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Adobe Says HTML 5 Won't Replace Flash
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Shane McGlaun / DailyTech
June 22, 2009
‘Open source advocates claim Adobe is showing open source animosity.’ -
When it comes to rich media on the Internet today, much of the media is powered by Adobe Flash. Flash has some competition like Microsoft Silverlight, but Flash continues to be one of the most supported rich media applications.
The future of Flash is not as clear as it once was with Google touting the ability to support rich media applications online with HTML 5. For its part Adobe insists that Flash will survive HTML 5 and Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen went so far as to dismiss HTML 5, reports InformationWeek.
Narayen said, “[T]he fragmentation of browsers makes Flash even more important rather than less important.”
Perhaps the most interesting demonstration that could put fear into the hearts of Adobe and its shareholder is the demonstration by Google at its developer conference of a YouTube prototype using HTML 5 instead of Flash.
Adobe’s John Dowdell posted a blog comment in response to numerous headlines and Tweets that called HTML 5 a “Flash-killer.” Dowdell called Apple, Google, and Mozilla “a consortium of minority browser vendors” and considered the absence of Flash on the iPhone and Silverlight technology as an endorsement of the technology.
Dowdell wrote, “Silverlight’s launch helped boost the popularity of Flash. … iPhone helped to radically increase the number of phones with Flash support.”
Adobe has taken a defensive tact with regards to HTML 5 leading to speculation that the company may be more afraid of the technology that it wants to let on. InformationWeek reports that some readers posted comments to Dowdell’s blog calling the advocacy of Flash another sign of Adobe’s “open standards animosity.”
Adobe is trucking along in the poor global economy, but reported a 41% drop in profits for its last quarter. Despite the decline in profit the stock price remains steady, which InformationWeek believes is a sign that investors see the drop in profits as due to the economy and not issues with the company or its offerings. Strategy Analytics reported in February that MySpace and YouTube were driving the adoption of some forms of Flash. If YouTube movies to another platform it would be a significant blow to Adobe.
© 2009, DailyTech
Justen
8 months ago
214 comments
Take it from a web developer: flash is destined to be an interesting toy, at best. Most of its features can already be replaced by javascript and svg/vml (especially using libraries like RaphaelJS for cross-platform compatibility). HTML 5 will bring native audio and video players to browsers as well as native vector graphics in Canvas, and the impressive optimizations in javascript on the most recent browsers (Chrome, Firefox 3.5, later versions of Safari) are making browser-native vector graphics and animation a viable alternative that does not require the user to download plugins and works on all platforms, including linux and mobile devices, natively. Microsoft's dedication to HTML 5 support is a guarantee of diminished need for Flash.
We will probably still see it used for games and complex animation for the near future, but Adobe is going to have to do something really stunning with flash to keep it in the mainstream in the next decade.
Deathrow_Nzl
8 months ago
38 comments
Of course adobe will say that, Saying anything else will not only be admitting defeat,
It will be damaging to themselves too, So it would be like slitting there own wrists
Only time will tell weather that statement was right or not..