Phillip Kerman has made a killer Flash answering machine. Its based on Flash MX and the Flash Communication Server. You can leave a message with either text, video and/or audio.

Forget guestbooks, this IS the killer homepage application with Flash MX ;-)

Matt Rice has discovered a strange EULA (End User License Agreement) from Macromedia. And at the same time he is proving that almost nobody ever reads those.

The EULA in question is the license agreement for the Flash Communication Server Components. It basically states:

You shall not (A) use the Developer Version for any application deployment in a live or stand-by production environment or staging environment, in each case, including, without limitation, in any environment accessed by application end-users including but not limited to servers, workstations, kiosks, and mobile computers, (B) use or deploy the Developer Version other than internally for the sole purpose of designing, developing, and evaluating applications pursuant to the terms and conditions set forth in this EULA

Matt has a longer excerpt from the EULA on his blog.

To me it seems like the EULA might have been put together a little fast and have parts left over from other licenses. At least, that is what I hope. Matt is checking with Macromedia legal to try to find out what this is really about. Is the EULA applicable to the Flash Communication server, and if so - why are Macromedia marketing the personal edition as one that can be used for deployment?

[Update]
Mike Chambers of Macromedia left a comment stating:

the EULA is the base EULA for all of our server products. The personal edition of the Flash Communication Server is not a Developer edition, and thus this section does not apply to the Flash Communication Server.

I guess the difference between the "Developer edition" and "Personal edition" is supposed to be obvious, but it isn't for me. The names of the various server license types are so close that it would probably be better for Macromedia to have more spesific EULAs for each of their products. At least it would have avoided the confusion this time around.

[Via SwfNews]

The page has been off the net for a while, and is archived thanks to the WayBackMachine, but since everything else is going belly up these days, I thought I would post it here too, so you know what you gotta do if you want to read it...

vi(1) is for whimps

by Jesus Monroy, Jr.

Lately, I've been a bit melancholy. Someone off-handedly stated (in a thread I can't recall) that all discussion if they go on long enough end in a VI vs EMACS battle. Somehow, this just wrings with too much truth.

The UNIX kernel is bloating. ELF is popular and the words OPEN SOURCE, now have a new meaning. It's bizarre.

None the less rather than drone on my depressions. Let's move on.

Tool Set

• sh(1) - command interpreter (shell)
• echo(1) - write arguments to the standard output
• cat(1) - concatenate and print files
• head(1) - display first lines of a file
• tail(1) - display the last part of a file
• mv(1) - move files

1. cat -n displayes a file with line numbers.
2. cat(1) and echo(1) are almost interchangeable. The major difference being that echo(1) requires it's input as an arguement; where cat(1) will accept a stream.
3. ctrl-d (^d) can be used when typing to end a stream.
4. ctrl-v (^v) can be used when typing to inserting a literal (like ESC or ctrl-d).

1. FILE OPS
• Create File

1. echo line > filename
2. cat  > filename

• Append File

1. echo line >> filename
2. cat  >> filename

• Prepend to a File

1. cat < (echo line ; tail +0 original) > newfile; mv newfile original
2. cat > filename; cat original >> filename; mv filename original

• Insert into a File

1. head -n original > filename; echo line >> filename; tail -n original >> filename
2. head -n original > filename; cat >> filename; tail -n original >> filename

• Remove from a File

1. If you can't figure it out, give up now.

2. LINE OPS
• Prepend to a Line -

1. echo "prepend `(tail -n original | head -1)`" 
2. echo -n prepend ; `(tail -n original | head -1)` ; echo 
3. cat > filename ; echo `(tail -n original | head -1)` >> filename

• Append to a Line

1. echo "`(tail -n original | head -1)` append"
2. echo -n `(tail -n original | head -1)` ; echo append

3. WORD OPS
• Remove a word

1.

X=`tail -n original | head -1`
for I in ${X} ; do
    echo -n ${I};
    read Q
    if [ $Q == 'Y' ] ; then
        echo -n "${I} " >> tempfile;
    else 
    fi
done
echo >> tempfile

Monroy & Associates © June 22, 1999

Mike Chambers have put up a nice little chat application on his weblog - lets just call it mesh on MX chat (look on the top of the page). Its based on Flash Communication Server components and the server itself (of course), with hosting from MediaTemple. I hope other hosting companies will be able to make deals resembling those that MT must have gotten (Yes, I am talking out of self interest here).

The chat showcases a weakness of the components (I think), at least the chat does not seem to multitask very well at the moment. There is a lag when trying to type everytime a message is coming in. I am sure Mike will be working on fixing that little problem.

It had to happen, and Mario Klingemann (Quasimondo) put it together first - The Flash amazonSearch

He writes about his Flash interface for Amazon in his blog:

I'm currently trying to implement some things that you will have difficulties to do in HTML. The whole idea is to have something like a table where all these books, CDs etc are lying around. Now you can make little heaps of stuff that interests you, throw away uninteresting stuff, see the connections, perhaps discover things you were not expecting and have an overall playful experience.

I am really looking forward to see where Mario is heading with it. So far it looks really interesting.

BTW: Daniel Dura is reportedly also working on a Flash interface for Amazon, very cool. :-)