You may recall that yesterday saw the debut of a lengthy letter from Apple CEO Steve Jobs detailing his Thoughts on Flash. Summarizing the letter, we'll say this: Jobs is not a fan of Flash. in his own words:
Flash was created during the PC era – for PCs and mice. Flash is a successful business for Adobe, and we can understand why they want to push it beyond PCs. But the mobile era is about low power devices, touch interfaces and open web standards – all areas where Flash falls short.
The avalanche of media outlets offering their content for Apple’s mobile devices demonstrates that Flash is no longer necessary to watch video or consume any kind of web content. And the 200,000 apps on Apple’s App Store proves that Flash isn’t necessary for tens of thousands of developers to create graphically rich applications, including games.
New open standards created in the mobile era, such as HTML5, will win on mobile devices (and PCs too). Perhaps Adobe should focus more on creating great HTML5 tools for the future, and less on criticizing Apple for leaving the past behind.
Coming from a high-profile and largely influential celebrity CEO such as Jobs, those surely sound like some fighting words. A failure to defend one's product from such allegations could possibly result in lost revenue, to say the least. As such, Adobe could not possibly be expected to remain silent on the issue. Standing up to defend his company, Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen spoke with the Wall Street Journal yesterday to clarify the software giant's stance in the growing disagreement between the once friendly corporations.
Highlights of Narayen's comments are transcribed on the WSJ's website along with a full video of the interview--in Flash format, of course.
tarmk
May 01, 2010 at 3:51am
Writing as a consumer with a totally non tech background, I would suggest the Flash requirement of developers is more a boilerplate request borne of a tradition that dates to the late 90s and early 00s and little more. Flash, like the horse and buggy, the ice man, moveable type, the TV repairman and the audio cassette, has become a transition technology. Some developers just can't seem to move beyond it, largely because they became the elite when it was the "in" thing and they now are too old or lazy to learn new tricks. But consumers demand it.
Although I really still prefer Windows 3.1 to all its successors, so what do i know? (No one has come up with a better macro maker than the old "recorder."
dezinewiz@mac.com
May 01, 2010 at 9:42am
However, I just wanted to mention, in light of respect both of, and to your comments, that Flash, while yes, started out a while back, has gone through tremendous change, and updating.
As a designer, if I may have a moment to sort of dig, here...
Recently an amazing program called Flash Catalyst came out. Prior to this, one needed to know code (and learn Flash's VERY daunting interface) to create anything decent. The learning curve was, to put it mildly - ridiculous.
Now, with Catalyst, you don't need to know a single line of code to create amazing websites.
The interface for the program is gorgeous, and extraordinarily intuitive.
The creative possibilities are endless.
It's also a rapid prototyping.
One could imagine, as a comparison - Would you rather draw out letterforms, letter by letter, by hand, or use a word processor? A bit far fetched, but in terms of labor, it's about equal! :-D
It's part of Adobe CS5, and is a new tool that I am currently using to revamp and enhance my portfolio website.
One final thing -
Now, if designers wish to toil around with Apple's WebKit, with no GUI, and not nearly beauty of Flash Catalyst - then enjoy yourselves.
Until then, I will get my work done faster and more media rich! :-D
Take care!
_______________________
http://www.daniellouisrappaport.com
dezinewiz@mac.com
April 30, 2010 at 10:48pm
First off, from a VERY consumerist standpoint (because, well, I am a designer after all), I think that the fact that you can't view Flash on any iPhone OS related device completely sucks.
I don't care how fantastic, web friendly, etc... the Safari engine is.
When you see those huge, gaping boxes on websites that require Flash, and you don't get content, it is INCREDIBLY annoying.
That being said, I have to say that from a designer's standpoint, for me, anyway, something like Flash Catalyst appears to be far more accessible, user-friendly, and GUI friendly, than Apple's WebKit (which is what Apple claims to be as a Flash equivalent). Which, essentially, is b.s., because they are two different sets of tools, doing two different things.
It's kind of like this....
Take a train, plane, or automobile to a destination. There are pros and cons to all. Some are faster. Some are more luxurious. With some, you have more independence. They will all get you to the same place, just with different means.
So, THERE!! Everyone's right! How about that!
I do find it interesting that when I do a Craigslist search for jobs in Art/Media/Design, and website development, that Flash is one of the number one programs that folks are wanting knowledge of out there, while I hardly ever see a request for WebKit.
So, folks... Choose your tools, and design wisely!
http://www.daniellouisrappaport.com
jervo
April 30, 2010 at 1:19pm
I watched Narayen's full video interview on the WSJ's website on an iPad, in HTML5 h.264 format of course!
