. What they then discovered was that the Flash 6 freeze problem is more severe than originally thought. An emergency recode of ALL pages that use small buttons (with embedded sound effects onMouseover) has been instituted. Static .gif's will be placed in the same position as the offending Flash 6 (Flash MX) movies. No games nor larger Flash movies cause this freeze to occur, so the exact reason is still subject to speculation.
NS 4.x and NS 6.x are affected the worse, they always freeze when loading a page with multiple small movie buttons with embedded sound effects. Opera 6 is inconsistent, sometimes it freezes and sometimes it doesn't. Several Mozilla (NS 6 independent version) coders and designers have also now noticed the problem and believe it may be caused by an overreliance on the Windows and Internet Explorer API, but it should be noted that this is only conjecture. As Flash 6 (Flash MX) uses a new scripting architecture, it is possible that this new scripting is flawed. Flash is the 'Net standard for animated games and for .jpg quality animations. It also allows sounds and advanced scripting to be embedded within its graphics, a distinct improvement over .gif animations.
Original story (March 30, 2002):
Several weeks ago, surfers first encounted the first of the new Flash MX movies. If written in Flash MX (Flash 6), these new movies may require the use of the new Flash 6 plugin. The Flash 5 (or 4) plugin does not have the same feature set and scripting support, so an upgrade is necessary to view the movies correctly. A serious flaw in Flash 6 has recently come to light. Using the new plugin freezes many systems.
It was first noticed by the team responsible for Pacoima Ranch several days ago. The pages that caused the freeze had certain things in common. They featured many small movies being used as inline graphics with embedded sounds. The problem occurred in Netscape 4.77, Netscape 6.2 and Opera 6. Internet Explorer is apparently immune. As the page was loading, the browser initially loaded the movies, then the surfers' computer froze solid. In some instances, the page fully loaded, then the freeze occurred on REFRESH, if the page was scrolled in any direction, a link was clicked, or any rightclick was performed.
Other design teams have reported similar problems on pages with many movies and embedded sound once they upgrade to Flash 6. There has been no response yet from MacroMedia. MacroMedia is the parent company of Flash and many other cutting-edge graphic programs featuring advanced scripting abilities. Similar problems with the first release of Flash 5 caused a free upgrade of the basic program to be released and a new plugin was also made available.
For obvious reasons, it is suggested that all webdesigners retest their pages after installing the new Flash 6 plugin, making sure to pay special attention to pages with Flash movies and how their NS4, NS6 and Opera 6 browsers behave. We've yet to find a good workaround for this problem and have altered any pages that freeze systems by substituting static .gif's for Flash movies if the page causes a freeze. Not a good thing, but better than angry surfers.
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