Has anyone else seen the new(ish) "BlackBerry PlayBook Flash" advert?

[*LTD*]

It looks awesome on paper. I bought one and returned it a week after for iPad 2. The iPad hardware is inferior, but the os is is still bad the most basic things are missing. Like rearranging bookmarks. Developer community is still weak. So in a year or two it might be better, but as of now, it's not a good product.

RIM doesn't have a year or two. They needed this thing to be a massive hit. Months ago.

 

[MrJoeyB]

I'm not sure about pointless...

To the layperson, Flash is meaningless. Let's be honest: Flash is used on for some porn sites, spam ads, to run a bunch of really crappy games, and for a bunch of crappy websites that were created by self-indulgant web-designers. I've removed Flash from my system and have haven't missed it.

For some reason it distresses me to read this. Probably because Flash has predominantly owned the vast majority of video streaming until recently. It has a well structured API to construct animation. And most importantly, it is a great tool for knowledge and understanding of object oriented code.

However, I wouldn't recommend any website to focus on using Flash as a solid framework for a website, nor would I encourage a programmer or animator to develop solely using Flash software. But it has it's uses, and is far from being eradicated by other tools used. It's not quite as compliant on mobile devices which is why Steve Jobs hasn't allowed it to run on mobile Apple devices. This doesn't make it pointless, it just doesn't fit into Jobs' ethos of a clean, linear, shiny and embossed product.

I have recently developed software in Flash and ported it to the iPhone, it works just as efficiently as any other application in the store. As well as this, my application can also be viewed in swf format, making it accessible to other browsers too - cross platform compatible. I will also be looking to develop it in flex for Andriod users. However, I will now be moving onto developing in C# as it is recognized more in the industry.

The point that I'm trying to make is that you lot are arguing about nothing. If something is made well, it will be made for everyone. Well made websites should be made accessible for everyone, well made apps will be made available to everyone. If you can't view a website on your iPad, in my opinion, it's not really worth going on and it's the developer's fault for losing custom.

Flash is far from useless, it's taught me object orientated programming and has a huge impact on the industry.

 

[vrDrew]

For some reason it distresses me to read this. Probably because Flash has predominantly owned the vast majority of video streaming until recently..

Do you notice the way the past tense keeps creeping into your description? It taught you OOP, etc... And thats the major problem with Flash. Its the past. It WAS significant, useful, and relevant ten and five years ago. Not so much any more.

Many industries and technologies go through these sorts of transitions. And there is always resistance. Apple is going through pushback from the video community with its release of Final Cut Pro X right now. All the editors are up in arms because it doesn't do this or that. But Apple also knows that at some point it had to "bite the bullet" and put out a video editing package that took advantage of 64-bit technology - that could actually use some of the tremendous advances in multicore processors and RAM that have taken place in the past ten years. Apple will very likely lose some Final Cut customers right now. But five years from now, Final Cut X will be relevant. An editing package that could only address one gig of RAM, and took ages to render will be seen as hopelessly archaic.

The Touchpad is the third "mainstream" tablet to come out this year to challenge the iPad. Its also the third such tablet that trumpets its ability to run Flash. And yet every major review, from Gizmodo to Engadet to David Pogue - has made the same basic judgement: Flash runs like crap on all of them. (Thats Flash video - don't even ask about Flash games.)

Flash simply isn't compatible with a touchscreen mobile device. And more and more of the world's internet use is being done by people carrying touchscreen mobile devices.

You figure out where the future is headed.

 

[darngooddesign]

Maybe Apple can run an ad talking about a "full email experience unlike other tablets."

The worst thing about the playbook commercials is that I can't get the song out of my head for hours.

The iPad does NOT have a full email experience. I can't organize POP accounts with folders, and I have no junk filter. What happens in the future is irrelevant because in the future RIM might put a client on the playbook.

 

[vrDrew]

What happens in the future is irrelevant because in the future RIM might put a client on the playbook.

I've read some reports that, given RIM's current architecture, its impossible for them to put a native client on the Playbook.

The problem, according to a source who spoke to a director of BlackBerry product management, is that BlackBerry accounts cannot support more than one device. When the back-end software was written, the designers never foresaw that a person would want to access their email from anything other than their single BlackBerry phone.

This sounds at least plausible. It is certainly possible that, if this indeed the reason they left out a mail client, they might be able to come up with a fix. But in the meantime, its a pretty serious shortcoming.

 

[marksman]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8G4 Safari/6533.18.5)

Opinions, opinions.

I played with Playbook yesterday. It's not bad, but UI is a bit awkward.

And IMO, Windows can do a ton of things that OSX can't. And trust me, there's maybe a handful of users on God's green earth who are using Windows and actually jealous of OSX.

So, are you angry because iPad does not have Flash, and trying to justify it by "but hey, we have app store!!! It won't let us enjoy entire web, but I can shoot birds at stuff! Oh you can do too? Damn you!"

U mad bro?

Also, they are your "friends" and not friends? Just because they are using a different piece of technology?

Wow... just wow

That I'd because most windows users who try out Mac os switch so they are no longer windows users!

 

[ronaldmcdonald]

All my "friends" are douches, so I've had to some right stick from them lately pointing out that this "BlackBerry PlayBook" can run flash whilst my iPad 2 can't...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STw4zti94iM

They're all die-hard Apple haters, and stuff like this just gives them extra ammo. Rrrrrreeeeeaaalllyyyy p****s me off. Little do they realise that the iPad doesn't need flash because it's got the worlds best App Store! Hater's gonna hate...

Just needed somewhere to vent some of my anger.

PS: That BlackBerry thing is fugly!
PPS: I think they're just jealous because they're all on Windows Vista/7, which let's face it, is a pile of crap compared to SL/Lion.

</rant>

I think you should get a hobby or something, you're taking this way to seriously.

 

[Franegene349]

Blackberry Playbook Flash

Wow! what technology could do.