Thread

Flash was created during the PC era – for PCs and mice.

http://www.apple.com/hotnews/thoughts-on-flash/

more ammo when clients ask about flash in their sites and critically ask why i don’t do that ...

more ammo…and therefor less room for coins in you pocket.
...because they can’t make their devices support it.

It’s not up to Apple or any other device maker to make their devices run Flash.  Until the recent bridge burning, it’s been entirely up to Adobe.  The salient point from that letter, regardless of where one stands on the issue, is that Adobe has yet to demonstrate Flash running in a decent manner on any mobile device.

I’m with Zeldman on this one: web standards, web standards, web standards.

When I started my career as a web developer - which was not very long ago - I quickly realized I needed to choose to specialize in either the “open standards web” or the “Adobe web”.  I’m just not smart enough to keep up with both.

I chose open standards and it’s nice to see a major player (Apple) pushing in that same direction.  I can see
why an Adobe-centric developer would be frustrated by this news.

Heck even MSFT realizes it: http://blogs.msdn.com/ie/archive/2010/04/29/html5-video.aspx

...because they can’t make their devices support it.

From what I’ve read, Apple has made a hard but appropriate choice. Apple doesn’t want Flash on their new devices (rather than, ‘they can’t make their devices support it’ which is probably false) for a variety of very good business and technical reasons. How many smart phones are there that run Flash? One? Two? Four? Those that do run Flash rather poorly and it sucks battery life big time. Most video that uses Flash is now in H.264 format, so Flash is merely a video player, of which there are plenty that can run H.264 video without Flash.

I say, “Good riddance.”

How many smart phones are there that run Flash? One? Two? Four?

Are there any phones that run flash? I had heard that Adobe will have Flash on a mobile phone 2nd half of this year.

I had heard that Adobe will have Flash on a mobile phone 2nd half of this year.

Adobe said in 2008 they’d have Flash for mobile phones. Then they said it would be 2009. Then 2010. Still waiting.

The interesting thing about “Flash” is that it means different things. There’s Flash player for movie, most of which are H.264, which makes Flash merely a player container. Flash for advertising, of course. And Flash for interactive games (I’d rather have an iPhone game), and the dying Flash interface and animation for web sites.

Most of the complaints have to do with Flash video, and the majority of that video is H.264 which could easily use a different player than Flash.

Steve said flash is buggy :p

I think Flash has seen its heyday and is now in decline. It has served us well over the last 5 years or so - well for watching videos at least! The rest of the regular uses for Flash, adverts, games and so on I can live without.

Long live the day I can remove the Flash browser plugin and be Adobe free 😊

As far as I know that letter is actually quite old. I read something by Steve Jobs some time back which was basically the exact same thing.

I did just read the other day that Adobe are making something that will convert existing Flash apps to a standard iPhone app so you can do things that way instead.

I think it’s a shame that Flash won’t be going on the iPhone but totally understand the reasons why it isn’t being adopted.

Best wishes,

Mark

I did just read the other day that Adobe are making something that will convert existing Flash apps to a standard iPhone app so you can do things that way instead.

Yes, until it was banned.

I still find their timing on that amusing, right before cs5 launch 😊

Apple is clearly anticompetive and the good news is that federal regulators agree. Regulators are considering investigating Apple over antitrust concerns.

A former Federal Trade Commission policy director said this:

What they’re (Apple) doing is clearly anticompetitive ... They want one superhighway and they’re the tollkeeper on that superhighway.

The motive for Apple’s protectionist actions are simple: 100% control of the operating system and all applications. Just as Apple controls ipod music with their proprietary itunes, Apple wants all iphone/ipad applications bought and sold through istore. Does anyone think the music format was to control quality? It was to control $ales.

Now, even if Apple were restricting flash to provide a better user experience, would that be ok? Is limiting consumer choice ever ok? At least micro$oft allows competitor’s software to run on its OS. Even so, Microsoft was sued just because it installed IE by default.

Not sure why the anti-trust stuff is kicking in actually. Does Apple have a monopoly on smart phones?

http://www.mikeindustries.com/blog/archive/2010/05/a-good-problem-to-have

my phone runs flash! HTC Desire - and i have to say its fine. I am sure it does drain the battery, i am sure it does need a hefty mobile processor and a chunk of ram… but to be honest why is that a problem? Are you lot telling me that the Apps on a iphone don’t zap the battery in minutes! All my friends with iphones charge it nightly and have to restrain their use because of battery drain from apps, screens, etc. The HTC is not much better - but it does support flash and i am not told what i can and cannot do with my phone!

Yes flash is closed and not perfect (but is apple really open!!! app store, cough.) - and note i am no fan of flash at all. But you would be surprised how many sites use it, and how many places rely on it due to customer demand (and admitidly people not knowing about better alternatives). And are you telling me the the right method, solution, or best product always wins the battle for the top spot?

I can understand Jobs taking the high ground - we all want to do whats right. But if my customer requests somehting i will advise them why it might be wrong and then let them make the decision. I personally have had enough of being treated like a child and being told what i can and cannot do with a prooduct i have paid a chunk for - and hence i voted with my feet and went elsewhere.

But then again - i know the forece behind apple is so strong many people won’t… (or don’t know better!!! 😉 ) So apple will keep going with expensive products (higher quality???) and keep a good name for themselves.