I'm trying to get Macromedia Flash 7 installed on some of our "locked-down" computers (Windows 2000).
I have a policy of never doing installs over the web, because that way I have no control over the exact version that I'm installing. I might violate that policy if I go about it carefully enough, but in general I think it's a bad way to manage software. I want to have the installation file for everything I install, so I can re-do it if it should become necessary.
Macromedia's web site says you can sign a license agreement and then they will give you a means to install it internally on your intranet. I presume but do not know for sure that that means they'd give me an executable installation file. However, their license agreement contains a rather vicious clause, saying that when they send me subsequent updates, that I must promise to install them "as soon as practical." I suppose there is enough latitude in the definition of "practical" to meet any reasonable requirements I have, but that's a nasty way of doing business.
There is a file floating around called flash7installer.exe. It will put a file in the IE plugin folder, but it doesn't make flash work. I presume it does some mucking with the registry, too.
I'm comfortable operating my computer as a Flash-free zone, and in fact would prefer to. But I don't always get to do things the way I prefer.
I am not completely out of ideas, but I'm wondering if anyone else is as cranky as I am about this issue and has come up with a solution.
John Gorentz
W.K. Kellogg Biological Station
Slogan: Down with Flash and fascism! Up with literacy and democracy!
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