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Steve Jobs Posts 'Thoughts on Flash' Open Letter
- Thread starter Lordillingworth
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I think many of you are missing a key part of his release.
"Adobe publicly said that Flash would ship on a smartphone in early 2009, then the second half of 2009, then the first half of 2010, and now they say the second half of 2010."
While flash "is coming" to a handful of smartphones its not working for most people who have a phone that allows flash to run. Virtually no body with a phone runs flash now. Perhaps one day Android phones will but that's still just rumor until Adobe gets its act together. So acting like Apple's so bad for not allowing Flash to run when in reality Flash doesn't run anywhere on phones.
Yes this isn't new info, but its the most relevant to me with a close 2nd being that most flash sites would have to be remade to work with a "mobile flash". If you don't want to redo your main site anyway, why not make a mobile version a bit less Flashy. We don't need as many slow loading, fancy animated sites that don't do anything great. If you have a true need for flash's capabilities then use it, but most sites don't and just use to to make basic animations.
"Adobe publicly said that Flash would ship on a smartphone in early 2009, then the second half of 2009, then the first half of 2010, and now they say the second half of 2010."
While flash "is coming" to a handful of smartphones its not working for most people who have a phone that allows flash to run. Virtually no body with a phone runs flash now. Perhaps one day Android phones will but that's still just rumor until Adobe gets its act together. So acting like Apple's so bad for not allowing Flash to run when in reality Flash doesn't run anywhere on phones.
Yes this isn't new info, but its the most relevant to me with a close 2nd being that most flash sites would have to be remade to work with a "mobile flash". If you don't want to redo your main site anyway, why not make a mobile version a bit less Flashy. We don't need as many slow loading, fancy animated sites that don't do anything great. If you have a true need for flash's capabilities then use it, but most sites don't and just use to to make basic animations.
It's a fair point!
But Apple could use the same logic to say: "Dump MS Office, and use iWork instead. When we update the OS, we'll update iWork at the same time. Microsoft can't do that. We don't want our business customers to be at the mercy of 3rd parties..."
Incidentally, as I understand it, each Flash-compiled iPhone app would require individual App Store approval, so Apple would still retain 100% control over the platform. Any Flash app which wasn't of sufficient quality could be rejected - it's not as if Apple has been slow to reject useless iPhone apps up to this point.
FAIL at reading. I said "featured on www.thefwa.com. I am completely aware of how easy it is to build a nonflash gallery site.
My iPhone battery drains fast now and Safari crashes all the time without Flash. Fix your own issues, Apple before you take shots at others. Morons.
Until someone gets off their but and makes some good tools for it, you aren't going to see HTML5 sites on the level of that JFK space program flash site.
ADOBE! WAKE UP! WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN DOING ALL THIS TIME?
Steve makes some fair points regarding performance of flash on mobile devices, but he refuses to admit the reality that HMTL5 is not an adequate substitute for Flash, and will not be for the foreseeable future. The HTML5 video standard is horrible, and even Leopard experiences better video performance using Flash rather than HTML5 (which cannot handle full screen HD videos on any platform). HTML5 brings some amazing technology to the table, but any honest developer who has experience with both technologies will tell you that HTML5 is just not up to par, and in many instances is more buggy and inconsistent than Flash.
In the end though, this type of pressure from Apple will either force Adobe to come up with some major optimizations for Flash or a new technology to replace it.
In the end though, this type of pressure from Apple will either force Adobe to come up with some major optimizations for Flash or a new technology to replace it.
Yes. I read it. The point I was making was lead by example. How can Apple criticize someone for not being open when its not open itself. They can't pick and choose when it right or cool to be open.
The Macbook Air and the iPad are their 2 "sexiest" portable devices.
I'm sure they sell less of them put together than Macbooks, but that's not the point. It's the "cool" devices that indicate where Apple's prodcuts are going in the future. They're like concept cars...the fact that there's only a few of them doesn't matter. They're what the future will look like.
hmm, how about making a canvas export tool for Flash CS5 perhaps? Apparently making apps export to the iPhone overshadowed this feature in CS5. Apple's been championing their canvas tag on the iPhone for over 3 years now; by the same token, where's Apple's tools? Not even a rudimentary export tool in Motion?
Good Letter
I'm glad Jobs wrote that letter. It was an excellent explanation of why Flash should not be on the iPOS and even not on the Mac. I've been running with Flash turned off 99% of the time, only enabling it when I really need it which is almost never. The web is a much more pleasant place without Flash. Browsing is faster. My computer runs faster. Memory usage is better. My DSL connection is less loaded. I see far fewer advertisements. Life without Flash is better.
On my iPod Touch there is no Flash yet every web site I use works great. On the iPad the web works great too. No need for Flash.
Flash is a resource hog and primarily used for advertising and useless glitz. Turn off Flash and really experience the full web.
As to the development issue, I totally agree having worked on 2ndary platforms before. Big bother. Apple provides a free developer environment. Its based on standards. Use it.
I'm glad Jobs wrote that letter. It was an excellent explanation of why Flash should not be on the iPOS and even not on the Mac. I've been running with Flash turned off 99% of the time, only enabling it when I really need it which is almost never. The web is a much more pleasant place without Flash. Browsing is faster. My computer runs faster. Memory usage is better. My DSL connection is less loaded. I see far fewer advertisements. Life without Flash is better.
On my iPod Touch there is no Flash yet every web site I use works great. On the iPad the web works great too. No need for Flash.
Flash is a resource hog and primarily used for advertising and useless glitz. Turn off Flash and really experience the full web.
As to the development issue, I totally agree having worked on 2ndary platforms before. Big bother. Apple provides a free developer environment. Its based on standards. Use it.
To the Flash devs out there trying to argue against the notion that people want Flash dead: I think Jobs said it best when Adobe should focus on making a top-notch HTML5 creative suite. I'm convinced anything (and yes, this means animations) that can be done with ActionScript and Flash can be done with HTML5/Javascript/CSS. The tools to create the stuff just aren't here yet, but when they do I imagine your tune will change quickly.
It's time to look at the bigger picture here.
It's time to look at the bigger picture here.
We're still at the concept car stage. I expect we're in the last round of optical media. I just don't see a mass replacement yet.
That's where apps come in.
HTML 5 is not replacing Flash on the iPhone/iPad.
HTML 5 and app-store apps are replacing Flash.
Google Relationship
Did anyone else get the sense between the lines that the relationship between Apple and Google did not seem as strained as it is often portrayed in here? He brough up Google Chrome and Google (YouTube) several times in a very positive manner...
Did anyone else get the sense between the lines that the relationship between Apple and Google did not seem as strained as it is often portrayed in here? He brough up Google Chrome and Google (YouTube) several times in a very positive manner...