Macromedia responds in a Flash

I'm not sure when they made the change, as their FAQ pages don't have dates, but as of 5th March 14:28 GMT, Macromedia's Flash Player FAQ reads,

What is Macromedia's policy regarding making offers from within the Flash Player installer?

Macromedia has not and will not include 3rd party software or 3rd party software offers in the Flash Player installer.

We believe that continued developer and publisher support for Flash relies greatly on the seamless, free, invisible install experience of the Flash Player. We’ve always gone to great lengths to get Flash Player distributed with companies like Microsoft, Apple, Netscape, and others. It is free to distribute the Flash player on Intranets. We also offer tools like the Flash Detection Kit so an invisible Flash Player download can be prompted from any website.

No offers are or will be made via these mechanisms.

That emphasis is a little different to the text on that same page (accessed through Google cache, from 1st March 2005) which used to read

Why is the Yahoo! Toolbar being distributed with Flash Player?

Yahoo! and Macromedia are working together with the combined goal of providing great user experiences to our customers. This includes projects such as enabling customers to take advantage of the Yahoo! Toolbar and promoting the development of great, compelling content with the wide range of Macromedia products. Customers who do not wish to take advantage of this offer can easily opt-out of the installation.

So, there is a commitment now about the future distribution of the Flash Player. I think if you were to buy Flash MX 2004 based on this commitment, and Macromedia were to renege on it, they would have a hard time preventing you from distributing a spyware free Flash Player yourself. Actually, that's probably rubbish. They'd just sue you into the ground. Nonetheless, It is good to see this guarantee has been made, but it could be firmer.

Posted by Alexander at March 5, 2005 02:26 PM

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