Using Flash swf + Flash / JavaScript Integration Kit over HTTPS – IE issue fix

My product works over HTTPS and I had to serve a flash application, but there was one weird behavior in IE, the security Dialog box stated an Error

“This page contains both secure and non
secure items. Do you want to display the nonsecure items?” YES, NO

I was using Flash / JavaScript Integration Kit to embed my flash application as my application needed to communicate with Javascript variables.

I tried google to find some answers but was in vain. Finally started to look in to Flash / JavaScript Integration Kit js files to find the culprit. There was a hard coded URL in the js file “FlashTag.js”

flashTag += ‘codebase=”http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=’+this.version+’” ‘;

flashTag += ‘pluginspage=”http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer”>’;

All I had to do was replace http with https the problem got resolved

flashTag += ‘codebase=”https://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=’+this.version+’” ‘;

flashTag += ‘pluginspage=”https://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer”>’;

You can even question me why should I use Flash / JavaScript Integration Kit in the first place when I have the “ExternalInterface” Class. If you are targeting flash player less than 8 version.

Thought this should be a useful to some one who got stuck up with the IE security error dialog box.

Happy flashing…

Technorati Tags: flash, actionscript, js, IE, security, https, fix

AirTel Hello Tunes for Free – last day, Hurry

Yes it is true, Airtel is offering Hello tunes for free and the last day is 22nd of August 2008.

Here is the msg, please read it carefully

Set Kangal Irandal(Subramaniyapuram) as your HelloTune for FREE.Rental of Rs15 for 1st 3 Mths & Rs30 from 4thMth onwards. SMS HTNEW to 700.Offer till 22-AUG-08!

I am sure many of you would have received similar msg from Airtel, may be the song are regional ones.

I am happy that Airtel has partially implemented my idea of Hello Tunes, here is the link to the post.

By the way I like the up selling ideas of Airtel, If you use pre – paid card you will have an Idea of what I am referring to.
Enjoy.

Technorati Tags: up-selling, prepaid, Airtel, Chennai, India, Hello Tunes, Free, Offer, Idea

Do Freebies players actually worry about the market?

The answer is simply No.

Freebies players actually don’t worry about the market value, they just want their share.

This brings to an interesting note.

A store like Walmart or Saravana Stores (Chennai, India) wants to acquire a million copies of a product and shares it willingness with its distributors and their offering price being half the selling price, and their selling price to consumers being 40 percent off on the product. Remember the distributor gets huge monitory benefit from this deal.

If you being the distributor will you sell the product to them?

If you say YES, you end up as slave to Walmart or Saravana stores, as consumers are going to flood their stores and killing the entire availability of that product in small stores. You being a distributor, the willingness to buy the product from you by small vendors is going to be nil.

If you say NO, what will be your conditions?
The condition has to be. Walmart/ Saravana Stores can sell the same product at 10-20% less than the MRP (maximum retail price) and if they want they can offer any freebies as their wish to promote sales.

In that way the value of the product is still not lost. If you remember the popular tamil magazine Kunkumam their intial offer was with lots of other products as freebies and still maintaining the MRP.

Technorati Tags: sales, distributor, small stores, marketing, freebies, free, chennai, India

How Commercial Software, can fight against the Free Softwares?

Before you jumping in to making of a software you looked in to the market and realized there is enough market share. Now you made it, wanted to test them. You made it free as a beta Phase, you now started making commercial version of the same and by retaining the free version with limited features for people to try.

Guess what? A new player comes and provides a me too version of the software for free, only revenue channel being advertisement inside the product.

How do you fight the free version?

Now let us look at same problem solved by the big software companies, I am just taking 2 examples.

1. Microsoft Windows VS Linux
2. Camtasia snagit VS Firefox addons Screen Grab VS WINK (Free)

Microsoft Windows – People continue to make fun of the “Blue screen of Death” in Windows, but funny bone people continue to run their machines with the same Microsoft Windows OS at least the majority of them.

When the threat came from Linux for Windows, I remember every media said that it was death of Windows and even now people say that web will be the new OS, that is still speculative.

What did Microsoft Windows do?
If I am not wrong, they came with lot of advertisements to educate users about the benefits of using Windows. They came with Windows XP SP1, SP2 & SP3 and fixed as much as they could. They executed it well.

I believe the marketing spend on Microsoft XP could have been almost or significantly nil when XP sales was at its peak. Word of mouth still holds good in business. Techies still continue to say XP is stable compared to Vista and there is no major innovation in Vista, that people have upgrade to Vista.

To say, we are still dependent on Microsoft for most of our office productivity. Aren’t we?

The second story is the most significant one. Their product is easy to create and it requires less effort and they still continue to be leaders in their USP. I am taking about TechSmith the makers of Camtasia Snagit.

They did face the similar issue of free software from the open source community.

The popularity of Firefox add ons created a market slow down for Camtasia Snagit and on top of that was the Freeware software called WINK, it did almost the same functionality of Snagit and it was free and forums was available for support.

How did TechSmith Camtasia Snagit fight?
Camtasia Snagit 7.2.5 the earlier commercial version of the software was given free.

Do you want to know why they made it free?
The story goes like this in the Indian shop vendors or Medical Shops, If you ask for a medicine and if it is currently out of stock, they will send one of their members to collect the same medicine from the medical store just opposite their store or even few streets away to procure the same and give it to their customers. It is that the customer gets a feeling that any medicine he needs can be obtained. And that he will come back to the same medical store if he needed one.

TechSmith didn’t want end users to try free software instead allowed users to try the previous commercial version for free.

I use Camtasia Snagit free edition as I experience the reliable, proven and easy to use screen capturing/recording software. BTW, I have already tried the software and its features, and even know each and every interface. It is just that it is easy to use, Comfortable. The only feeling being left out, that I am unable to use the advanced features, which are available in the current commercial version.

For the extra mileage they have contributed few projects called Jing Project and ScreenCast
That takes care of community etc etc

Final Notes: Winning over Free is difficult, but not impossible. If you believe in Free, you can’t win over Free. Undo the learning and fight against Free. If you wish to.

Technorati Tags: software, free, commercial, fight, microsoft, Linux, techsmith, camtasia, Snagit, Jing, Screencast, story, advertisement, revenue, marketshare