Comments on: Adobe slammed by former Adobe executive over Mobile Flash cut, stock plunges

By: blank

blank — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 02:27:00 +0000

I’m no big fan of Flash — and not at all a fan of Adobe — in fact, I stopped upgrading both the Flash Pro authoring tool and Dreamweaver after Adobe bought them — but I do have to say, you can really tell the Apple fanboiz with their prefab talking points.

For the record HTML5 IS a cobbled together mess that isn’t scheduled to become a true standard until the early 2020′s.

Have YOU used proto-HTML5 implementations? I have. At this time, they are really, really limited — and the nonstandard bits in them will continue to drive web developers nuts for years to come, looks like.

By: blank

blank — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 02:21:00 +0000

Fascinating.

Who knew that Adobe had anything at all to do with Macromedia’s Flash back in 1997?

Probably not Macromedia’s jealous competitors at Adobe — who didn’t finally give up their own (rather lame) efforts at creating vector based Flash-like tools or at rivaling Macromedia’s Dreamweaver web editor — and buy Macromedia to get Flash and Dreamweaver — until the very end of 2005.

Macromedia, themselves, had acquired the core software used in Flash by buying FutureSplash in 1996.

By: Godot2000

Godot2000 — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 07:37:00 +0000

Only an unaware, obtuse Apple fanboy, but repeat myself, would say this. Sorry, but HTML 5 cannot, and probably will not ever be able to do anything close to what Flash is capable of. When fanboys like you spout off about the system hogging, slow, crappy nature of Flash all you do is show your ignorance. It has been said, “It is better to keep silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt.” I think you should heed this advice….

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 10:18:00 +0000

Thank god. It’s time to let the system hogging, buggy, slow crappy Flash die off slowly in favor of the quicker and more efficient HTML 5. I’m glad Adobe did the right thing and moved on from that horrible browser ad-on…it really doesn’t have a future and other people need to finally get that through their heads.

Thank you Adobe.

By: Wallace Morrison

Wallace Morrison — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 23:17:00 +0000

I design mobile websites for a living and new this would happen. Flash is great for some things but when a viewer is looking for a local business and to get where they want, Flash is a terrible idea. we don’t use it.

By: Dominic Richardson

Dominic Richardson — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 11:24:00 +0000

Exactly everyone has gotten so caught up in the flash HTML5 hype they have forgotten that HTML5 actually works pretty terribly as a replacement for Flash at the moment. It may one day be able to replace it but what exactly do we do in the meantime.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 08:15:00 +0000

Problem is HTML5 can’t replace all aspects of Flash usage yet. For example HTML5 doesn’t support DRM, there aren’t device tags yet, and other features that Flash is capable of but HTML5 doesn’t. Overall because Flash is a browser plugin that has access to all low level functionality
that HTML5 does not due to the browser’s security restrictions.

Also HTML5 requires CSS and Javascript to really do much more than just markup functionality. So is more a package of feature sets than just HTML5 by itself. HTML5 can’t provide animation and interactivity within web pages, and so relies on CSS and Javascript for those features.

Though HTML5 is still under development and they may address some of those limitations, like the device spec is expected to be updated before the next version release, but they’re either going to have to come up with some other alternatives to fill in the gaps or we may have to wait for the next version of HTML, which last I heard they’re going to give up version numbers and go back to calling it just HTML, before we can be in a real position to finally let go of Flash altogether.

Meanwhile, Adobe has already developed things like server software that can auto convert Flash video streams into a format compatible with iOS and they have Adobe Air for iOS as well. So they’re not really giving up entirely on Flash, just the mobile video player but even that will still be offered and they’re just not going to update it after this final update.

Mind Windows 8 is only a year away and MS is also making it hard on them by excluding Flash from Metro. Leaving them only to the desktop mode unless they can offer HTML5 alternative solutions by then. So they’re on the clock and they’ve never been known to work very fast.

So this can be seen as just prioritizing their efforts at a time that pretty much everyone is making it harder on them. While many are just taking this news and assuming it’s a sign of a rapid end for Flash at a time we’ve yet to find a proper replacement.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 05:37:00 +0000

Flash was a poorly cobbled together piece of software — with no future. Adobe is well aware that HTML5 is here/right around the corner. Adobe knows it could not compete.

By: Doris Guzman

Doris Guzman — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 01:29:00 +0000

At the worst, Adobe could’ve removed actionscript 1 and 2 engines keeping only actionscript 3 to make the web player thin and with commitment to add touch controls. It’s a surprise to see complete product write off for mobile. Jquery and other JS frameworks still doesn’t have the smooth cross-platform cross-browser image transitions for rich presentations.

By: Counsel Dew

Counsel Dew — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 01:23:00 +0000

Bad decision…. B
Nuff said.

By: AsD

AsD — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 01:06:00 +0000

Um, Adobe didn’t even own Flash in 1997. They hadn’t purchased Macromedia at that point.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 00:59:00 +0000

Icaza said some of the same things i had been labeled fanboy for saying..

Adobe has been playing catch-up and plug the leak with flash forever…

I’m glad they are finally doing something. Making my phone work as well as a 2001 pc isn’t really something I needed. The world does need foward thinking html5 standards.

Most the issues I have with mobile web are java.. its not like flash or lack of keeps me from getting to sites that matter..

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 00:03:00 +0000

I think plunge is a strong term, and those unfamiliar with the graph might think they took a huge nose dive when they didn’t.

Across the board, the Nasdaq, S&P, and Dow dropped an average of 3.5%, and Adobe dropped 7.68%

Netflix took a “plunge” when they dropped 30%+ last month, I think under 10% is hardly a plunge, is it?

Wish I had bought into Netflix after their drop though! Perhaps the same for Adobe? I doubt it.