Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Adobe Acknowledges That Apple's Flash Prohibition Could Harm Business

GFLPraxis said:
"The people" are often dumb.

"People" will often accept horribly poor technologies until they are forced to fix them.

Look at the wave of poorly written web sites a decade ago that didn't get updated until FireFox started gaining marketshare and developers realized that they were writing poor code that only worked in IE.

HTML5 is a much, much better alternative to Flash for web video. Developers need something to push them out of their comfort zone with Flash.

While, as a user, I wish my iPhone could play Flash, I think that from an industry perspective, iPhone/iPad not using Flash is the best thing that could have happened, because it's going to improve the quality of the web as a whole, and in a few years it'll have been worth it.
Click to expand...

Thanks but I was making a statement of fact. Not a personal opinion.🙂
 
Adobe is finally seeing the handwriting on the wall. Apple can cause them major problems if they don't start playing ball. Apple is becoming one of the most powerful companies in the world...It is a little scary.
I could see Adobe, Google, and Microsoft partnering at some point, but I doubt it would worry Apple. It's not like any of those three have a great track record when competing against Apple.
 
HTML5 is the future. It's a much cleaner and more elegant solution to embedding rich media in web pages as it runs natively and the implementation is under the control of the browser development team.

I think Apple is not forcing "people" to adopt HTML5, but rather forcing all the major websites to begin using it, therefore paving the way in a few years for Flash to become obsolete.

HTML5 can do everything Flash can do and more, and now we all won't be forced to download software from single vendor if we want to watch video online. This is a good thing, it gives everyone more choices. I'm sure for lovers of Flash there will be legacy support for years to come as well...
 
If Microsoft were to limit what developer tools one is allowed to use on their platforms, Mac fans would scream bloody murder.

3.3.1 — Applications may only use Documented APIs in the manner prescribed by Apple and must not use or call any private APIs. Applications must be originally written in Objective-C, C, C++, or JavaScript as executed by the iPhone OS WebKit engine, and only code written in C, C++, and Objective-C may compile and directly link against the Documented APIs (e.g., Applications that link to Documented APIs through an intermediary translation or compatibility layer or tool are prohibited).

When I first read this, I immediately considered selling my Mac Pro and switching away from Mac OS over the next year or so.

Now you can all tell me why this is good when Apple does it and flame me for criticising the Uberjobs.
 
Markov said:
I honestly wish Apple would cooperate with Adobe and bring flash to the iPhone/ iPod touch/ iPad. I know the fanboy's will flame me for this one, but I honestly think Apple is too damn controlling sometimes. From what I've read, a majority of the iPhone/ iPod touch/ iPad users would be happy to have flash on their devices. I know I would...
Click to expand...

Yes, if that does not make my iphone run out of battery in 1 hr web browsing.

🙂
 
Markov said:
The least Apple could do is let flash run on their hand held devices UNTIL HTML5 has been adopted by nearly everyone. At least there wouldn't be any inconvenience to anyone in the mean time. Although, Apple could care less about inconveniencing their consumers, it seems.
Click to expand...

Then it won't get adopted. Web developers will either be lazy (why update it to the new standard if it works?) or decide to cater to the lowest common denominator (everyone has Flash, but some people are still on IE6 and can't use HTML5!), and the adoption rate will take years. Meanwhile, over those years, our iPhones will be bogged down by a slow and often-crashing Flash plugin that sucks up battery life.

There's definitely a consumer inconvenience that occurs, but to me, it's worth the tradeoff for the benefits of a better web over the next few years.
 
won't even support a native export?

"...the company released a modified developer licensing agreement that appears to prohibit the use of a feature in Adobe's forthcoming Flash Professional CS5 to export Flash content into the native iPhone format."

Now that is quite a jerk move on Apple's part if that's true....
Really now? You can't be serious!
 
Enigma55 said:
Adobe is finally seeing the handwriting on the wall. Apple can cause them major problems if they don't start playing ball. Apple is becoming one of the most powerful companies in the world...It is a little scary.
Click to expand...

It's very scary.


I could see Adobe, Google, and Microsoft partnering at some point, but I doubt it would worry Apple. It's not like any of those three have a great track record when competing against Apple.
Click to expand...

Actually, they do.

You might still remember the time between 1990 and 2000 when Microsoft took over the desktop market?

Microsoft and Apple competed directly and Microsoft won, using strategies less dirty than what Apple use now.
 
Markov said:
The least Apple could do is let flash run on their hand held devices UNTIL HTML5 has been adopted by nearly everyone. At least there wouldn't be any inconvenience to anyone in the mean time. Although, Apple could care less about inconveniencing their consumers, it seems.
Click to expand...

The greatest convenience to Apple's customers is getting rid of Flash on websites as quickly as possible.

Until recently, I was only mildly annoyed with Flash on webpages. Then I learned about the malware risks. Then I leaned about Flash cookies -- and that they don't honor the rules of the browser. I finally started wondering: why should I run a hotter computer, consume more power, turn on my fan, leak my identity, and risk the integrity of my computer -- all to run stuff I didn't want to run in the first place?

I am glad a major vendor has taken on Flash.
 
MacSince1990 said:
This.

And how is flash "bad"? It's actually really, REALLY good. A very good thing.
Click to expand...

I hate to admit but Flash is CPU hog and it would crash and hang my Safari very often....Apple submit these problems to Adobe a long time ago and they didn`t fix the problem until it is too late. Steve Jobs were totally right that they were lazy in fixing their flash plug-in issues.

Another issues i have with Adobe is that their software is freaking expensive. I could have bought a new iMac easily at the price of their Adobe Suite package.
 
I understand where Apple is coming from.

However, by heavy-handing developer guidelines, I worry Jobs is risking isolating the company from the rest of the world. This didn't work well in the 90's and it won't work well in the coming decade.

Why? This seems absurd right now because the app store is the shizzle today. However, every other company in the world is working together (with Adobe on open screen project) and while such a big force takes time to gain speed, it's going to steamroll over Apple in the next year or two (three at most).

Why are customers going to pay the Apple tax, when other smart phones have more features, less restrictions, and more prevalent in the market place? Why will developers put up with Apple's draconian guidelines when Android is taking over the world.

Google/Android is the Microsoft of the coming decade. If Apple locks itself up in the walled garden, don't expect the iPhone success to be long term. What's that saying about history?....
 
m85476585 said:
Good. Flash is possibly the biggest piece of bloatware ever written.
Click to expand...

What an inane comment. This isn't even about running Flash on an iphone. It is about being able to run software that was originally coded in Flash and then converted to a format that would run natively on an iphone, meeting apple's previously specified requirements. Whether or not Flash is bloated has nothing to do with this.
 
ajbrehm said:
Microsoft and Apple competed directly and Microsoft won, using strategies less dirty than what Apple use now.
Click to expand...

I would disagree on this; Apple has been playing dirty, but when they play dirty, they're usually trying to kill off something proprietary and replace it with a standard or open source. In this case, they're trying to kill off a proprietary technology that half the internet is bound to and make developers move to an open standard.

Microsoft always did the exact opposite.
 
I wonder why Adobe doesn't just join the HTML5 bandwagon and put their authoring software to good use...

Making HTML5 stuff?
 
vertigo235 said:
I wonder why Adobe doesn't just join the HTML5 bandwagon and put their authoring software to good use...

Making HTML5 stuff?
Click to expand...

Because they completely control the Flash market and make tons of money off of it.

That's like asking why Microsoft doesn't back Linux...
 
Writing on the wall ...

SEVERAL major blows to Adobe's Flash player were made yesterday. And they're VERY serious to the future of Flash: Webkit 2, iAd, the iPad, and pushing the HTML5 standard. These are going to marginalize Flash, in my opinion, in a shockingly short amount of time. And keep in mind my statements are about how each technology and company is positioned for the FUTURE, not necessarily the present.

First, a couple of obvious points: Flash is extremely popular, but that is primarily because it is required to deliver both advertising and video content. You don't see a lot of mainstream web sites using Flash as the primary method of delivering their content outside of video or advertising.

So Apple is pushing the HTML5 standard into maturity. WebKit 2 is a huge boost to that on all platforms. If you actually look at how many browsers use Webkit, it's NEARLY ALL OF THEM, with the exception of IE and Firefox. Firefox plays decently with HTML5, but will always be getting better. IE ... well, we'll see but nobody really cares anyway. I almost pull for the explorer team because they're an underdog now.

From Apple's perspective, the WebKit 2 announcement means they are devoting resources to optimize the web experience around open standards instead of Flash. Why optimize for a proprietary standard when you can make everything on the web work quickly by making HTML5 work quickly? It's an obvious move, really. And they have partners in this endeavor with Google's Chrome and Mozilla's Firefox.

The writing is on the wall. And it's funny to say in some respects, because Flash is so popular right now. But it will happen. Flash will be marginalized. I lament this a bit. The Flash IDE isn't that bad. Flash is actually a very pleasant framework to build applications for. But when Apple puts their brains and marketing muscle behind something you have to take notice. It's obvious Adobe will.

I wonder if this will sour Adobe's creative suite plans for the Apple platform? 🙂
 
Anyone know how Apple can even tell if you ported a Flash application over to an iPhone application?

Are they going to be parsing through each submissions code to find evidence that it originally wasn't a 'pure' iphone app?

I just don't get why it matter whether it was written originally for the iphone or ported over, as long as it works!
 
I don't understand the Flash hate here.

My macs always handle flash like crap and overheat and consume tons of CPU, but I was always under the impression this was more due to Apple than to Adobe and some weird restrictions on what the client can do.

I have much weaker PCs that handle flash with no problem, so at least past the Intel move, I would have to assume that the problem is with the Mac client.
 
I am on the fence with this FLASH thing.... if Adobe would put some energy into optimizing the software and making it less of a resource hog, then FLASH should survive. However, it doesn't put the needed resources, or so it seems, to make that a reality and we have the current situation.

Chew on this.... how many other good viable programs have "specific" programs written to counteract or bypass said program? How many Microsoft Silverlight :click to disable software packages are out there? How about "Finder" click to disable or "MS Office" click to disable programs?

Obviously the boat is leaving the dock and Adobe has a choice they need to make. Should we lose 500 lbs and make a jump off the dock and land on the boat, or do we just go get another bucket-o-chicken and sulk that we missed the boat, and can't swim fast enough to catch up.
 
uricmu said:
I don't understand the Flash hate here.

My macs always handle flash like crap and overheat and consume tons of CPU, but I was always under the impression this was more due to Apple than to Adobe and some weird restrictions on what the client can do.

I have much weaker PCs that handle flash with no problem, so at least past the Intel move, I would have to assume that the problem is with the Mac client.
Click to expand...

I would have to agree with you here. Except, my MBP handles Flash very well and has NEVER crashed on me. This isn't a lie, it's the truth. My laptop may heat up a bit from it, but it's about 1/10th of what Java will do to it. If you ask me, I think Java is crappier than Flash.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back