“Gnash, the free software Flash player, has released its first
beta. The new release is a milestone for both the project and the
GNU/Linux desktop, which remains dependent on the proprietary Adobe
player for handling Flash files (.swf). Although Flash support is
not complete in version 0.8.2, Gnash has now reached the point
where it is usable for the most common everyday purposes, such as
watching videos on YouTube–a point that Gnash was exaggeratedly
reported as having reached last June. However, in many other
ordinary circumstances, Gnash’s success remains hit or miss.“Gnash arose out of the Gameswf project in the last months of
2005. It soon attracted widespread attention in the free software
community, becoming a high priority project of the Free Software
Foundation, an indication that it was filling one of the main gaps
in free desktop functionality…”