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Adobe CTO on the state of Flash

blogs.adobe.com

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Re: Adobe CTO on the state of Flash

#21

Post by barrybe »

romland wrote: post #3

His strongest argument to keep Flash relevant is "the coming HTML video implementations cannot agree on a common format across browsers" . Boy, they are in worse shape than I first thought. They will open source the parts they own of this beast, the problem is it will be too late to make a difference. Sure, he brings up the fact that they can update the majority of Web clients in less than a year . But what was it th…

I don't think he's laying out the whole flash vs HTML5 argument in that post. He says:

If HTML could reliably do everything Flash does that would certainly save us a lot of effort, but that does not appear to be coming to pass.

which is probably referring to how HTML5 does not have: efficient vector-based animation, support for audio mixing, strong tool support and ecosystem for creating interactive content, a pathway to run C code (Alchemy), etc.

Re: Adobe CTO on the state of Flash

#22

Post by mbreese »

bad_user wrote: post #12
romland wrote: post #3

His strongest argument to keep Flash relevant is "the coming HTML video implementations cannot agree on a common format across browsers" . Boy, they are in worse shape than I first thought. They will open source the parts they own of this beast, the problem is it will be too late to make a difference. Sure, he brings up the fact that they can update the majority of Web clients in less than a year . But what was it th…

The web didn't had at first a common format for images ... but now all modern browsers have support for GIF, JPEG, and PNG. And it was probably a smart move on their part to avoid political issues. Apple will add Theora support if the demand increases. Mozilla will add H.264 support when the IP-issues are cleared.

Well, there are still issues with transparent PNGs and gamma settings for GIFs. But your main point is true... eventually the tech will work itself out.

Re: Adobe CTO on the state of Flash

#23

Post by jodrellblank »

Our mission at Adobe is to revolutionize how people engage with ideas and information [..]

We are continuing to focus on enabling our customers to do their best work, and helping them reach people effectively and reliably around the world

[..]

Please note that the comments aren't currently working and we're in the process of fixing right now.

Oh, Adobe. Hello? Hello?

Re: Adobe CTO on the state of Flash

#24

Post by jodrellblank »

kylec wrote: post #16

If Adobe wants Apple (and me) to care about the future of Flash, they have to make it not suck on Mac OS X. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if Apple omitting Flash from the iPhone and iPad isn't a ploy to light a fire under the Mac Flash development team.

Agreed. How can he say "For example, the recent Nexus One from Google will rock with a great experience in the browser with Flash Player 10.1." with a straight face?

Aren't there a few more Mac users who would like "a great experience in the browser" than Nexus One owners?

Re: Adobe CTO on the state of Flash

#25

Post by wizard_2 »

bad_user wrote: post #12
romland wrote: post #3

His strongest argument to keep Flash relevant is "the coming HTML video implementations cannot agree on a common format across browsers" . Boy, they are in worse shape than I first thought. They will open source the parts they own of this beast, the problem is it will be too late to make a difference. Sure, he brings up the fact that they can update the majority of Web clients in less than a year . But what was it th…

The web didn't had at first a common format for images ... but now all modern browsers have support for GIF, JPEG, and PNG. And it was probably a smart move on their part to avoid political issues. Apple will add Theora support if the demand increases. Mozilla will add H.264 support when the IP-issues are cleared.

Is there a moment to "clear" the H.264 issues? I have the understanding that the people who own the copyright are making plenty of money off of it and it quite a popular format. I don't see why they would give that up.

Re: Adobe CTO on the state of Flash

#27

Post by boucher »

jarrodtaylor wrote: post #26

"By augmenting the capabilities of HTML, Flash has been incredibly successful in its adoption, with over 85% of the top web sites containing Flash content..." And how much of that is just ads?

Why shouldn't ads be relevant? Turns out it's how the majority of the web is making money.

Re: Adobe CTO on the state of Flash

#28

Post by [deleted] »

briggsrs wrote: post #20

I wonder if anyone has done a feature by feature comparison between HTML 5 and Flash? That is what can I do with Flash, that I cannot with HTML 5 and vice versa? As of right now, I am forced to assume that Flash has an advantage over HTML 5 solely because most people are not aware of the potential benefits of HTML 5 over Flash.

[deleted]

Re: Adobe CTO on the state of Flash

#29

Post by Sandman »

chaostheory wrote: post #9

Open Laszlo ( http://www.openlaszlo.org/ ) a pre-cursor to Adobe's FLEX, can generate rich web UI front ends with or without Flash. Devs can use an IDE for it (I believe an Eclipse plugin). This open source project is getting more interesting now.

There have been some attempts at making an IDE for Laszlo, but as far as I know, none of those projects are still maintained, except for the NetBeans OL plugin. It doesn't have a UI designer, though. OpenLaszlo is really a great open source project, but the facts that there was no good IDE for it for a long time, that the only current IDE is a plugin for NetBeans, which you may or may not use, and that there is still no UI designer for OpenLaszlo are all major obstacles for it's widespread adoption.

Re: Adobe CTO on the state of Flash

#30

Post by _delirium »

boucher wrote: post #27
jarrodtaylor wrote: post #26

"By augmenting the capabilities of HTML, Flash has been incredibly successful in its adoption, with over 85% of the top web sites containing Flash content..." And how much of that is just ads?

Why shouldn't ads be relevant? Turns out it's how the majority of the web is making money.

They're relevant for site owners, sure, but flash ads aren't a very good argument for, "without flash, users won't get the full web user experience". Presumably nobody will refrain from buying an iPad because of flash ads not working on it.
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