Flash Problems

[Jordan_Arey]

I'm an enabling manager for the Intel Software Partner Program. I have an ISV I am working with who is experiencing problems with getting their application to pass the Power Checker assessment. They are using Flash to develop and they said that when they ran Flash alone on the checker it failed even worse than their own application. Has anyone heard of this problem before? Any advice?

Jordan Arey

Intel Software Partner Program

ISV Enabling Manager

801-786-5696

jordanx.r.arey@intel.com

[Aubrey_W_]

Hello Jordan,

Is the application a standalone .exe file? If it's a .swf or .flv file, it wouldn't be supported by the chekcer.

Has the developer taken any particular steps to optimize the power efficiency? I'm not familiar enough with Flash to know what that would entail.

Once we have all that basic info I can ask around and see if we have some Flash experts who can offer some recommendations.

Best regards,
==
Aubrey W.
Intel Software Network Support

[Jordan_Arey]

Hey Aubrey,

I just confirmed that the ISV's games are stand alone .exe files, and this is their first step toward any power effeciency work.

Thanks,

Jordan Arey

Intel Software Partner Program

ISV Enabling Manager

801-786-5696

jordanx.r.arey@intel.com

[TaylorIoTKidd]

I'm unsure if this is an internal thread or an external one. I'll assume it's external.

My power experience with flash is a couple of years old but, for what it's worth, here are some comments/observations.

The flash engine was (as of a couple of years ago) notoriously power inefficient. This was mainly because its timer tic interval was too small. I figure this was done for the usual reason; some programmer thought that a timer tic interval of 1 ms would give faster response than the default Windows interval. As you can guess, this resulted in no improvement in performance/reaction time over the standard interval. It also resulted in a very power inefficient flash engine because the processor wasnt allowed to drop into deeper sleep states. This occurred even in idle, meaning the flash engine wasnt doing anything.

First some background: Power checker provides timer tic and other measurements for baseline, idle and workload states. The workload state is when your flash app is doing something, say having a large buck toothed rabbit running down some loaded to bear, 21st century mercenaries. Idle state is when your flash app is doing nothing, no rabbit, no mercenaries, just boring idle background. Baseline is a condition where nothing is running, particularly the flash engine. If the idle timer tick interval is the same as that for the full out rabid rabbit scene, and you did nothing to change the timer tic interval in your code (can you even do this with flash?), it wouldnt surprise me if it is the flash engine.

How can you determine if the problem is your flash engine or your app? Write a dumb little app that does essentially nothing but start up the flash engine. Use Power Checker to look at what the timer tic interval is. Im betting that its the same as that when your app is in idle. Then you have good evidence that its the flash engine.

Unfortunately, many important classes of app engines have this type of timer tic problem. Often the companies know it. So why do these issues remain? It has a lot to do with reasons of business and competition. If its going to take you a man month to fix it (Im assuming you can fit it into the testing and validation cycle of another release), you have to evaluate the bang for the buck. If you believe the customer base of your engine is desktop where power isnt an issue (increasingly less true in the last few years), then why bother. Or you might have to make the decision that its more worthwhile to invest that man month into features that you believe will make your product more competitive.

Hope this helps.

--

Taylor

[Jordan_Arey]

Thanks Taylor,

this is very helpful. I'll pass on the information.

Jordan Arey

Intel Software Partner Program

ISV Enabling Manager

801-786-5696

jordanx.r.arey@intel.com

[Jordan_Arey]

One more question for you Taylor,

I passed on the information you provided to my ISV. Abbey checked into the time tic and here is what she found;

"The timer tick rate was 1 for our application in all three test results and 1 for the basic Flash Player app test. Both resulted in 1 thus meaning that is a set-in-stone Flash Player timer tick that we have no control over. So how to we pass this test with that being a fact with Flash Player?"

It looks like we are at the end of the road on this one.Are we assumingcorrectly that an application developed in Flash has no chance of passing thePower Checker?

Jordan Arey

Intel Software Partner Program

ISV Enabling Manager

801-786-5696

jordanx.r.arey@intel.com

[TaylorIoTKidd]

I've contacted the AE in charge of the Adobe account. Let's see what she says about the timer tick.

If the engine's timer tick hasn't been changed, then I'm afraid you're right.

--
Taylor

[TaylorIoTKidd]

No joy.

The timer tick is still the same and Adobe has no plans to change it.

Unfortunately, I don't think Adobe has much competition. That means that even though Flash has a negative impact on mobile platforms, they aren't going to do anything about it until pressure is brought to bear. For example, Adobe might sit up and pay attention if OEMs realize that flash is costing them market share by reducing claimed battery life.

[Jordan_Arey]

Well, this is good to know. Thanks for all your help.