Today Adobe have released a beta version of Flash Player 10 to the masses. Its available to download now on Adobe Labs, there you will find various demos that showcase some of the new features in the player.
The latest player features some of the most requested features since the release of the last version of the Flash Player:
Bi-Directional Text Support - People have been asking for this for years.
3d Effects - Move DisplayObjects around in 3d space with Actionscript.
Dynamic sound generation - Andre Michelle, eat your heart out.
FileReference runtime access to files without sending the file to the server first.
Typed Arrays - AKA Vectors (An array that contains only data of the same type).
GPU Blitting/Compositing - Faster rendering old and new Flash Movies.
Custom Filters - Get more info about Adobe Pixel Blender, a new programming language that allows you to create your own super fast filters by manipulating pixels.
I am very, very excited about this release primarily because its now easy to create truly localized worldwide websites in Arabic, Chinese, Hebrew and all the other languages that have been tricky business in the past. I dont think it is as ground-breaking as Flash Player 9 which was a huge leap forward, but there are still some pretty hefty game-changing features in this one. I have on concern already and that is that i am worried that the 3d Effects are going to be misused/overused now its so easy and we will have another Skip Intro era.