> Flash was created during the PC era
Do they actually believe that things like the iPhone and the iPad will displace our old PCs? No way. Not with the DRMs.
Thoughts on Flash
461–470 of 522 posts
Re: Thoughts on Flash
#462Earlier quoted context omitted.
I get this argument, but couldn't you say Apple gives the customer the best of both worlds? Web & HTML 5 support: developers can make or do anything they want to on the platform. App Store: Cultivated catalog of high quality apps for customers. At the end of the day, we don't need PhoneGaps or Titaniums-- we need MobileSafari to have the same hooks into the hardware (gps, compass, accelerometer, camera, etc) as Cocoa…
What I'm arguing for is not technology (which already exists), but technology support in the form of official frameworks, which subverts the "3rd party middleware" argument, and for equal access to distribution and payment channels. I have no motivation to create iPhone web apps if I can't easily get them in front of iPhone users monetize them. A few other points: - MobileSafari already has access to many hardware fu…
So I think we're in (nailer) agreement, though I don't see why anybody has to wait on Apple to make a web app store. I think there's money to be made even with all the marketing hurdles.
I want to explain myself in regards to your response here:
"- The Google results for "congress" have no relationship whatsoever to "congress" in the App Store. Web pages != web applications."
In a lot of cases this is true. But I, for instance, make web apps about members of congress. My mission is to get people information about members of congress wherever they're at. In order for those web apps to get discovered, I have to rely on Google for people to discover them (as well as good marketing and PR and all sorts of other things). I'm simply point out that the App Store is, in fact, a less competitive environment than the web for the dissemination of information, which a lot of web applications, and iphone applications do.
Type "Weather" into the App Store, and there's a few hundred applications. Type it into google? 319,000,000. I'd wager to say that 99% of "Weather" applications on the iphone are about the dissemination of weather information.
So while, yes, web pages != web applications, many web applications are about the aggregation and dissemination of information. And search-- whether it be through Google or through the App Store-- is an important factor to their discovery and use. Being in the "top 25" apps for a search result in the App store is valuable, just like being in the top of Google search results. And right now, the App Store is far less competitive than Google search results.
Re: Thoughts on Flash
#463I love this. Apple clearly laid out their reasoning, using facts and persuasive argument. The world needs more of this. Obviously, there is some spin in the post, and I don't completely agree with 100% of it, but I love the level of discourse.
I think it's almost entirely bullshit and misdirection. 3.3.1 doesn't apply to specifically to Flash. "Open" is irrelevant. Apple is certainly no more open than Adobe. The Full Web - whatever. Don't support it in the browser, don't support browser plugins, fine. Safari on iPhone still crashes all the time. Reliability, security, performance - these are all things that apply to native apps built for the App Store, so…
"The truth is Apple doesn't want to be disintermediated."
I thought Jobs article made that pretty clear, actually.
Re: Thoughts on Flash
#464Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think it's almost entirely bullshit and misdirection. 3.3.1 doesn't apply to specifically to Flash. "Open" is irrelevant. Apple is certainly no more open than Adobe. The Full Web - whatever. Don't support it in the browser, don't support browser plugins, fine. Safari on iPhone still crashes all the time. Reliability, security, performance - these are all things that apply to native apps built for the App Store, so…
>The truth is Apple doesn't want to be disintermediated. Apple wants developers to be strictly dependent on its tools and APIs, and not use anything between the app and the platform. This is particularly offensive to me as a software developer, and it's far worse than anything Microsoft has ever tried to pull. It's the reason why 3.3.1 is phrased the way it is, and it has nothing to do with Flash and everything to do…
There's nothing stopping you from using an OpenGL api that's built on top of DirectX, though. What Apple has done here is say that you can't put an API between you and the underlying API such that you are insulated to some degree from platform changes; but even worse, they've mandated which languages (!!!) you can use to interop with that API, which is almost criminal, technically speaking. (Of course it's not de jure criminal. Just for the reading comprehension impaired.)
Re: Thoughts on Flash
#465This is all very good, but my faith in it is shaken somewhat by the blatant lie "There are more games and entertainment titles available for iPhone, iPod and iPad than for any other platform in the world."
I guess the PC doesn't count as a platform...
Re: Thoughts on Flash
#466Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's exactly the mentality that keeps 'users' stupid. Apple is basically saying: "users are stupid, let's protect them from thinking." Imagine if we said that about our kids: "Our kids don't know how to handle the real world. Let's protect them from having to deal with it." (never mind that most parents do in fact go through this phase). The reality is that users are just kids who haven't learned how to use compute…
That's not about keeping users stupid, it's about not making them worry about stuff they should not worry about. The user may be the world's best neurosurgeon, does that mean that they have to learn about filesystems? most computer software is generally poorly designed You are right about this one. But the thing is that Apple does exactly that: offering well designed software. It's not about buying fish, it's about h…
Turn the wheel and it goes where you want it to. But if you want to go to Google Voice, you'll have to take a long detour few people know of. You see, the road to Google Voice hasn't been optimized for your comfort. Or Apple's profit.
Re: Thoughts on Flash
#467Earlier quoted context omitted.
I do understand your point about using the right tool for the right job, however Apple is arguing both sides. Either cross platform standards are a good thing, or platform specific features are a good thing. While web applications and native applications are different domains, they are not different enough to mean different reasoning can be used. An end user doesn't really care if something is built using HTML5, flas…
Cross-platform standards are a good thing for Apple. Getting people to use Apple's platform specific features is a good thing for Apple. Apple does what is good for Apple. There is no contradiction. Remember, this is not an essay about why everyone else should support Apple's actions. It is an essay about why Apple thinks its actions are good for it.
"Apple does what is good for Apple. There is no contradiction."
I don't even think Jobs tried to hide this very well. It's pretty clear he is arguing from the perspective of what is best for Apple, and clearly and coherently explaining why.
Re: Thoughts on Flash
#468Earlier quoted context omitted.
Gruber is really Steve Jobs. Steve Jobs is really Fake Steve Jobs. Fake Steve Jobs is actually Bill Gates.
I'd argue that the real Steve Jobs is Bill Gates, lately. Maybe Monopolies (essentially) do that to people.
Apple do not have a Monopoly, unless you use a diseased meaning of the word Monopoly to mean devices produced by Apple. In that case, almost every company has a monopoly.
Re: Thoughts on Flash
#469It's good Jobs attempts to lay out his reasoning with facts but his facts are not all that correct.
Flash has been ported to mobile device. Windows Automotive, a version of WindowsCE, has flash. The Ford Sync system's front UI is completely flash and action script. I know because I work on the system.
I mostly agree with Jobs reasoning though. He makes very good points but it would be nice if he could get his facts right.
Re: Thoughts on Flash
#470Earlier quoted context omitted.
True enough. And Cocoa Touch is not an 'open standard.'
Jobs never said that Cocoa is an open standard. He just state that Flash is as proprietary as Cocoa Touch. Market share =! Open. His point is that on the mobile web, HTML5 is open, not Flash.
So "Flash on the Web == Bad" because it's not open, but "Flash cross-compiled apps on iPhone == Bad" because it's not... open... ? The logic doesn't match up. As has been stated, it's a misdirection. Steve Jobs is setting fire to a house on the west side of town so that no one will notice that he's robbing the bank on the east side.
He's trying to come off as an 'open crusader for the web against Adobe' because 'Adobe is not open,' but on the other hand shoving Adobe (and others) off of the i{Phone,Pad} platform because it's not part of Apple's own 'not open' environment. I hate Adobe as much as the next person, but let's not dress Steve Jobs up as a knight in shining armour just because he also doesn't like Adobe.