Apple to Make All New Mac Shipments Adobe Flash-Free

[darkplanets]

As many have said before, this really is a non-issue.

No one's restricting you.

You're welcome to download it yourself, just like any other OS.

Again, no one is forcing your hand.


That said, I think it would be cool if Apple's software update incorporated other people's products, even if it was just a reference to their site (although I'd rather just download from their site using the Software Update front-end) say Oracle's JVM or the Flash plugin, to name a few. It would further streamline the upgrade process, especially when you have many things with many updates. Hell, if they wrote in new code allowing programs to be linked to it from third parties (with the appropriate reference checkers to third party sites) it would be even better-- imagine being able to update everything under one app; all of your apps, plugins, etc under one program, with one main downloader utility. That'd be sweet.

 

[jdavtz]

After installing Click-To-Flash, I really only use flash on Youtube.

www.youtube.com/html5 works well for me

 

[SockRolid]

Apple should pre-install ClickToFlash

Maybe Apple should buy ClickToFlash and build it into all future Mac OS versions.

It would be a wise way to spend a tiny little fraction of their $51 billion in cash.

 

[KingYaba]

Those Java updates are the pits in Windows.

 

[Rivix]

Remember when apple was the friendly company and the underdog. Yeah, those were the days.

 

[ten-oak-druid]

The internet, the web specifically, is getting better. You can feel it.

 

[WiiMarioHacker]

I don't blame Apple for doing this. Let the user download the plug-in.

This will also create a support base for HTML5 and HTML6. With more plug-in free features coming to HTML, IMO, Flash is dying a slow, painful death.

Flash:
HTML:

 

[Don Kosak]

Maybe Apple should buy ClickToFlash and build it into all future Mac OS versions.

It would be a wise way to spend a tiny little fraction of their $51 billion in cash.

Meh, it's not about allowing or disallowing Flash content. It's about Apple bundling (out of date) Flash, vs. having folks just click to install it the first time they need it. ClickToFlash is cool, but has nothing to do with the news in question.

As to what to do with $51 Billion, that's a different topic altogether. My vote would be to take a billion and make 1000 "gold tickets" worth a million bucks each. Buy a Mac, and dig through the box to see if you got one of the gold tickets. Mac gets #1 market share, consumers get loads of Macs, Global economic disaster averted!

 

[thirdwaver]

In other news...

Steve Jobs was seen crossing his arms, looking up and away, and holding his breath.

Please. This is so childish. I feel like I'm a pawn in a chess game between an egomaniac and a CEO. You decide who's which.

 

[CFreymarc]

Good. No flash, no Java. Now I'm happy.

You have that right. Somewhere in Cupertino, release manager is playing "Ding Dong the Witch is Dead!" from the Wizard of Oz.

Next is to purge Intel and have all the Mac's run off multi-core ARM processors with no hard disk nor x86 instruction set.

 

[CFreymarc]

In other news...

Steve Jobs was seen crossing his arms, looking up and away, and holding his breath.

Please. This is so childish. I feel like I'm a pawn in a chess game between an egomaniac and a CEO. You decide who's which.

It is not if you feel like a pawn, it is if you choose to say in the chess board or not.

 

[9Speed]

In other news...

Steve Jobs was seen crossing his arms, looking up and away, and holding his breath.

Please. This is so childish. I feel like I'm a pawn in a chess game between an egomaniac and a CEO. You decide who's which.

...or maybe, just maybe, Apple feels that the developer could do a better job of keeping the plugin up to date rather than Apple developing their own always obsolete version. Not everything Apple does is because "Steve Jobs is a big crybaby"

 

[mdatwood]

I don't think you know what that means. You are not a developer. You are a flash designer/code monkey. Real developer use real languages like C/C++, Java, Python, Objective-C and C#. Saying that you are developer is as silly as saying that someone who creates HTML webpages and Javascript code is a developer.

I was a "web" developer for a time but I also wrote all of the code behind on the server side as well. You just write flashy interfaces for the web that require broadband to use them.

Real devs who are targeting the web emit industry "STANDARD" HTML, Javascript and/or XML. They do not do FLASH, Silverlight or any other proprietary crap.

BS, real devs code everything in assembly. Now get off my lawn!

 

[whatever]

This is a good thing.

If a customers aren't downloading Flash and JAVA from Adobe and Oracle, then neither company has a clear idea of how many people on the Mac platform are actually downloading their software.

 

[-=XX=-Nephilim]

This is actually good news

As few people pointed out by now - Flash Player that Apple ships is often outdated and as such needs to be updated anyway...

By the way - FLASH RULEZ!

 

[WiiMarioHacker]

Meh, it's not about allowing or disallowing Flash content. It's about Apple bundling (out of date) Flash, vs. having folks just click to install it the first time they need it. ClickToFlash is cool, but has nothing to do with the news in question.

As to what to do with $51 Billion, that's a different topic altogether. My vote would be to take a billion and make 1000 "gold tickets" worth a million bucks each. Buy a Mac, and dig through the box to see if you got one of the gold tickets. Mac gets #1 market share, consumers get loads of Macs, Global economic disaster averted!

Actually, Apple could invest in the Space Elevator. It's estimated cost is around 8 billion USD / 5 billion EURO, according to Japan. [Which is equal to A Trillion Yen]

If Apple wants to be the "king" of electronics, then how about a Space Elevator powered by Apple?

Space Elevator source:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/science/article4799369.ece

 

[wordoflife]

I'm not really into this idea, but I guess its not hard for people to download it. The thing is, it won't be "Works out of the box" anymore.

 

[err404]

In other news...

Steve Jobs was seen crossing his arms, looking up and away, and holding his breath.

Please. This is so childish. I feel like I'm a pawn in a chess game between an egomaniac and a CEO. You decide who's which.

What about this decision strikes you as childish? I really want to know, because I see positives all around:

Apple: Less time spent testing 3rd party apps resulting in a lag to distribute via Software Update means less bad press
Adobe: More control to keep OS X users up-to-date and secure means less bad press
Developers/Users: More timely access to the latest and most secure versions and the increasingly popular choice to not install Flash.

 

[thirdwaver]

...or maybe, just maybe, Apple feels that the developer could do a better job of keeping the plugin up to date rather than Apple developing their own always obsolete version. Not everything Apple does is because "Steve Jobs is a big crybaby"

Or maybe it's what I said. I'm getting pretty tired of being told what I'll like and what's best for me. You'll see that more of this is on the way. You can keep explaining it to yourself as innocent moves for our best interest if you like.

 

[cult hero]

In other news...

Steve Jobs was seen crossing his arms, looking up and away, and holding his breath.

Please. This is so childish. I feel like I'm a pawn in a chess game between an egomaniac and a CEO. You decide who's which.

The most melodramatic pawn on the board.

 

[err404]

Or maybe it's what I said. I'm getting pretty tired of being told what I'll like and what's best for me. You'll see that more of this is on the way. You can keep explaining it to yourself as innocent moves for our best interest if you like.

Apple pre-installing the plug-in and updating it for you, was "being told what you'll like and what's best for you".
By removing it (like every other OS) Apple is handing you the keys and telling you that your a big boy now.

 

[ibbieta]

Isn't this really about flexing new muscle from market share? Isn't this really Apple saying "Ok guys, we had to sweat to make sure we had compatible software for a couple years there, but now we're big enough to put it back on you?"

Apple is also putting the responsibility of selling the products back on the manufacturer - that is, Oracle and Adobe are going to need to demonstrate the value and ease of using their products without support in the form of pre-installation.

Or am I missing something?

 

[macridah]

what's the big deal? Go install it yourself. If apple banned flash, then that would be another story. Apple doesn't have to pre-install any third-party software if they don't want to ... no evilness in that.

 

[9Speed]

Or maybe it's what I said. I'm getting pretty tired of being told what I'll like and what's best for me. You'll see that more of this is on the way. You can keep explaining it to yourself as innocent moves for our best interest if you like.

So, because Apple no longer preinstalls Flash on their systems, you're "being told what I'll like and what's best for me"?? If Apple removed the ability to install Flash PERIOD, sure, you've got a point, but this isn't even close to that.

Some users, like myself, want Flash (and not the out-of-date version that Apple has always preinstalled in the past), but a growing number of users don't want it clogging up their Mac's arteries. Now you have an actual choice to install it or not to install it. Why do you perceive this as Apple "telling you what is best for you"? It seems to me that you simply like to complain about Steve Jobs and read into things that aren't there...

 

[bosephus61]

Flash + Java now

More than just flash -- look at 3.3.1 on the new Mac Store App requirements
---

3.3 Program Requirements for Applications submitted to the Mac App Store
If You submit Your Application for distribution via the Mac App Store, Your Application must meet
all of the following criteria and requirements, as they may be modified by Apple from time to time:
APIs and Functionality:
3.3.1 Applications may only use public APIs and frameworks included in the default installation
of Mac OS X or as bundled with Xcode as provided by Apple, deprecated technologies (such as
Java) may not be used.!
3.3.2 An Application may install or run additional interpreted or executable code (e.g., plug-ins
and extensions) for use in conjunction with the Application as long as such code:
- does not change the Application's submitted binary or would not otherwise be considered an
Update (as determined in Apple’s sole discretion); and
- does not change the primary purpose of the Application by providing features or functionality
that are inconsistent with the intended and advertised purpose of the Application as submitted to
the Mac App Store.
3.3.3 An Application itself may not function as a distribution mechanism for software and may
not include features or functionality that create or enable a software store, distribution channel or
other mechanism for software delivery within the Application. For example, an audio application
may not include an audio filter plug-in store within the Application.
3.3.4 All files necessary for the Application to execute must be in the Application bundle
submitted to Apple and must be installed by the Mac App Store.
3.3.5 Applications may not alter, modify or otherwise change the native user interface elements
or behaviors of Mac OS X (e.g., the system menu, window sizes, colors, etc.).
3.3.6 An Application may not include a suite or collection of independent applications within a
single Application bundle.
3.3.7 You may not use any digital rights management or other copy or access control
mechanisms in Your Application without Apple’s express written permission or as approved and
specified by Apple in the Documentation.