It’s times like these that I almost hate blogging. I read what might be the most insightful article comparing and contrasting Flash and HTML5 that I’ve ever seen, yet I’m compelled to belittle the crap out of the content. Why? Because this wasn’t about HTML5 at all! It was about excuses for Flash.
In Ray Valdes’ recent article, HTM5 and the future of Adobe Flash, he make some very interesting points… that is, if you can avoid looking through what are obviously Flash-apologist-tinted glasses. To help you out, here’s a hit list of items I felt were inaccurate, along with my personal commentary.
All in all, it’s a great article, and I highly recommend giving it a read. Oh, and if you want my comments to make any sense at all, you need to at least skim the original article. Just sayin’.
“Many of the issues that impact Flash also impact these other approaches.”
I disagree. I’m not really assaulted by Silverlight or Java ads, banners, and splash pages. Nor do I have to have a plugin to use the web “normally” (as in, watching videos, clicking a menu, etc).
People are targeting Flash because of their poor experience with it, not because somehow the iPhone debacle has brought the spotlight upon it.
“HTML5 is the future of the Web, but that future could take a very long time.”
A very long time? You realize Adobe will likely launch at lest TWO full CS packages — very expensive packages — in that time? We should all bide our time, keep our mouths shut, pay our money, and put up with more and more rancid mana from the Adobe gods, shall we?
“The HTML5 is large and complex, and current projections by the people working on the spec (Ian Hickson of Google and David Hyatt of Apple) are for all parts to be finished in the year 2022, some 18 years after the process began (in 2004).”
It’s actually 2012… less than 2 years away.
“This aggregate mass will take a long time to shift to an alternative, no matter how good that alternative may be, due to sheer inertia of large scale systems that are operationally functional.”
Perhaps that used to be the case. These days, the web is agile, software development is getting leaner and leaner each year, and the days of heavy Java-based “enterprise” apps are in the past.
“Apple says that Flash is low-performance, insecure, drains battery life…”
It is.
“…Adobe programmers were “lazy” because they did not improve Flash.”
To be fair, it was Adobe programmers who, for years and years, refused to port their software from Carbon to Cocao, and who didn’t make a 64bit version for Macs. Yet, their software costs the exact same for Mac users.
So is it Adobe getting back at Apple, and consequently Mac users? Or is it Apple seeing their users being left out, and making a decision to avoid dependence on Adobe?
“However, Apple seems to grant Google a “most favored nation” status despite increasing competition with Android, which is why Apple’s objections to Flash seem irrational.”
Perhaps you missed the part where Google voice was denied in the App store?
I suppose you also missed Apple’s iWork.com service release, a direct competitor to Google Documents.
“Any large powerful app will consume CPU and battery , whether that app is written in Flash, Silverlight or HTML5. Simple apps consume minimal resources, and most HTML5 and Flash apps are simple.”
So that’s why most versions of Adobe Air-based Twitter apps are such resource hogs? Because parsing XML is computationally-intensive?
Let’s be realistic, Adobe does not make efficient apps. Ever. Never have.
“The choice among these technologies is not “all or none”. “
Careful with that line of thinking, sir. That’s how we end up with entry-level job listings demanding 5+ years proficiency with a dozen or so platforms.
There’s nothing wrong with realizing there’s no silver bullet. That said, let’s not get so crazy that we’re duck taping all our various disparate crap together with Perl and XML. Again.
“The old anti-Microsoft alliance of Google, Adobe, and Apple is splintering.”
Perhaps, but the end result is a more cohesive, standards-centric domain, including hardware, software, and web.
The other thing to consider is that it’s never been about Apple versus Microsoft. It takes a very narrow lens to even see things that way.
“Adobe sees the writing on the wall and is responding.”
So in the end, it’s the big bad wolf (Apple) forcing the ugly beast (Adobe) to change his ways?
Seems reminiscent of the days that the iPhone revolutionized the concept of a smart phone, and every other manufacturer launched their “me-too” versions.
In the end, isn’t it about the users? Isn’t it about US getting better quality? That’s exactly what’s happening, so why complain?
And, in case you were wondering, this was intentionally somewhat abrasive and aggressive. Tit for tat, I say.
Let’s hear it, what are you thoughts on this whole apparent schism in the community?
{ 5 comments }
Regarding the date, it is actually 2022, not 2012. See this quote from the editors of the spec:
It is estimated, again by the editor, that HTML5 will reach a W3C recommendation in the year 2022 or later. This will be approximately 18-20 years of development, since beginning in mid-2004.
Read down about six paragraphs at: http://wiki.whatwg.org/wiki/FAQ#When_will_HTML5_be_finished.3F
Good catch, but I was referring to this from the same site:
Indicates that although not “complete” it will reach the workable state that HTML 4 is currently in later this year.
When the HTML5 spec is completed is less important than when you can actually take advantage of it. Really, until (and if) Microsoft ships support in Internet Explorer – and that version reaches some kind of critical mass – and the authoring tools are developed that start to approach the usefulness of the authoring tools for Flash (and seriously, I do this for a living, I would love to see some useful HTML tools for a change) – Flash isn’t going anywhere.
It really seems like all the hype on HTML5 takes place in some kind of bubble where Internet Explorer isn’t a massive block on forward progress. I wish it wasn’t like this. I wish the alternative browsers with their very good support (and fast upgrade cycles) were the rules of the game. But as a practical matter, we all have to deal with the obstruction that is Internet Explorer, and that is not going to change any time soon.
The same can be said for the Flash community, or the Silverlight community. The difference is that HTML5 is open, cross platform, and advancing rapidly.
Microsoft is already supporting some aspects of HTML5, and the only reasons they don’t do a better job are 1) it’s not a finished spec yet, and 2) they’re ALWAYS slow to support new technologies in IE.
IE is not as much of a block as people give it credit for. Personally, I no longer develop for IE at all. IE6 is dead to me, and I could care less. IE7/8 are much better versions (as in, less tricky to get them behaving nicely with standards), and IE’s marketshare around the world is rapidly declining, being supplanted by FF and Chrome.
For such a massive advance, it seems people are just taking a “well, it’s not done yet, so lets sit back and wait” stance to HTML5. Personally, I’d rather start embracing it now, and be ready for when new features are rolled out than to keep doing the same, tired crap for the next decade or so.
I don’t know – I can do all the HTML5 stuff in Flash today, and launch it tomorrow. I can’t do that with Internet Explorer – and I’ll wait and see what standards Microsoft really ships in IE9 – I’ve been doing this a long time, and I know what it means when they “support” the standards (please excuse the skepticism).
That said, plenty of people are replacing some of the smaller uses of Flash already (using tools like jQuery and MooTools) and not waiting, and I think that’s great. Flash and plugins in general are where the cutting edge innovation happens on the web’s common platform, and most of that will eventually be spun into the fabric of the open interoperable standards (at least as far as Microsoft will let them), and because of that, they will always be ahead of the standards (and if not, then their usage shares will absolutely decline).
It’s all good.
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