The Flash/no Flash debate for the iPad

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Right from the get go we knew about the Flash fail. 15 minutes into the iPad debut, Steve sat down with his iPad and opened up the web and bingo, there was the familiar little blue lego block on the screen, projected as large as an elephant. Some potential users recoiled in horror. No Adobe Flash? Since its introduction in 1996 Flash has become a popular method for adding animation and interactivity to web pages. Yes, much like the iPhone and iPod Touch, Apple has confirmed that Flash will continue to be unwelcome on the main operating system for all three devices. Howls of protest ensued.

Others of us rejoiced. Adobe Flash is a proprietary software constantly requiring updates and fixes. Half of all the updates Apple releases for it’s computers are “improved security and stability” for issues around Flash. It is antiquated and buggy and if you have a slower machine or web connection your system resources will be overtaxed by Flash. Many people have turned off Flash on their browsers, simply to improve the web experience. So we are not in any way shape or form surprised or upset that the iPad, like it’s mobile cousins, will not allow Flash to run.

There is much speculation as to why Apple has such a hate on for Flash. Crashing OSX on a regular basis is not a small part of it. But bugs and fixes aside, there are a bunch of reasons for Apple to want to deep six Flash, ranging from Steve Jobs meting out revenge for Flash taking out Quicktime as the main video delivery system on the web. Apple may just want to be ahead of the curve, leaving the outdated multimedia platform in it’s dust. Apple also could be seen to be supporting more open source development since Flash is proprietary and the new kid on the block, HTML5 is open source, or at least closer to open source as it will still require some video codec licensing. HTML5 which is an emerging web standard, is quickly being adopted by browser manufacturers and developers, offers native video playback and animation tools that don’t require Flash plug-ins. Google even lent the new kid on the block some street cred by adding HTML5 support to YouTube in a Beta test.

Adobe has only made efforts to belittle Apple for their decision, suggesting that the company chooses to enforce restrictions to maintain their uniqueness and in doing so, only serve to limit and frustrate users. This does not seem to imply that the multimedia company wishes to miss out on the almost certain success of this new Apple release. In fact, Adobe has already created a way around Apple’s wishes, making it possible for developers to use Flash in the creation of new iPhone and iPad applications. So those Flash lovers out there will be able to get their fix through their apps, don’t you worry.

To Flash or not to Flash, that is the question. Apple has made up it’s mind and it is going Flash free and that is quite ok with us.

This is a No Flash on iPad article by the Apps Machine.