Hi,
I'm completely perplexed as to why this is a good thing? iOS never supported
flash in the first place, so doesn't that mean nothing for us? Unless I'm
missing the point that they're concentrating all there efferts on HTML5?
Someone explain?
-----Original Message-----
From: macvisionaries@googlegroups.com
[mailto:macvisionaries@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Esther
Sent: Friday, November 11, 2011 12:28 PM
To: macvisionaries@googlegroups.com
Cc: viph...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: Adobe Flash - This is amazing news for us!.
Hi Cara and Others,
Actually, the more interesting comment on this was the Matt Legend Gemmell's
"rewrite" of the announcement on his blog, which presented his condensed
version of how Adobe should have written this announcement for both clarity
and better relations. I'll excerpt his comments posted after the original
Adobe announcement, and you can go the original blog pageon "Adobe
Communication", which was linked by John Gruber's Daring Fireball blog:
http://mattgemmell.com/2011/11/09/adobe-communication/
<begin excerpt>
Pretty bad. It's far too long, and they're overly eager to sound like it's
business as usual. The fact is, despite being somewhat late, Adobe is doing
a really brave and clever thing. The wording above dilutes that, which is a
shame.
Here's my version, which says the same thing:
Adobe's goal is to help you create engaging content. Flash has served that
goal for more than a decade, often inspiring new features of HTML, and has
been very popular on mobile devices as well as the desktop.
However, HTML5 is now supported on more devices than Flash, and we're
excited about it. We're committed to HTML5, so Flash Player 11.1 will be our
last version for mobile devices, except for bug fixes and security updates
(though source code licensees may still release their own implementations).
Instead, we'll focus on helping Flash developers create Adobe AIR apps for
the major app stores.
We're still actively working on Flash Player for PCs, and the recent new
version 11 introduced exciting features like hardware accelerated 3D
graphics and HD video. We plan to keep driving innovation online, and we're
devoted to web standards.
We think the future is bright for Flash and HTML5, and we can't wait to see
it.
To my eye (or rather, mental ear), this version sounds more earnest.
Sincere, upbeat, and well-considered - without the sense of nagging
insecurity and a need to prove itself.
Take time to think about your own professional communications. Don't accept
biz-speak as the right solution, regardless of how ubiquitous it is. Be
human, and engage directly with people - they'll respect you for it, and be
more willing to give your business a chance.
<end excerpt>
Just to remind you, Matt Legend Gemmell wrote a great blog post some months
ago exhorting developers of iOS apps to consider ensuring accessibility in
their products, and outlining in detail how easy it was to achieve this in
many cases with the existing tools. The original article is linked the the
AppleVis site, but if you want the link to read it yourself, here's the link
(below). It's a great read.
* Accessibility for iPhone and iPad Apps (December 19, 2010 blog post):
http://mattgemmell.com/2010/12/19/accessibility-for-iphone-and-ipad-apps/
HTH. Cheers,
Esther
On Nov 11, 2011, at 07:06, Cara Quinn wrote:
I thought all of you might find this really interesting. This is actually
really amazing news for us in the blind community!
This is the first step to dealing with some of the extraordinarily
difficult issues we've all had at times in accessing important content on
the web!
This is truly a wonderful step! woohoo!
Smiles,
Cara :)
---
Adobe discontinues mobile Flash Player
Sylvie Barak
11/9/2011 3:51 PM EST
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--Adobe Systems Inc. announced Wednesday (Nov. 9) it
will restructure its operations, a move which will result in layoffs for
some 750 employees and the discontinuation of Flash Player for mobile
devices. The upcoming release of Flash Player 11.1 for Android and
BlackBerry PlayBook will be the last update to the software.
In a shocking 180-degree twist, Adobe said in a blog post it would no
longer be working to adapt Flash Player for mobile to new browsers, OS
versions or different device configurations, and that it would instead focus
on building applications for mobile and investment in HTML5 - long
considered a rival standard.
"HTML5 is now universally supported on major mobile devices, in some cases
exclusively," wrote Danny Winokur, vice president and GM of Adobe's
interactive development team, adding that this now made HTML5 superior in
terms of creating and deploying content in the browser across mobile
platforms.
"We are excited about this, and will continue our work with key players in
the HTML community, including Google, Apple, Microsoft and RIM, to drive
HTML5 innovation they can use to advance their mobile browsers," he added.
Winokur said Adobe would now urge developers to continue packaging native
apps with Adobe AIR instead.
"The announcement to no longer develop Flash Players for mobile devices is
an admission by Adobe not so much about the superiority of HTML5, but more
about HTML5 momentum and the incredible amount of resources it takes Adobe
to maintain the Flash player for so many different chips sets and mobile
OSes that change generations two to three times per year," said analyst Jack
Gold of Gold Associates.
Indeed, in the mobile space where OS versions and chips change so quickly,
Gold says Flash for mobile has been a "resource nightmare" for Adobe. "We
could have seen this coming," he added.
The war of words over whether Flash was right for mobile has been raging
for years now, with Steve Jobs and the Apple Inc. camp firmly opposed to
Adobe's offerings on the basis of their inherent instability and battery
drainage. So adamant was Jobs, in fact, that he famously wrote a 1500 word
missive about what he saw as the platform's failings, subsequently banning
it from iOS altogether.
Some see today's announcement by Adobe as surrender and an acknowledgment
of defeat, whilst others see the move as a simple repackaging and rebranding
exercise, as long as Adobe Air (Adobe Integrated Runtime) lives on.
AIR-a cross-platform runtime environment for building rich internet
applications using Adobe Flash, Adobe Flex, HTML, and Ajax-can be run as
desktop applications or on mobile devices. The runtime supports installable
applications on Windows, Linux, Mac OS and some mobile operating systems
such as iOS and Android.
"AIR wraps Flash and runs outside the browser, so it's not subject to the
browser restrictions," technology pundit and software expert Simon Bisson
told EE Times adding that a lot of Flash's problems had been down to the
browser sandbox. Bisson claimed Android Flash, for example, was let down by
its lack of touch capabilities for the browser - two point only.
AIR, however, is multi touch and allows much more hardware access from
outside the browser, making it easier to manage resources like battery too.
A good example of AIR in action is the BlackBerry PlayBook UI, which is all
AIR.
Adobe's mobile future up in the AIR
AIR has already seen a fair measure of success, with apps based on the
platform available not only on iOS, but also at the top of the Android
market. "It's not as obvious as Flash, as it looks like just another app,
and Adobe has now launched the app-bundled runtime for Android, which is
even less visible," said Bisson.
AIR's low level hardware integration also means better GPU support and
Flash's 3D libraries are much more advanced than WebGLs, meaning it might be
the logical choice to do 3D in AIR, especially with support from frameworks
like Marmalade and Unity.
"A lot of what Flash does HTML can't yet do," he added, calling Flash more
of a test pilot trying things out that would later end up getting integrated
into HTML, like DRM for video for example, something HTML5 is still unable
to do. Thus, for applications like Netflix, for instance, AIR would still
very much be a go-to market.
"It's never really been a matter of competing between the two (HTML5 and
Flash), though some people do put it in those terms," Bisson admitted.
"Apple may be gloating, but it's not so much that HTML5 is better, as it
is that Adobe just isn't capable of providing the amount of resource that an
open-sourced, standards-based approach can offer," added Gold, saying the
rivalry was more akin to the more popular VHS winning over technically
superior Beta all over again.
"This will accelerate the deployment of HTML5 content, not just for
mobile, but also for PC/Mac platforms," Gold posited.
Bisson, meanwhile, said he believed this might only hold true for
in-browser use. "Outside the browser, it's more complex," he said, saying
most developers were using HTML5 for web anyway and that Flash for
advertising had never really made it to mobile. Indeed, Adobe recently
announced the acquisition of Natobi, creator of PhoneGap, giving the firm
the opportunity to provide tools to developers to quickly create HTML5
content for phone ads that's supported by virtually every mobile browser.
"I just don't buy it as surrender," said Bisson adding, "change of
strategy? Yes. And, an unwillingness to dumb down the capabilities of the
platform for mobile browsers, which still lag behind the desktop
considerably."
Even on the desktop, however, some see a trend of developers moving away
from developing rich content in Flash in favor of Javascript, CSS, and
HTML5, which has native support for video.
On the other hand, Adobe has released tools that will allow mobile
developers to write a program on a single platform and deploy it across
several major mobile platforms, including Android, iOS, WindowsPhone and the
BlackBerry OS.
"AIR becomes direct competition for native frameworks that way," explained
Bisson, adding that the simplicity of writing something once in AIR and
being able to deploy it across several operating systems was a major
strength. Others have argued, however, that the method does engender a
certain lack of app performance, though how significant this performance
loss is remains to be properly documented.
To most, however, the major concern with Adobe's announcement will be that
all the Flash content on the web will now no longer be guaranteed to run on
future mobile devices and may now cause a split for web developers having to
code sites separately for mobile and PC.
"We don't believe Adobe will be able to offer a simple 'switch' in its
tools to optimally create/support both with one development environment -
others have tried this approach and it's not worked out that well," said
Gold.
Meanwhile, Winokur promised Adobe would "of course continue to provide
critical bug fixes and security updates for existing device configurations.
We will also allow our source code licensees to continue working on and
release their own implementations."
