“When the oak is felled the whole forest echoes with its fall, but a hundred acorns are sown in silence by an unnoticed breeze.” -Thomas Carlyle, historian and essayist (1795-1881)
One hopes, anyway.
“When the oak is felled the whole forest echoes with its fall, but a hundred acorns are sown in silence by an unnoticed breeze.” -Thomas Carlyle, historian and essayist (1795-1881)
One hopes, anyway.
Amen.
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/perlow/exclusive-adobe-ceases-development-on-mobile-browser-flash-refocuses-efforts-on-html5/19226
Steve Jobs was right all along. Where’s all the Flash apologists now?
[I’ll catch only abuse for pointing this out, but for what it’s worth, Adobe saying that Flash on mobile isn’t the best path forward != Adobe conceding that Flash on mobile (or elsewhere) is bad technology. Its quality is irrelevant if it’s not allowed to run, and if it’s not allowed to run, then Adobe will have to find different ways to meet customers’ needs.
In any case, I’m not an official Adobe spokesperson, and I don’t work on the Flash team, so I’ll defer to those folks to make any further comments. Please see the official post on the subject. –J.]
http://www.apple.com/hotnews/thoughts-on-flash/
“In addition, Flash has not performed well on mobile devices. We have routinely asked Adobe to show us Flash performing well on a mobile device, any mobile device, for a few years now. We have never seen it. Adobe publicly said that Flash would ship on a smartphone in early 2009, then the second half of 2009, then the first half of 2010, and now they say the second half of 2010. We think it will eventually ship, but we’re glad we didn’t hold our breath. Who knows how it will perform?”
Yes John, you will catch abuse, but not for pointing out facts. Rather, you’ll catch abuse for not acknowledging the obvious. Flash on mobile has been a failure from the beginning. Yes, Apple certainly didn’t help the cause, but let’s be honest John, Job’s “thoughts on Flash” essay was right on the mark. Adobe was only delaying the inevitable by fighting the tide here.
That said, I’m glad to see that Adobe is focusing more on HTML 5 based tool support. I like most of Adobe’s products, but every company makes mistakes. Flash is one of them. Move on.
Nice quote John.
Just remember that sometimes a big oak needs to be felled as it gives too much shade to all the small trees. One of them then could become the future big oak and live goes on.
> Its quality is irrelevant if it’s not allowed to run
I know you guys tried your best (and I admire that), but maybe it wasn’t allowed to run *because* of its quality?
Regardless, my thoughts to the people being let go and I hope that they and Adobe are able to come back strong.
So, what killed it then? The relationship with Apple, or that not even Windows 8 on ARM will run Flash?
Or was it just frustration at the ongoing failure of Adobe engineers?
As far as I am aware currently HTML5 has no way to secure subscription based content. Deploying audio and video content via HTML5 exposes your content sources to the general public. This means the only way to deploy subscription content – content you want users to pay for – on a mobile platform is via a custom built App.
Yes, my thought are with the employees that have to find a new path…
And well put, John, I hope that we will see great things, with all the talent there is/was in Adobe.
John, Mother Theresa used to say “God doesn’t expect you to be successful, just faithful in doing what He asked you to do.” The efforts of good people at Adobe isn’t wasted because of this. You guys have been DOING, and experience shows it’ll come back around.
[Thanks, Michael. –J.]
Wonderful poem, but since the comments is about flash and Steve Jobs. i just want to say that I’ve got a mac book pro and it’s nice but i also got a desktop with win 7. Might be irrelevant to some of you, but i think flash is one of the best things invented for the web and “some” smartphones and tablets. So many sites I’ve made in flash and animations. i don’t get why people is so keen about jumping to HTML5 like it’s the holy horse. when it all comes to it the best experience counts (and the things you can do with it). I’ve got my fair share of problems with flash in the past (mostly with Norton antivirus) but i’ve gotten past that and flash is faster than ever and the most supported platform to deliver interactive content. so why don’t use it? I’ll will so long it’s there and the support is there. the mobile phone market is gonna be there and when it really shifts i’ll join those too flash or no flash. see you all in the future.
It’s one thing for Adobe to change direction, it’s another to bungle the message, creating fear and confusion and alienating core developers. It worries me. I’ve invested a lot of time in Flash and Flex skils and now I don’t know what to do. Adobe needs a clear public statement on its commitment to AIR. Not just “we like HTML5”. Heck, many people have no idea that AIR and the mobile packager solutions even exist. I need a drink now.