The iPad is revealed. And there is a wave of whining, excitement, confusion and PR spin like you’ve never seen.
Like it’s older and smaller brothers, the iPhone and iPod Touch, the iPad doesn’t allow the Flash plug-in to run within the included Mobile Safari browser. This was a hot topic with the iPhone, but it’s even hotter with the iPad largely because Steve Jobs hailed the device as the “best browsing experience” and also because more folks seem to understand that the Flash overhead wouldn’t make sense on the iPhone; the iPad is a faster beast thanks to Apple’s new A4 chip after all.
The amount of arguing and discussion on this is still snowballing as I write this, but in summary here are the better posts that have come up so far:
I personally believe that no matter what happens to Flash, we are seeing the turbulence that comes with the next evolution of personal computing (hence my link to Steven Frank’s article).
Flash may become a casualty. It may not. Folks will have to move on and learn new skills. As Michael Pinto points out, it could fizzle the way Director/Shockwave did. Boy, do I remember the loads of Shockwave developers in college, many of whom did indeed go on to working with the stuff professionally, for a little while. It went downhill fast once Flash really took hold. Director (and therefore Shockwave) was really huge. I don’t think anyone expected it to fizzle.
What could replace Flash? Web standards (specifically CSS3 and Javascript served with HTML5). Probably not Silverlight, Microsoft’s “Flash Killer” that nobody really asked for. Although Silverlight has DRM support that Flash couldn’t handle, so Netflix streams their videos through it.
Probably not another plug-in either. I really do think we’re moving past that.
My point is that this huge explosion of naysayers and pundits is proof that something big is going to happen. We’ll look back on this years from now and hopefully laugh.
The iPad Versus Flash
The iPad is revealed. And there is a wave of whining, excitement, confusion and PR spin like you’ve never seen.
Like it’s older and smaller brothers, the iPhone and iPod Touch, the iPad doesn’t allow the Flash plug-in to run within the included Mobile Safari browser. This was a hot topic with the iPhone, but it’s even hotter with the iPad largely because Steve Jobs hailed the device as the “best browsing experience” and also because more folks seem to understand that the Flash overhead wouldn’t make sense on the iPhone; the iPad is a faster beast thanks to Apple’s new A4 chip after all.
The amount of arguing and discussion on this is still snowballing as I write this, but in summary here are the better posts that have come up so far:
The iPad provides the ultimate browsing experience? – a visual point well-made from Adobe Flash Evangelist Lee Brimelow.
Sympathy For The Devil – Adobe Photoshop PM John Nack’s excellent post on the subject
Adobe, Apple, Flash and Flash on iPhone Political Calculus by Daring Fireball’s John Gruber
Flash Headed The Way of Director – by Michael Pinto
What If Flash Were An Open Standard – John Gruber again
Adobe isn’t in the Flash business, again by John Nack (as a rebuttal)
The Withering Away of Flash – by Nathan Peretic
Flash, iPad, and Standards – by Jeffrey Zeldman
And finally, but not least check out these bonus post from Steven Frank, who needs to talk to you about computers and also The Failure of Empathy by Mike Monteiro.
I personally believe that no matter what happens to Flash, we are seeing the turbulence that comes with the next evolution of personal computing (hence my link to Steven Frank’s article).
Flash may become a casualty. It may not. Folks will have to move on and learn new skills. As Michael Pinto points out, it could fizzle the way Director/Shockwave did. Boy, do I remember the loads of Shockwave developers in college, many of whom did indeed go on to working with the stuff professionally, for a little while. It went downhill fast once Flash really took hold. Director (and therefore Shockwave) was really huge. I don’t think anyone expected it to fizzle.
What could replace Flash? Web standards (specifically CSS3 and Javascript served with HTML5). Probably not Silverlight, Microsoft’s “Flash Killer” that nobody really asked for. Although Silverlight has DRM support that Flash couldn’t handle, so Netflix streams their videos through it.
Probably not another plug-in either. I really do think we’re moving past that.
My point is that this huge explosion of naysayers and pundits is proof that something big is going to happen. We’ll look back on this years from now and hopefully laugh.
Update: see also this more technical but interesting post over at Diary of an X264 Developer.
The always excellent A List Apart published what has so far been an excellent summary of the debate so far: Flash and Standards: The Cold War of the Web.