Fight Flash Here!

[Tamara]

Originally Posted by John F

Is your link broken? I can't get to it in either IE7 or IE8.

You most likely won't be able to unless you can change your user agent in IE.

[scottjl]

well. to come here and post a comment about racial equality and try to relate it to browsers .. you're either desperate for attention (obviously) or just plain foolish (obviously). either way, doesn't say much for your character.

don't bother, you're off topic and just trolling for more attention.

[scottjl]

Originally Posted by John F

Is your link broken? I can't get to it in either IE7 or IE8.

works for me in safari on the mac.. probably your user agent..

http://home.disney.go.com/mobile/?id...S3&device=ipad

[John F]

Originally Posted by scottjl

works for me in safari on the mac.. probably your user agent..

http://home.disney.go.com/mobile/?id...S3&device=ipad

What is a user agent?

[scottjl]

when your browser makes a request to a server to get a web page, it sends a little bit of identifying information to that server, what OS you are using, what browser, what version, etc. this way the site can route you to content designed for your platform if necessary. what the toy story site does is sends desktop browsers to one site, mobiles to another and ipads to another. we are all seeing a toy story 3 site but not necessarily the exact same site.

some browsers let you change your "user agent" to masquerade as another browser to see these other sites. IE does not.

[pshrynk]

I've often wondered why some sites look different on my wife's MacBook and my PC notebook.

[scottjl]

there are a few extensions to firefox that let you quickly and easily change to another browser. something else, even though you're claiming to be running another browser, it doesn't mean you'll see things exactly right if you can't support whatever features that other browser has.

atomic browser on the ipad has a feature to change the user agent as well. i could claim i was running IE but i obviously wouldn't have plugin support, etc. still it's a feature some times useful to developers.

[Sonist]

From the Hulu Blog:

"... Those are the highlights of our new player. Before we move on to the other updates to our site today, let me address a related topic that’s been in the news a lot recently: HTML5. Plenty of users and members of the press ask about this topic all the time.

When it comes to technology, our only guiding principle is to best serve the needs of all of our key customers: our viewers, our content partners who license programs to us, our advertisers, and each other. We continue to monitor developments on HTML5, but as of now it doesn’t yet meet all of our customers’ needs. Our player doesn’t just simply stream video, it must also secure the content, handle reporting for our advertisers, render the video using a high performance codec to ensure premium visual quality, communicate back with the server to determine how long to buffer and what bitrate to stream, and dozens of other things that aren’t necessarily visible to the end user. Not all video sites have these needs, but for our business these are all important and often contractual requirements. ..."

[Trubu]

Originally Posted by Sonist

From the Hulu Blog:

Our player doesn’t just simply stream video, it must also secure the content, handle reporting for our advertisers, render the video using a high performance codec to ensure premium visual quality, communicate back with the server to determine how long to buffer and what bitrate to stream, and dozens of other things that aren’t necessarily visible to the end user. Not all video sites have these needs, but for our business these are all important and often contractual requirements. ...

I saw this earlier - I'd like to see someone explain why you couldn't meet every requirement on that list with HTML5 + an appropriate server-side backend like IIS Media Services. The Netflix app on the iPad is essentially just an embedded instance of Safari, and it certainly handles DRM, adaptive bitrate, H264 rendering, etc - the Netflix backend just spits out a native H264 stream if an iPad hits it, and Silverlight-wrapped H264 for everything else.

EDIT: actually I think the iPad app just authorizes to the user's Netflix account; in Hulu's case it sounds like they're actually wrapping the streaming content with DRM. Without a dedicated client on the receiving end, I guess that is a case where HTML5 solutions wouldn't work. Yay for the content providers and their insistence on DRM!

Doesn't really matter anyway - for Hulu on mobile devices, the Flash vs. HTML5 debate is moot. Hulu is going to block access regardless. They want people to start ponying up for subscription plans.

[cavi]

Well, it has been another couple of weeks, I still like my iPad and will niot be selling it, but the lack of flash keeps sup rising me and making me return to other devices when the iPad would have been perfect for the task. First, hulu....no need to say more.
Second, I needed to get some info on. A gps I bought groom gamin, but I could not acess it because I had to get past the flash and no go.
Then worse of the three, it is time for my CPR renewal and this time the class is all online, iPad would have been fantastic, but again flash.
I did complain to the place I take guitar lessons from, but I cannot complain to every single site I come to that uses flash
Again Scot do not suggest I sell my iPad, I will not, I love it for readind, as an iPod, and for email, but if it did really do the Internet it would be exponentially better, I guarantee it would not hurt you in any way to acknowledge that it would be a better device if it did flash.

[Trubu]

Originally Posted by cavi

I guarantee it would not hurt you in any way to acknowledge that it would be a better device if it did flash.

If the upcoming Android release proves that Adobe has finally come up with a useable implementation of Flash for mobile devices - one that doesn't crash, hog system resources, suck battery life, and actually works well with sites designed for large monitors and k/m input - then I'll agree.

Until then, not only do I do not think the iPad would be better with Flash - I think it could be significantly worse. Find some reviews of the JooJoo to see what I mean.

This stuff is subjective, anyway. I don't usually frequent sites that absolutely require Flash to function on my desktop, so I really don't miss it on the iPhone/iPad either. Obviously your experience is different, and you may end up being happier with one of the jillion other tablet devices we'll be seeing over the next year.

BTW - even if the iPad had Flash, you wouldn't be watching Hulu on it. Hulu has blocked access to basically everything but full browsers running on desktop OSes.

[scottjl]

for the sites that i regularly visit i don't need flash, they work just fine on my ipad. my desktop has flash blocked unless i absolutely need it on a site (rare) and then i temporarily enable it for that site only. so again, i don't miss flash.

so why would i say a resource hogging, battery draining, hacker enabling, crashfest like flash would make the ipad a better thing? so i can visit disney's desktop site?

i'll pass.

as trubu said, flash is subjective. some people need it. some don't. i'm not one who does, so adding flash to my ipad would not make it better for me.

as for hulu, they're coming out with an iphone/ipad app, so they'll be able to keep their DRM, push their advertising and collect their subscription fees. that's the real reason they're blocking mobile devices, their bottom line. i expect it will be the same on android and windows 7 phone. don't hear anyone crying "foul" over them trying to make a buck.

[frabjous]

Originally Posted by scottjl

as trubu said, flash is subjective. some people need it. some don't. i'm not one who does, so adding flash to my ipad would not make it better for me.

I don't think anyone is suggesting that the iPad ought to come with flash pre-loaded. The point is that IF you want it, it should be an option. For those who don't want it, they don't need to have it. Heck, Apple could include all their reservations and warnings in the installation screen and still give their users a choice.

But as usual, Apple's contempt for its own customers prods them to insist on making their decisions for them.

What's sad is that this business practice seems to work for them. It deeply depresses me as a human being. One of the many reasons we need better computer literacy in the schools; if consumers were more computer literate, they wouldn't put up with the nonsense that Apple and Microsoft and others subject them to on a daily basis.

[scottjl]

lol.. you know. i wish the mac OS would run windows programs without the need for fusion or parallels. for those who don't need the compatability, they don't have to run it. Heck, Apple could warn me that running Windows programs in the MacOS could render it unstable.

but apple's contempt for its own customers prods them to insist on them running macintosh native applications.

the nerve of them.

while they are at it they should open up their platform so that i can run other software too. why can't i run my old commodore 64 programs natively? or my apple ][ basic programs? Apple acts like they designed the Macintosh after all, and I made the decision to spend my money on their hardware, what gives them any right to control what runs on it? i want options!

oh wait..

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by frabjous

I don't think anyone is suggesting that the iPad ought to come with flash pre-loaded. The point is that IF you want it, it should be an option. .....

Agreed. It should be up to the user not the seller.