I think talk of it being a Flash replacement is a bit overstated... but more showing where Apple is making their investments.
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Yes, I think it is definitely overstated. You probably should have clarified this a lot better in the article, especially since AI has really embellished it.
I'm sure ~50% of your readers unfamiliar with web development technologies will now think that this javascript framework has the capabilities of and will replace Flash.
so is this saying you could run flash in the iphone withhout actually using flash?
I guess this means that we will not see Flash in the iPhone (atleast from Apple) as it looks like they are moving to a better solution.
My guess is this new framework looks and feels like flash without a plugin and is probably more efficient then flash.
Javascript has come a long way in recent years, especially with the ability to callback to the web server and receive information asynchronously. Client-side Javascript has become the foundation for modern web applications, and is powerful enough to enable rich internet applications that can rival the features and functionality of many desktop applications. it is also starting to become capable of basic animated graphics, especially for enhancing user interfaces with graphical effects.
That said, to say that a javascript framework will be a practical Flash replacement is laughable. I'm no fanboy of Flash, and I quit using it years ago, but there are many things that Flash can do that any amount of javascript, HTML, and CSS just can't do (at the present time)
#) No-headache, cross-platform video playback
Before the widespread use of flash video, most video on the internet was accessed through binary browser plugins like Quicktime, Windows Media Player, RealPlayer

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, etc. This was a pain-in-the-*** at best, and could be a total nightmare. You had many different competing video plugins, with different functionality and capabilities depending on version number, platform, browser, browser version, etc. They had different control systems, different streaming video protocols, and worst of all, different codecs. They were inefficient, buggy, and crashed all the time.
#) Creating large, high-resolution, rich media presentations that mix bitmaps, vector graphics, and even video streams for product or service marketing.
These take advantage of Flash's highly-optimized, animated vector/bitmap graphics engine. In addition to complex animation, Flash scenes can seamlessly integrate and transform video.
#) Creating rich media banner advertisements
Flash is great for creating and deploying rich media advertisements that use video and animated graphics. First of all, for the website owner, embedding self-contained, binary Flash movies is MUCH easier than attempting to embed a html/javascript/css advertisement without screwing up the website code and layout. Secondly, for the client, much like the rational for the PDF format with documents, using Flash will insure that the advertisement is seen exactly as intended.
It's good to see that Apple, Opera, Mozilla, Google, and other companies are helping to increase the functionality and popularity of open web standards, including vastly speeding up javascript. As the technology evolves and browsers build in advanced new functionality, open web standards will no doubt overtake all binary plugins, including Flash. In the near future, HTML 5 should provide a simple way to embed video into the browser without needing flash, although there is current infighting over the codecs to be used and other issues. On the graphics animation front, animated SVG (scalable vector graphics) can provide similar vector animation as Flash, although the ability to seamlessly combine animated graphics with video is currently out of reach. As for my third "bullet" above, I am unaware of any solution in the works for pre-packaged rich media advertisments that don't affect the parent website.
With the introduction of GPU hardware acceleration in the new Flash plugins, I'm sure we will see advanced applications running in the browser that is able to powerfully manipulate image and video data, such as online versions of Adobe Photoshop and Premiere. I don't want to see Flash become even more embedded because of this new capability, and I hope that all players interested in a robust, open web standards environment will work hard to push the technology forward, including new functionality in javascript, animated SVG, CSS animations/transformations, HTML 5+, etc.
I remind everyone that a good portion of web users are still using IE 6.0 (windows), and some are still on IE 5.0/5.5. Remember, it takes seemingly forever to get everyone to upgrade their browser, so even when a new technology rolls out on the newest browser, it takes many months and even years for the technology to trickle down to the greater market, which means a big delay before large websites will use the technology.
If by Flash enabled you mean for videos as stated above, all the website has to do it use regular old HTML and throw the Flash code out. It's just a couple of lines of code in HTML 5.0 and you don't need the Flash video plug-in anymore. The sites that *don't* do this are just foolish and don't deserve your business IMO.
The very fact that the millions of new iPhone users won't be able to see Flash videos will force websites to use HTML instead..
First of all, It's very naive to assume that iPhone users alone will have any effect on the greater web market for Flash video. Secondly, yes it is true that HTML 5.0 should have native video playback, but Apple/Nokia/Mozilla/Opera/Microsoft are still fighting over how to implement it and especially which video codec(s) are going to be used. Even when updated browsers are finally ready that implement HTML 5.0, it will take a long time for a critical mass to form since browser updates happen slowly over time. For god sakes, some people are still using IE 5.0!!
I guess this is Apples answer to Microsoft's "SilverLight" (flash wanna be) as well as Adobe's "Air" platform (which is extremely capable, IMO). Here we go with yet another *-war (format war, os war, mac vs. pc war, iraq war).
I'll need silverlight to open MSN.com
SproutCore to get to Apple.com
and Flash to get to every thing else.
Great.
Actually not really. Sproutcore is just a javascript framework, it's not really competing with Flash or Silverlight (rich media, video). All you need is a browser with Javascript to use Sproutcore.