Tag Archives: Apple

Repository of “Thoughts on Flash” responses and articles

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Steve Jobs sure hates Flash!

Honest to God I hate trudging this up every once in a while, but even though Steve Jobs “Thoughts on Flash” is nearly a year old… somehow people are just catching onto it now. I need a good repository of links that do a solid job of pointing out inaccuracies and providing clarity to the debate that can be easily shared with people who need to be educated around these issues. So here it is.

So please feel free to offer additional links in the comments. I’ve gathered these from some simple Google searches and community feedback from Twitter but am sure I’ve missed some real gems.

Responses to the letter from last year:

How is Flash doing now?:

November 9th 2011:
Mobile Flash Player: RIP

The media seriously needs to get their sh*t together

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I saw this poorly researched atrocity when it was first published the other day and immediately wrote CNN asking that they correct the numerous factual errors in the article. I have yet to hear back.

Unfortunately, tech reporters can get away with all sorts of lies and inaccuracies without doing any actual journalism. Honestly, reporters; we are experts, we are out here, we don’t bite, and we are happy to talk to you about our passion. Do some real reporting and stop writing whatever will get you the most traffic.

Here follows my response…

“Wallaby” is a tool for advertisers familiar with animating banner ads in Flash Professional, to be able to continue using that tool to produce ads compatible with iOS. Adobe is also working on other advanced tooling for HTML but this in no way is “caving” to anything. They have always built tools for HTML and continue to do so in innovative ways. Flash vs. Apple is simply a good way for tech authors to generate traffic because it presents opposition and drama.

I have been on the “Wallaby” prerelease for months and while the author presents the tool as being able to convert any Flash content to HTML, this is simply not true. It can convert the simplest of animation and that is all. You cannot use it to convert interactive elements, games, or full applications to HTML. It is not designed for that.

Adobe and Apple are not on the same page regarding Flash on iOS, but engineers from the Flash and Safari teams do work together on improving how everything works together, and the Flash Platform can be used to compile applications for iOS (just not apps that run in the web browser). The two companies have certainly not been at odds since the 1980s. That is ridiculous.

As for video serving companies like YouTube and Hulu; both have come out with statements to the effect that while they are experimenting with HTML native video, that they continue to use Flash to deliver video for the forseeable future because of the many benefits it offers. Many browser makers, such as Google and Opera, have joined the Open Screen Project and Google even bakes the Flash runtime into Chrome. The just released IE9 contains specific hooks for integrated GPU acceleration for the Flash Player runtime. While the tech reporters enjoy painting a picture of dying technology- the facts speak otherwise.

As far as Apple holding the largest portion of the smartphone market; this has recently shifted with Android being the dominating smartphone platform worldwide. It’s unfortunate that reporters cannot seem to do their research any longer before writing tech articles.

CNN: you can do better. C’mon.

Just a Quick Word on Apple and 9/9/10

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Firstly, congratulations on finally being somewhat fair to developers. Seriously- I commend you guy and girls at Apple for making this change (even though the DOJ and EU investigatory committees probably had something to do with it).

So… what now? I imagine a bunch of Adobeans are huddled about right now trying to figure out what this means for resources and roadmaps… future feature sets… will resources be put back into AIR for iPhone (Packager for iPhone)? What will happen to the whole WIRED publishing workaround Adobe is building on top of InDesign? What about removed? ;D

Apple. If you are serious about users having a good experience on iDevices when using Flash Platform technologies, the only logical next step is to join the Open Screen Project and help make AIR on iPhone the best it can be- and work toward getting a solid implementation of Flash Player 10.x on your devices.

Tired of hearing that 19/20 statistic? Let’s make it 20/20 and help restore faith in the Apple brand from developers who have been rightly fire-pissed at you all year… a statement like this is good, but there is no real commitment as you can change it back tomorrow if you so wish. Let’s change that. Get rid of the skepticism once and for all.

The Tide is Turning in Favor of Flash

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Apple is increasingly finding itself alone in the war for choice on the web, the pocket, and the home as companies and other groups rally behind the Flash Platform.

The latest news is that Opera’s Jon von Tetzchner has come out in favor of Flash claiming “It is the only proprietary part of the Web we support”. A pretty big deal coming from Opera! Along with this news is that Nokia is also banking on Flash.

This all comes just one day after news broke that several large media companies, including Time Warner and NBC Universal, told Apple they won’t retool their video libraries for iDevices.

Last week, online video giant Hulu spoke out in support of Flash while explaining features of their (very slick) new video player:

Our player doesn’t just simply stream video, it must also secure the content, handle reporting for our advertisers, render the video using a high performance codec to ensure premium visual quality, communicate back with the server to determine how long to buffer and what bitrate to stream, and dozens of other things that aren’t necessarily visible to the end user.

This follows the end-to-end support of Flash and AIR by Google during their Google I/O conference where Flash was showcased in the browser, on devices, and also as a major part of Google TV and the WebM initiative. Tech writers who have had access to Android 2.2 (FroYo), Flash Player 10.1 and AIR for Android have had surprisingly (to some) positive reviews.

While these recent developments are new and encouraging for Flash developers, do not forget that for over a year now, a number of high profile companies have thrown full support behind the Flash Platform through the Open Screen Project. As an aside: the Open Source Media Framework version 1.0 was just released today!

Looks like a lot of big players disagree with Steve Jobs and his “Thoughts on Flash”. Also looks as if the United States government is increasingly unhappy about Apple’s shady business practices… remember, if the United States is this concerned, chances are the European Union will tear Apple to pieces over these issues.

Good luck, Steve (not really).

UPDATE: To clarify; I’m talking public and corporate opinion here, not whether Flash as a platform is out of the woods. Adobe still must innovate on the platform and continue to refine the runtimes to succeed long term. I have no doubt that they will on all counts.

Steve Jobs and Apple: Insane? Or Just Evil?

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At this point we’ve all seen the unfortunately worded, revised iPhone Developer Program License Agreement banning Flash, Java, Mono (and really any non-Apple-tooled) apps:

3.3.1 Applications may only use Documented APIs in the manner prescribed by Apple and must not use or call any private APIs. Applications must be originally written in Objective-C, C, C++, or JavaScript as executed by the iPhone OS WebKit engine, and only code written in C, C++, and Objective-C may compile and directly link against the Documented APIs (e.g., Applications that link to Documented APIs through an intermediary translation or compatibility layer or tool are prohibited).

A lot of insightful things have been written about this and I agree with much of what is being said. Flash developers are in an uproar and rightfully so. Longtime Apple users are switching back to Windows and looking to Android for their next mobile device. Open source advocates are horrified at what this means for computing in general. A lot more will be said before this is all over.

There are two items I’d like to submit to the discussion based upon my own experiences and observations:

1) The majority of Apple supporters have traditionally been users of Adobe software. Almost everyone I know at Adobe uses a MacBook Pro and carries around an iPhone. Adobe employees have consistently stated that they’d like to work with Apple to address any concerns over Flash and their iProducts. Apples recent actions are an affront to their traditional user base. What reason would there be for a company to turn against its foundation user base? Insanity.

2) While Adobe, Google, Mozilla, and various members of the Open Screen Project work to make Flash, browsers, and plugin architectures more integrated, stable and open; Apple remains within its own closed little bubble, refusing to play with anyone that doesn’t buy into their cleverly contrived App Store and now iAds (really!) ecosystem.

While the rest of the Web moves forward and tries to work together to improve things for everyone, Apple stands in the way with a closed system, elitist mentality, and insane policies.

Or are Mr. Jobs and Apple simply evil?