Steve Jobs Posts 'Thoughts on Flash' Open Letter

[Hal Itosis]

And seriously, the battery issue. Drop it people. As soon as the iPhone uses the GPU to do any kind of graphics, the battery is getting drained like there's no tomorrow. Just playing a simple 2D game like Settlers of Catan on a iPod Touch drains the battery at the rate of 10% per 20 minutes.

QFT. I can't believe Steve didn't publish a "Thoughts on Scrabble" letter and ban it yet. It eats battery on my iPhone like nobody's business.

Get real.

Battery drainage while playing a game is normal behavior one would expect. But what if we have several pages open in a browser... and what if each page has a bunch of flashy banners, all actively vying for the user's attention (even those in background tabs)? There goes the battery... while we're reading text.

That's nice.

 

[KnightWRX]

Get real.

Battery drainage while playing a game is normal behavior one would expect. But what if we have several pages open in a browser... and what if each page has a bunch of flashy banners, all actively vying for the user's attention (even those in background tabs)? There goes the battery... while we're reading text.

That's nice.

You missed the fact that there is no Flash plugin. What Adobe attempted to ship for iPhone was essentially a framework to make games (because no one in their right mind would've made productivity apps with it).

Hence why the battery comment is completely ludicrous.

Again, just in case you still don't get it : Flash to iPhone app was about making native iPhone apps. You know, a Farmville app. If you don't want it draining your battery, don't launch it.

 

[Hal Itosis]

You missed the fact that there is no Flash plugin. What Adobe attempted to ship for iPhone was essentially a framework to make games (because no one in their right mind would've made productivity apps with it).

Hence why the battery comment is completely ludicrous.

Again, just in case you still don't get it : Flash to iPhone app was about making native iPhone apps. You know, a Farmville app. If you don't want it draining your battery, don't launch it.

Actually it appears that you are the confused party here, and it's easy to see why... because "Flash" is indeed a double-edged sword. But the topic here (Steve's thoughts) wasn't limited to just the developer tool issue. His letter also addressed the 'web video standard' aspect. Hence the player plugin (or the exclusion thereof) in mobile devices, and comments about battery life are quite relevant. Therefore any misunderstanding (or misdirection perhaps?) seems to rest in your court.

Advantage Apple

 

[KnightWRX]

Actually it appears that you are the confused party here, and it's easy to see why... because "Flash" is indeed a double-edged sword. But the topic here (Steve's thoughts) wasn't limited to just the developer tool issue. His letter also addressed the 'web video standard' aspect. Hence the player plugin (or the exclusion thereof) in mobile devices, and comments about battery life are quite relevant. Therefore any misunderstanding (or misdirection perhaps?) seems to rest in your court.

Advantage Apple

Flash video is h.264 also. FLV is a container. A Flash based video player vs a iPhone based one doesn't really make a difference, playing any kind of video on iPhone OS device drains the battery, be it CPU decoded or GPU decoded.

The battery argument is dumb, no matter what angle you try to play it in.

And seriously, Adobe never mentionned or intended to ship a pluging for mobile safari. That would require Apple's participation. So no, you're not right. His letter was directly against the developper tool as far as it relates to iPhone OS Device.

The web part was about the web. Not iPhone OS and your dear battery. (BTW, I've heard if the phone or ipod is turned off, the battery is close to 0 usage! Might want to try that to save some of that juice).

 

[BaldiMac]

Flash video is h.264 also. FLV is a container. A Flash based video player vs a iPhone based one doesn't really make a difference, playing any kind of video on iPhone OS device drains the battery, be it CPU decoded or GPU decoded.

Only some newer Flash video is H.264. Jobs letter specifically refers to older, non-H.264 Flash video that cannot be hardware decoded as being a larger drain on battery life.

Nobody is claiming hardware decoded video doesn't drain battery life. It is just significantly more efficient that software decoded video.

 

[Hal Itosis]

Only some newer Flash video is H.264. Jobs letter specifically refers to older, non-H.264 Flash video that cannot be hardware decoded as being a larger drain on battery life.

Nobody is claiming hardware decoded video doesn't drain battery life. It is just significantly more efficient that software decoded video.

Thanks... i was going to go there myself, but i figured it would sound better coming from someone else. KnightWRX jumps back and forth so much (across various threads here), and i can't quite tell if he's always serious. His statement that the "battery comment is completely ludicrous" is about as blind as it gets.

 

[navast]

Better than the one-liners he usually spouts.

 

[Alexsirota]

Flash is finally being buried by Adobe at the end of this year. It took a decade but it happened.