Fight Flash Here!

[scottjl]

guess you'll be waiting more than that 2 weeks.. and existing owners are SOL. wonder how this will cool sales of existing devices.

[dmaul1114]

No biggie for me. Little chance I'll buy any tablet until next year sometime anyway as I'm not much for adopting 1st gen devices.

[Harry7]

You guys crack me up, you call
Flash a resource hog when HTML5 is just as resource hungry and much buggier. It makes me wonder how many Flash haters actually know what they're talking about or if they're just repeating what the Steve says. HTML5 is the future but it has a long way to go.

[Alexander Turcic]

Originally Posted by Harry7

You guys crack me up, you call
Flash a resource hog when HTML5 is just as resource hungry and much buggier. It makes me wonder how many Flash haters actually know what they're talking about or if they're just repeating what the Steve says. HTML5 is the future but it has a long way to go.

I don't know about HTML5, but in terms of Flash, I don't mind it so much since I have disabled it in my main browser (Chrome). When I need Flash, I temporarily switch over to another browser (FF).

[JSWolf]

The problem is going to be that since Android will be getting flash this summer, it's going to make the complaints for Apple to get flash on the iPad/iPhone/Touch even stronger. And I do think it's idiotic of Apple to ban flash when it's so heavily used.

[scottjl]

shrug. people can complain all they want. jobs is stubborn, flash isn't going to happen. if someone needs flash, they'll have to buy something else. i need large cargo capacity, i don't buy a mini cooper and then complain there isn't enough storage. buy the right tool for the job.

[Trubu]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

The problem si going to be that since Android will be getting flash this summer, it's going to make the complaints for Apple to get flash on the iPad/iPhone/Touch even stronger.

If Flash on Android performs well, which is still an open question (anyone who points me to Adobe video demos gets one of these: ).

With all they've got riding on it, though, I've gotta think Adobe is throwing everything they have at getting a good Android implementation out. They may manage to deliver something passable. Guess we'll see.

[JSWolf]

What I can see possibly happening is that when a good Android tablet comes out, it might give the ipad a run for it's money since a lot of the apps are written for both. I can see Flash being the big difference.

[Sonist]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

What I can see possibly happening is that when a good Android tablet comes out, it might give the ipad a run for it's money since a lot of the apps are written for both. I can see Flash being the big difference.

Flash IS the big difference.

As well as Android's open platform.

As well as the considerably better specs of Tegra 2.

There is very little reason not to expect that Flash 10.1 will run well on Android 2.2. It looks good in the videos, and Google has been working with Adobe to integrate Flash into the OS.

NVIDIA also appears eager to jump in and tout that it has worked with Adobe to make sure Flash runs well on Tegra 2, which kills the iPad's older generation processor both in video and gaming performance, and in battery performance. You can see the various processors compared in this table from pdadb.net.

The most important factor in the tremendous success of the iPhone OS was the brilliantly designed UI, which until Android 2.1 really didn't have any rivals - not even close.

But these times are over, and IMO Android 2.2 will be the one that knocks the iPhone off its dominant position.

So, yes, it is Flash. Steve Jobs knew what was coming ("Make no mistake they [Google] want to kill the iPhone"), so he went on this great FUD attack, to deflect the inevitable comparisons and criticism.

It did work with some, but frankly, if Jobs had kept his mouth shut, I most likely would have bought one of the first iPads, hoping that when Flash came of beta, it would have ended up on the iPad.

Anyway, with all these wars about Flash here, I find that so many of my otherwise intelligent, knowledgeable friends, are totally unaware that the iPad doesn't support Flash. They simply assume that it works like their desktop browser.

I guess, it will be up to the advertising departments of Google, HTC, Samsung, etc., to point out the differences. It's FLASH, stupid! Google really needs to hire James Carville....

[Lotus Esprit]

Don't forget that HP just bought Palm with the Web OS. The Web OS is slated to get a built in flash player within the next 3 to 6 months. When the HP Slate comes out with the Web OS on it that will give Apple a challenge

[scottjl]

hmm. a million and growing people don't seem mind the lack of flash on the ipad. by the time those android 2.2 devices are out that number is going to be a lot larger. not counting all the iphones and ipod touches already out there. numbers companies aren't going to want to alienate. cbs just announced they are converting all their content to be iphone/ipad friendly, which coincidentally will make it android and other platform friendly too. win for everyone, except adobe.

adobe's going to have to start convincing people why they shouldn't ditch flash, not that it will support apple, but it will simply support all platforms. look at it this way. i'm developing a new web site or revamping an existing web site. i can 1. use flash and cause usage issues on systems without flash, or 2. don't use flash and it will pretty much run anywhere. where do you think smart people are going to go?

[Sonist]

Originally Posted by scottjl

...cbs just announced they are converting all their content to be iphone/ipad friendly....

Not true.

CBS announced that they will provide H.264 video streams. They are NOT getting rid of their Flash content.

Flash is a lot more than just video: Take a look at the real Disney site, you'll see what I mean.

[Tamara]

Originally Posted by scottjl

hmm. a million and growing people don't seem mind the lack of flash on the ipad. by the time those android 2.2 devices are out that number is going to be a lot larger. not counting all the iphones and ipod touches already out there. numbers companies aren't going to want to alienate. cbs just announced they are converting all their content to be iphone/ipad friendly, which coincidentally will make it android and other platform friendly too. win for everyone, except adobe.

Don't forget the 85 million iPhone and Touch users who don't seem to mind the lack of flash for the most part.

[scottjl]

You sure must spend a lot of time at Disney..

Well, if they are making their site iPad friendly, and the iPad doesn't run Flash, that must mean they are giving up some of their flash aren't they? At least the parts that let me get to and watch their shows. They can keep all the Flash advertising they want, I won't miss it.

From the interview with CBS "The site will reportedly run on HTML5 for content delivery, rather than creating a native iPhone OS app like rival ABC."

[Trubu]

Originally Posted by scottjl

Well, if they are making their site iPad friendly, and the iPad doesn't run Flash, that must mean they are giving up some of their flash aren't they?

No. They'll use browser detection to deliver HTML5 video to non-Flash clients like the iPhone/iPad, and Flash to the clients that support it. That's the smart way to do it if you want to maximize your reach (for now; Flash will eventually wither on the vine as a video delivery mechanism, but it will be at least a few years before that happens).

Companies don't care about these stupid ideological debates, they just want to shine their content on as many eyeballs as possible.