News Flash: Whos is right? Apple or Adobe?

I for one am troubled by this. I support a few iPhones in our business, and many of our customers and business partners use Flash on their websites. I think this move will kill at least some adoption of the iPhone as a serious business tool for this reason. We are not getting rid of the iPhone in our company by any means, but I see this move limiting our deployment as a Blackberry alternative or replacement for our users. Not to mention slowing our eagerness to get our hands on the iPad for our remote sales folks.

**EDIT** Thanks for starting this. A good discussion I think. I'm interested to hear what others think about this as well.
 
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From the pure technical side, Apple. Flash is a pain in the ass of the Internet. It is so slow, bulky and annoying, that it deserves to die. But it is there, and the W3C suitable replacements are still work in progress.

You don't know how slow flash is, until you notice that a typical flash browser game that does nothing else than allowing you to play Giana Sisters, takes 100% of your CPU.
 
Regardless of the veracity of Apples claims regarding Flash, the very fact that they are trying to say what software may and may not be installed be installed on their devices is a disturbing trend. They sell a device. It is up to the people who buy the device, and whose property the device becomes, to determine what software it will run. Apple licensing software to run on the iPhone is basically them still claiming partial ownership of the device after they've sold it, and is thus a good reason for both developers and customers to avoid it.
 
Without Flash, how will be able to lose productivity on Flash games?
But it really is a disturbing trend, that I'm afraid will be followed by others. One day will come when we won't own our computers anymore, their makers will own them and since most of our lives are either stored or managed through those devices, they'll own us too. This could well turn out to be a form of hydraulic tyranny - which together with internet filters and traffic shapes will enable a kind of control over citizens even Sauron could only dream about.
 
It will be worse. Cloud computing will make them to control the software. Nowadays if a new Windows comes out, your game may have compatibility issues but you may find a fix, for at least you have the CD. With the cloud you may not suffer such issues, but some day they will retire your favorite game and it will be just gone, not just unsupported.

At least nowadays communities can make fixes and patches. But with the cloud, games will be no more like that.
 
Apple vs. Adobe: they both are. Apple will not support that craptastic flash any more, and Adobe won't be bound by a tyrannical "we control you" set of regulations.
But the ultimate winner I think is Adobe.
Apple by trying to enforce more and more control over what people can do with their products is ultimately losing control, so they have to add more, so they lose more, so they have to add more......ad nauseum. The OpenSource movement(s) is(are) gaining ground and eventually, only the hardware maybe made by companies.
 
this.

We need Free Software.
Remember that before you post something in the OS flame war thread.
 
Neither is right. Both are right. Apple has a right to do business the way they want. And I have the right to not buy any Apple stuff because I don't like the way they do business.

Whatever happens, the consumer will ultimately win. Either Apple will change their mind and Flash "wins", or Flash will be replaced by something better and Apple "wins". Or Apple will finally decide to treat its users as more than brainwashed fanboys and let them load "unapproved" software onto the expensive white plastic toys they buy.
 
Well, at the end of the day they are both perpetuating something that isn't good for the age of the internet.

Yes, we do want people to be able to control their handsets. Hackers playing around with technology is how we got the internet in the first place. And right now is a time where the means of production are becoming cheaper for folks like you and I to get in our hands. The collective output of the hobby microprocessor, in particular the Arduino, communities is a great example.

So for Apple to limit those options, while in their right, is contrary to the spirit of the internet and technology's "will" today.

But, Flash is also a closed platform in comparison to other web publishing technologies. You need expensive only built by Adobe tools to get into the development of apps. Working between different developers who use different versions of the tools based on their administration budgets, not technology choice, becomes a real project concern.

Javascript, HTML, CSS, PHP, Python, etc.. no such concern. That makes Flash the beast it is and explains why it is so loathed by managers and developers alike.

Regardless of which side wins this business decision, we lose.
 
I hate to say it but as of this posting HTML5 is crap. People like to tout the google quake in browser thing as showing its power but it requires a college degree to install.

On top of that until Google VP8 is open source and vetted by free software layers. There is no effective video standard for HTML5. H264's licence is dubious at best and several browsers namely firefox will never support it. Also there is no standard for full screen video and no protection against sites automatically fullscreening ads or whatnot.
 
Zachstar said:
I hate to say it but as of this posting HTML5 is crap. People like to tout the google quake in browser thing as showing its power but it requires a college degree to install.

On top of that until Google VP8 is open source and vetted by free software layers. There is no effective video standard for HTML5. H264's licence is dubious at best and several browsers namely firefox will never support it. Also there is no standard for full screen video and no protection against sites automatically fullscreening ads or whatnot.
Click to expand...

If your only consideration is HTML 5 as a gaming platform, then yes, you will be disappointed by it*.

As a semantic markup language though it has some nice features.


ar81 said:
So it means we need to make them to be even. :thumbup:
Click to expand...

Yep, best place to be is in the action. get your hands dirty.


*for now.
 
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Ghostrider said:
Without Flash, how will be able to lose productivity on Flash games?
But it really is a disturbing trend, that I'm afraid will be followed by others. One day will come when we won't own our computers anymore, their makers will own them and since most of our lives are either stored or managed through those devices, they'll own us too. This could well turn out to be a form of hydraulic tyranny - which together with internet filters and traffic shapes will enable a kind of control over citizens even Sauron could only dream about.
Click to expand...

I don't see how that could happen unless people are stupid enough TO LET IT HAPPEN!

I do absolutely nothing online that I couldn't live without.

Anybody that let's a computer manage them is in a sorry state of affairs!
 
Keatah said:
I don't see how that could happen unless people are stupid enough TO LET IT HAPPEN!
Click to expand...

Too late. People get instantly addicted to tech toys. Once upon a time the ATM was a new gimmick, and most people did their banking face-to-face in the bank lobby. But once you got an ATM card and figured out how convenient it was, banks started charging for its use, and charging you for some lobby services.

People complain, but not enough to go back to no ATMs. And anyway, unless lots of people build a large coalition, most of us are powerless against these macroeconomic forces. And powerless against the hysteria of terrorism, which is used to get us to look the other way when all this computer security stuff gets implemented.
 
Urwumpe said:
[X] You have not understood what HTML5 is.
Click to expand...

What is HTML5 today? Where is the agreed on standard for fullscreen among all browsers? Where is the free and clear video standard all will use (Don't say theora as few browsers use it)

Does this forum even use it?

I will stick to flash. Atleast it works and I join most of the rest of windows users out there that prefer it to just work.
 
Andy44 said:
Too late. People get instantly addicted to tech toys. Once upon a time the ATM was a new gimmick, and most people did their banking face-to-face in the bank lobby. But once you got an ATM card and figured out how convenient it was, banks started charging for its use, and charging you for some lobby services.

People complain, but not enough to go back to no ATMs. And anyway, unless lots of people build a large coalition, most of us are powerless against these macroeconomic forces. And powerless against the hysteria of terrorism, which is used to get us to look the other way when all this computer security stuff gets implemented.
Click to expand...

Who thought that we live in a free world, where you have individual freedom of choice?

But complaining doesn't solve the problem. What can we do about it?! If you are part of a minority that prefers a different choice than the mindless consumerist masses?
 
maybe you should read here, instead of stuttering so much nonsense about what HTML version 5 actually is not.

http://dev.w3.org/html5/spec/Overview.html

Also, the video standard will likely become H.264, this is not decided yet.
 
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