I love you, but we only have 14 hours to save the earth
And finally the best of the end-user comment.
Steve Kerrison, HEXUS geek
As far as I'm concerned, flash is awful. It's given rise to all manner of security problems, not to mention the performance issues.
But of course, at a time when we can't even agree what video codecs should be supported by HTML5 web browsers, it's still the best option for video playback and games across all platforms.
Jobs make some good points, despite his hypocrisy for criticising a closed system. Apple wants to make sure software running on its products don't ruin battery life, and all use a decent UI - flash jeopardises both of those things.
Being a person who possesses no Apple products, I don't really care if there is no flash on the their platform. But, interestingly, if it spurs migration to other means of online video distribution across all platforms, it might be a good thing.
Shaun Bicheno, brother and long-time Apple customer
He has put down some pretty strong arguments (battery life, software decoding, security, etc) but the "who's more proprietary" row is just infantile squabbling.
Everyone is applying their own bias to the definition of open and it bores me. So do the fan boys and hate-boys, who all miss what few points of merit there are in the debate and just give it: "what a hypocrite Jobs is" or "what hypocrites Adobe are"... yawn.
Ultimately I do not think that Flash will be the dominant force for web based video for too much longer and Jobs doesn't want to be beholden to another company, so he's made his choice. I would like to have it in the meantime, to be able to view web pages but if HTML 5 sorts it out then bring it on.
Spud1, HEXUS.community member
Good on him. I personally dislike flash as a technology - I've had no end of problems with flash based applications, adverts, websites since its introduction, and it encourages bad + lazy development. I would blame Channel 4's choice of flash for example as a massive reason their 4oD application failed - it was absolutely useless because of the technology they chose to use for it. It /still/ eats up tonnes of bandwidth which while not an issue for speed these days, it is still and issue in terms of usage and limitations.
It encouraged moving adverts and images to spread through the whole internet in places where they are just not needed or wanted, partly as it was so easy to just knock up a bit of rubbish to stick on a site in minutes..and contrary to what some think this is not a good thing. I've lost count of the number of times I've gone to visit a website only for my browser to crash or PC to slow down insanely - all due to the flash content on the page.
Arguably you could blame the various versions of the flash plugin and "engine" for these problems, rather than the content itself, but that's still the point - it's rubbish, and has been replaced since then with many other alternatives - HTML5 being the current best-in-slot replacement, although if you want a like for like technology (i.e. something that also requires a separate download) then Silverlight is a much better alternative.
So anyway, good on Steve for leaving the past behind in this one!
Edit: I should probably add the other side of the story - that flash does have its uses in the right places. For games, interactive videos and so on it's actually very useful (provided people spend the time to treat it as a real application development tool and don't rush things out) - the key problem is really its vast overuse on the internet).
directhex, HEXUS.community member
There are two different issues being confused here. It's none of your fault, it's a deliberate act by Steve Jobs to confuse you.
Firstly, Flash as a plugin. It sucks, the iPhone can't handle it to the extent that users would like it (hell, Wifey's C2D can't cope with some of her Flash-based Facebook games). I have no issues with the lack of Flash on iPhone, and frankly, it's a garbge feature on my Hero.
Secondly, there's Flash as a development platform. In the latest iPhone OS developer agreement, they added a clause which made it forbidden to develop an app unless written in ObjC, C++, or Javascript - a move to eliminate usage of Flash and Actionscript apps, as authored in Creative Suite 5.
This is another matter - there's nothing wrong with Flash as a platform for developing apps. And if the apps suck, nobody will use them. It's entirely disingenuous for Stevey to suggest that using ObjC leads to better apps by definition - it doesn't. It's a ploy to prevent app authors from writing an app in CS5, then clicking once to publish to iPhone OS, Android, WebOS, etc.
Steve Jobs is doing the phobile equivalent of banning development of apps which aren't ground-up IE6-only. It's wrong - and it harms other development platforms by association which act as pleasing middleware for developers, such as MonoTouch allowing development of full iPhone-specific apps in C#.
Apple are not protecting you the consumer - anyone who thinks Apple care about their best interests is mentally subnormal. What they're doing is crippling cross-platform development, by wielding their dominant market status, and harming innovation in the process. They're being 1990s Microsoft. Don't thank them for it.
Our take
Bring me the bore worms; the market will pass judgment.
