Advertisement: Protect your iPad with the invisibleSHIELD.
“I took it as nothing more than showmanship when Jobs shared his thoughts on Flash and wrote that ‘Flash is closed and proprietary, has major technical drawbacks, and doesn’t support touch based devices,'” Piltch reports. “After spending time playing with Flash Player 10.1 on the new Droid 2, the first Android 2.2 phone to come with the player pre-installed, I’m sad to admit that Steve Jobs was right. Adobe’s offering seems like it’s too little, too late.”
How bad is mobile Flash? When I went to ABC.com and tried to play a clip, I waited five minutes while the player said ‘loading.’ During that time, it was nearly impossible to scroll around the page or tap objects on it. Eventually, I scrolled up to see a message that was previously obstructed and said ”Sorry. An error occurred while attempting to load the video. Please try again later.”
“When I visited Fox.com and tried to start an episode of House, the program actually played but, even over Wi-Fi, the playback was slideshow-like. Worse still, the player became unresponsive as it ignored my attempts to tap the pause, volume, and slider buttons,” Piltch reports. “At some point during playback, an overlay message warned me that this video was ‘not optimized for mobile.'”
Piltch reports, “During these Flash lockups, it was nearly impossible to scroll around the screen and most taps were ignored or followed many seconds later… Back in April, Jobs pointed out that mobile Flash had been promised and delayed since the beginning of 2009. ‘We think it will eventually ship, but we’re glad we didn’t hold our breath,’ he wrote. Unfortunately, many Web content providers haven’t been holding their breath either. As we surfed around, we found more and more sites that work with HTML 5. The difference between an HTML 5 video and a Flash video that works well is so slight you can’t tell. “
Piltch writes, “Based on my early experience with Flash Player 10.1 for mobile, it could soon join the floppy drive in the tech graveyard, something else Steve Jobs helped kill.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Why does Avram Piltch give a flying fsck if lazy ingrate Adobe’s Flash dies the ignoble death is so rightly deserves? Is he a Flash developer? Does he own Adobe stock? Mysteriously, Piltch doesn’t explain his rationale for “being the last person on earth who wanted top believe Steve Jobs” or why he thinks it’s “unfortunate” that many Web content designers are moving into the future with device-agnostic HTML5 instead of sticking with lazy ingrate Adobe’s dead end, buggy, inefficient, insecure Flash that excludes over 100 million users of iOS devices. Does he have a dog in this hunt or is he just biased?
These people who “hate” Steve Jobs or don’t believe what he has to say while banging out their little opinions on devices that, regardless of brand, would not exist without Steve Jobs really do make us laugh.
Our related articles list below should read like a horror story to lazy ingrate Adobe’s so-called “management” – if, that is, they were able manage to rouse themselves from their collective stupor in order to peruse it.
Note to advertisers: (including those who advertise via third-party ad networks and become, in effect, our advertisers): Your Flash-based ads are no longer reaching the most well-heeled customers online: 100+ million iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch users. If you care about reaching people with discretionary income, you might want to consider dumping your flash-based ads and moving to a more open format that people with money and the will to spend it can actually see.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Ottawa Mark” for the heads up.]
Related articles:
Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen believes his firm doesn’t need Apple or the iPad – August 16, 2010
US-CERT: Adobe Flash and AIR vulnerabilities can allow hackers to take control of your computer – August 12, 2010
Freelancer.com sees massive increase in demand for HTML5 jobs – July 07, 2010
Buh-bye Adobe Flash: Porn industry begins to drop Flash in favor of HTML5 – June 30, 2010
Hackers exploit extremely critical bug in Adobe Flash, Reader, Acrobat – June 06, 2010
BBC iPlayer to scrap Adobe’s proprietary Flash for promised Apple iPad app – May 27, 2010
Apple marginalizing Adobe’s proprietary Flash as companies, designers shift to open HTML5 – May 21, 2010
Video hosting site Viddler launches HTML5 beta (with video that everyone can see) – May 14, 2010
iPad-ready non-Flash video explodes online – May 13, 2010
Adobe shows frayed nerves, trots out co-founders, ads to peddle proprietary Flash as ‘open’ – May 13, 2010
Adobe Flash demo crashes Nexus One Android phone repeatedly or doesn’t work at all – May 10, 2010
Steve Jobs has to be smiling: Scribd tells HTML5 switch story, blasts Adobe Flash in the process – May 08, 2010
All CBS.com video will be available to Apple iPad via HTML5 by start of fall season – May 07, 2010
No Flash Required: WFMU begins testing live streaming audio in HTML5 – May 06, 2010
Microsoft echoes Apple’s view on Adobe’s Flash; backs HTML5 standard – May 06, 2010
Adobe complaint prompted U.S DOJ and FTC to consider Apple antitrust investigation – May 05, 2010
Resistance is futile: Why Apple’s Steve Jobs will win this war with Adobe – May 03, 2010
H.264 has already won, makes up 66% of online videos, and Adobe Flash encoding plummets – May 02, 2010
Adobe denies iPhones to employees; erases 0.01732% of iPhone userbase in Flash revenge ploy – May 01, 2010
Microsoft: The future of the web is HTML5; IE9 HTML5 will support playback of H.264 video only – April 30, 2010
Facebook videos go HTML5, now iPhone and iPad compatible – April 27, 2010
Apple to Adobe et al.: From now on, we’re in charge of our own destiny, thanks – April 19, 2010
Adobe Platform Evangelist: ‘Go screw yourself Apple’ – April 09, 2010
Apple’s new iPhone developer agreement bans the use of Adobe’s Flash-to-iPhone compiler – April 08, 2010
TED.com goes HTML5 – March 31, 2010
TIME Magazine, New York Times replace Flash with HTML5 H.264 video for iPad, iPhone, iPod touch – March 29, 2010
NPR and Wall Street Journal prep Apple iPad-optimized, Adobe Flash-free sites – March 16, 2010
Virgin America dumps Adobe’s Flash; company doesn’t want to exclude iPhone OS users – March 02, 2010
Watch Adobe’s Flash Player 10.1 kill Google’s Nexus One’s battery (with video) – February 23, 2010
Only 9.3% of iPhone and iPod touch users have attempted to download Adobe Flash – February 11, 2010
Steve Jobs: Adobe is ‘lazy’, Google can’t ‘kill iPhone,’ ‘Don’t be evil’ mantra is ‘bullshit’ – February 01, 2010
Google’s YouTube begins HTML5 Video Player beta – January 21, 2010
Not to make excuses but, there are visitors to this site and elsewhere, who’s knowledge of Steve Jobs began with the introduction of the iPod for Windows, or even the iPhone. They don’t have a clue about his computer expertise, anymore than I know who Steve Ballmer is, so I am willing to overlook what may appear, at face value, to be stupid comments.
It’s mostly just ignorance.
We’ve all been waiting for some evidence that Flash would fail in the mobile space, in spite of the fact that Adobe said Jobs would be proven wrong, and we would just wait for the mobile version to surface.
Well, it happened. 10.1 made its debut on Android and reports are now beginning to surface. I realize the beta version of Flash mobile was seen during a recent expo, on an Android phone and that it crashed during the demo, but that was a beta, after all.
Adobe can crow all it wants now, but it won’t do any good if their product can’t perform in the real world.
Oh, and that comment about dual-processor phones? By the time they make their debut, Flash will be an after thought.
anonymous coward seems to be a ‘hit’ generator for MDM. Could they really just be an MDM plant?
I use ClickToFlash on Mac and BrokenBox on Winoze
I don’t see crappy Flash ads.
Hey ‘Robert’! Who is MDM?
There is a nice Safari Extension called YouTube5 that will free you from fscking Flash forever at YouTube and any linked YouTube videos. Everything instead will be frisky and friendly HTML5. Free to a good home.
For all other Flash infections: ClickToFlash kills.
Anonymous coward ‘anonymous coward’ sounds like anonymous coward ‘TED’ to me. I could be wrong. But stooopid trolls tend to run solo. Kind of reminds me of anonymous coward ‘TED’s spelling Tardiness too.
You see, because the codecs in HTML5 are proprietary, this means that browser makers have to pay a fee to the codec owners for a license.
What this does is make it rather difficult on browser makers without a big bank roll.
So even though Steve disses Flash as proprietary, the codecs Apple uses in HTML5 is as well.
However it’s looking like Google might come to the rescue with a codec that is truly free and can be used by anyone.
The smaller browser makers can still innovate and compete fairly without all the web content being shut out for their lack of ability to pay the huge licensing fee’s.
And yes, guess I am being sort of a hit whore for MDN lately, should I send them a bill for time and labor?
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”smile” style=”border:0;” />
Oh, and why is the shite quality of Flash 10.1 for Android giving me a severe case of déja vu?!
Am I having Vista Flash-backs? NetShow nausea? Something to do with Microsoft and the smell of decay…
Oh! Zune. How could I forget.
Wow. MDN taking a guy out to the shed who really doesn’t deserve it. Come on – he’s like a switcher – someone who hasn’t gotten it until recently. Lighten up on the guy.
@Anon
Your comment is so layered with stupidity, I just threw up in my mouth.
Even though you can’t be bothered with specifics, I assume you’re referring to the H.264 codec, for which companies like Apple and Google pay a licensing fee to MPEG-LA. It also happens to be the best codec on the market. Consumers do not bear the cost for consumption and MPEG-LA has not gone after any smaller companies, like the makers of VNC, even though they use it in their free software.
Your hinting that Google will come to the rescue is exactly what Google thought when they “magnanimously” released VP8. Too bad that it is not only technically inferior to H.264, it is also drawn the attention of patent holders. There ain’t no free lunch with codecs, sorry. Google seems to be getting into a nasty habit of trumpeting things as “free” that actually aren’t.
Being provocative is good; speaking in loopy terms about things you don’t understand is tiring. Give it a rest.
MDN’s assault on the writer was wholly uncalled for. Seriously… whoever runs this site must be off their meds, or needs to have to dosage upped. Fer cryin’ out loud, the guy has “seen the light”. Ripping him a new one for admitting it is so unclassy.
There are no “codecs in HTML5”.
There are audio and video tags that can be used to load any audio or video format imaginable.
And if somebody decides to load proprietary formats with them, it doesn’t magically make HTML5’s video/audio capabilities proprietary.
Jobs never said H.264 wasn’t proprietary, either. He said HTML5 is open while Flash is not, which is absolutely correct. His disses were in answer to Adobe’s ridiculous bullshit that Flash is “open” when it’s closed and proprietary in reality. Whether or not Safari can load H.264 among other formats through HTML5’s video tag is irrelevent to his point. The hypocrisy you’ve “uncovered” in his words is imaginary.
The only one lying to us right now is you.
I count eight ads I don’t see because I’ve blocked Flash.
MDN Magic Word: should, as in, “People should get a clue and forget about Flash.”
“…something else Steve Jobs helped kill.”
Give me a break. Adobe and Macromedia are the ones who inflicted a terminal illness on Flash. Steve just had the brains, guts, and power to stick the knife in Flash and publicly proclaim its shortcomings, especially in the mobile space.
Why is this author so negative towards Steve just because he is frequently correct in his judgments? Sounds like sour grapes and a very begrudging apology to me.
Oh man, I read this site because I am a mac user looking for mac news. And I do get great mac news. However. I am surprised that the writer(s) can even speak because they have their tongue so far up Steve Jobs’ a$$….
Oh wait, they’re typing. OK so they can multitask. Seriously, we are all Apple fans but when you constantly find every possible thing to dog everyone non-apple it does get quite annoying. Like a barking Yorkie in the middle of the night when you’re trying to sleep.
Stop being ankle biters and keep providing great Apple stories.
Just my 2 cents.
Translation of MDN take: Why doesn’t this guy want to fellate Steve Jobs and hang on his every utterance like it was the word of God as I do?
I’m not a fan of Flash either, but lighten up, Francis.
“Earth” is a proper noun, a planet where we live.
I can’t believe this jerk gets paid to write.
Why is MDN so freakin bitter? Jeesh. It is tiresome
Ugh. Anonymous coward=looser and pc slave. No one likes you here. Why? Cuz we are smart, sophisticated, and we like apple.
Poor adobe :p
Crappy products for crappy devices.
I think I can see one pretty good reason why MDN is so bitter about Flash. Right now, more and more visitors to MDN are using sime sort of Flash blocker (click2flash or whatever). This means that all the traffic that their server has to handle, and none of the revenue it is supposed to generate. If all the advertisers were to switch to HTML5 (or any other means of delivering Flash-less content), eyeballs (and an occasional click-through) would begin to return. They even state this in their tagline for every Flash-related article (It begins with “Note to advertisers, including those who advertise via third-party ad networks…”).
Also, it seems that somebody forgot to close the </span> tag, and we now have this tiny text…
Would have really appreciated if Adobe concentrated more on compatibility of 64 bit browsers with Flash player. Adobe is working with Motorola to bring flash player while you still cant install Flash player on 64 bit IE running on a 64 bit Windows… with adobe giving a workaround, to open the 32 bit browser or to use another browser….
Sounds ridiculous isnt it?
Flash served it’s purpose, it’s over Adobe give it up. My distaste for Adobe just continues to grow.
When John’s music came out, I was listening to it on a crappy FM radio in my car and crappy cassette decks (Sony Walkman). I would say that the digital age has significantly improved the sound quality for the average user who does not have the money to spend.
Adobe is YEARS late delivering a workable Flash – this in an industry where if you miss a deadline by a week you’re dead. Promises don’t cut it – Adobe hasn’t delivered because they can’t deliver.
Google has made so many missteps lately, driven by desperate reaction to Apple’s runaway success, and this is one of the worst. It’s already obvious that promoting Android’s compatibility with Flash is like saying your MP3 player’s advantage is being able to play Barbra Streisand.
Google and Adobe have both lost the plot.
Who cares about this when you have Skyfire. If i want to watch good flash content skyfire is better. So why is this topic even debatable i just see a bunch of kids on here bitching, who cares. Its all about what are you using your phone for?
@anonymous coward:
What’s so great about Flash? I’ve worked where I had to use a PC and viewing a training video in Flash was slow and unwatchable. Why are people so angry at Jobs for finally saying out loud that Flash is awful? It’s been everyone’s experience for a long time. I’m just asking you to defend what is so great about Flash.