With the new features of Flash 5's Action Script it's much easier to
obtain and show data without having to use JavaScript in your HTML coding
and thus makes it possible to build standalone movies that get information
from the client's system. You can also use other information, such as
getMonth(), getYear() and getDay() to show a calendar on your movies.
Marcos J Pinto is a free lance developer and a computer books author in Brazil. His most recent book is a begginers introduction to using Flash 5 (in Portuguese).