Posted on 04/29/2010 10:07:50 AM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
Apple invented the concept of closed systems. They are the king of proprietary hardware and software.
A quote for you... since you didn't read what Jobs said ... LOL ...
First, there’s “Open”.
Adobe’s Flash products are 100% proprietary. They are only available from Adobe, and Adobe has sole authority as to their future enhancement, pricing, etc. While Adobe’s Flash products are widely available, this does not mean they are open, since they are controlled entirely by Adobe and available only from Adobe. By almost any definition, Flash is a closed system.
Apple has many proprietary products too. Though the operating system for the iPhone, iPod and iPad is proprietary, we strongly believe that all standards pertaining to the web should be open. Rather than use Flash, Apple has adopted HTML5, CSS and JavaScript – all open standards. Apple’s mobile devices all ship with high performance, low power implementations of these open standards. HTML5, the new web standard that has been adopted by Apple, Google and many others, lets web developers create advanced graphics, typography, animations and transitions without relying on third party browser plug-ins (like Flash). HTML5 is completely open and controlled by a standards committee, of which Apple is a member.
Apple even creates open standards for the web. For example, Apple began with a small open source project and created WebKit, a complete open-source HTML5 rendering engine that is the heart of the Safari web browser used in all our products. WebKit has been widely adopted. Google uses it for Android’s browser, Palm uses it, Nokia uses it, and RIM (Blackberry) has announced they will use it too. Almost every smartphone web browser other than Microsoft’s uses WebKit. By making its WebKit technology open, Apple has set the standard for mobile web browsers.
You can read his full statement in Post #36 ... :-)
Seems you didn't. That diatribe lists many good reasons for not supporting Flash.
Since you didn't, I'll summarize: Flash is too buggy, demands too much power, and is incompatible with the user interface (no "mouse-over" with a touchscreen; no multi-touch for a mouse-focused app); these lead to a "it crashes! the battery lasts for 2 hours instead of 11! my favorite Flash apps are unusable!" cry which will be blamed on Apple and drive away users.
The iPad is a new paradigm, incompatible with the old (the height of which is Flash).
I love the iTouch itself. Web browsing, texting and talking all take place on my cell phone. The iTouch is reserved for entertainment to fill those long boring waits we all must endure from day to day.
Instead of watching a flash video as it streams, I have to download, convert and upload. It sort of defeats the purpose. Too much planning and work for a gadget which I thought would make life a bit easier. As for battery life...that's why God made adapters.
I love the iTouch itself. Web browsing, texting and talking all take place on my cell phone. The iTouch is reserved for entertainment to fill those long boring waits we all must endure from day to day.
Instead of watching a flash video as it streams, I have to download, convert and upload. It sort of defeats the purpose. Too much planning and work for a gadget which I thought would make life a bit easier. As for battery life...that's why God made adapters.
I read it. And that first part is a fat pile of hypocrisy. notice how carefully he ignores over a decade of Macs being closed and all the iGadgets being closed. Again it’s the “you can’t put your stuff on my closed system because it’s closed”, that is pretty much the definition of hypocrisy.
Everything past that I agree with. Flash is a POS. But by leading with the complaints about it being closed he invalidated his argument and made himself look like an idiot.
Sorry about all of my double posts. Don’t know what the issue is. I only hit enter once, I promise!
Sorry about all of my double posts. Don’t know what the issue is. I only hit enter once, I promise!
hiccups ... :-)
Well, I didn't say that, but I certainly agree with it, so let's move on. Given the the vaunted 'superiority' of Jobs's brainchildren, how did the market respond over the years? Which platform has the widest array of applications and other software - stiil, today? And who outsold whom? And continues to do so? Which architecture domintes the business world? Check, please.
It opens a gateway for MS.
Do you happen to have Flash on your machine? </SARC> '-)
I use Adblock Plus and NoScript, they block most of the Flash. However there are situations when you want Flash. For example, I listen to Internet radio that uses Flash as the player. Without Flash the site will not work. For another example, most movie or game sites are done entirely in Flash, and it makes sense - those sites are visually oriented; you don't want to just read about some new movie, you want to see and experience it.
Ok, so what does that have to do with us?
Most people use flash sites daily with no issues. If it was as bad as Apple wants to con us into thinking, then it would have died off years ago.
When did it become so bad? Jan 26 2010, because I sure as heck dont remember this outcry prior to Apple saying it was bad.
If Apple users dont want Flash, then pipe down and dont use it, and leave the rest of us to use it.
This is nothing more than a power trip by that guy.
Why there should be anyone to blame? You uses the power, you takes your risks. Besides, who needs Flash for so many hours?
Another important fact is that hardly any iPhone users work in fields, miles away from any source of energy. I believe most of iPhone users are never more than a foot away from a power source - at home, in the car, or at work. Is there any sane explanation why a plugged-in iPhone still can't run Flash? There is a good reason to support that, to let people browse Internet in private and play music at work and in bed at home. If Apple insists, Flash could be disabled when working on battery (though I think it ought to be an option that the user selects.)
That was funny!
That was funny!
Jobs isn't saying anything to lead to such a comment. Full-blown computers can handle Flash, and users will put up with its quirks so long as it is more useful than not. Like other applications which lingered too long (Lotus Notes, Word Perfect, etc.), Flash just doesn't have a reason yet to go away, and there isn't a big enough contender yet (chicken-and-egg problem) to drive it out.
Now given a platform which IS hyper-sensitive to the flaws of Flash (battery life, CPU power, crash intolerance), the flaws of Flash are brought into stark relief. As Jobs notes, Adobe cannot demonstrate Flash running acceptably on ANY smartphone platform (iPad included), so there's no point yet in letting it onto the iP*.
In addition there are some profound differences between mouse & touch behaviors which just can't be reconciled. Flash is made for mice, not touch, so even if it does "work" on a touch platform, it still won't because you can't do things like "hover".
The outcry you impute upon Apple users to great degree isn't. We value the iP* platform over Flash, so after some grumbling we don't use it - and those websites etc. which require it are taking notice and fast converting away from Flash (that should tell you something!).
No, it's not a power trip. He's pushing a valid viable new paradigm, which has incompatibilities with the old. Just as he pushed the iMac without floppy drives, and pushed Macs without serial ports etc., and obsoletes older software on a regular basis - all to the long-term benefit of users - he's now pushing the iP* platform without the now-stark problems with Flash as implemented.
Read his screed again, this time without so much bias.
When you buy a product touted as having an 11+ hour battery life, and it lasts for 2, you’re going to blame someone.
Ask any Hulu.com user how long they run Flash for (hint: feature films average 2 hours).
The whole point of an iPad is that you DON’T have to worry about plugging into anything for prolonged periods. The assumption is one will always use it unplugged.
As for enabling Flash only when plugged in, c’mon - will most users be accepting of Flash apps not running when unplugged? needlessly confuses the user experience. The device is meant to be used unplugged practically all the time. Even if that is deemed an acceptable solution, there are plenty of other problems with Flash which would still need solving (doesn’t run sanely on ANY smartphone-like platform, crashes a lot, incompatible with much of the touch paradigm (ex.: multi-touch) while expecting much of mouse paradigm (ex.: hover), etc.).
As many major websites are already switching away from Flash just because of the iPad, seems the issue may be moot soon.
“Gee, Steve, don’t you think that should be the free choice of developers to use or not to use Flash to create apps? Let the market decide if the apps suck or not?”
Jobs is the boss of Apple. He’s not obligated to accept the work of Flash developers for Macs, iPhones, etc... anymore than I am obligated to buy any product these Flash developers bring to market.
Nobody knew that until Jobs started making these claims. And if he finds a bug, I'm sure Adobe will fix it for him. That's how we deal with all bugs - we don't refuse to use some software because it may have bugs.
demands too much power
It's user's power, Apple may recommend to not use Flash, but beyond that it should be user's decision what to use the power for. Our cars aren't limited to 40 mph. though we know that fuel efficiency drops soon after that.
and is incompatible with the user interface (no "mouse-over" with a touchscreen; no multi-touch for a mouse-focused app);
Adobe implemented support for multitouch in Flash 10.1.
my favorite Flash apps are unusable!" cry which will be blamed on Apple and drive away users.
I guess you are right here, if Apple users can't take responsibility for use or abuse of their phone. They need to be protected from themselves, apparently, like little babies. I, personally, want to make these decisions myself, and the idea that someone else makes them for me is abhorrent.
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