Steve Jobs likens not supporting Flash to getting rid of the 3.5 floppy disk or HyperCard on the Mac. Adobe never showed them Flash running Fast. Apple didn't think they'd use it. They have limited resources and choose to back horses they think are on the rise and not on their way to the graveyard. Apple didn't use Flash on the iPhone but after they didn't use it on the iPad Adobe rose a stink. Apple didn't talk to press but enough was enough, and so Steve Jobs wrote his open letter, "thoughts on Flash".
(Note: it was probably the ban on cross-compilers, not the lack of Flash on iPad that got Adobe steamed considering how much they'd invested in Flash CS5 packager for iPhone.)
Video after the break!
Reader comments
Steve Jobs at D8 video: Flash is dead horse
I hate the irony- I can't watch this video on how flash is dead because it's encoded in flash.
I just don't see how you don't have the money to invest in many technologies. Yet Google and others has the funds to invest in both Flash and HTML5...
Didn't they just surpass the leading tech company in the world?
And Bildy makes a point, lol
Really ??? THIS video is in Flash ? WTF !
@iDavey
Re-Read the article about Apple surpassing MS again.
I think Steve is just escalating company politics...To me it's rilly no big deal if i use HTML 5 or Flash to develop pages or apps. As long as the design is great,functioning, usable and passes across the right kind of message, i'm happy.
So screw the debate
I love that you claim to be the #1 source for iPhone, iPad, etc and then you can't give us a video that works.
@Vtania
You're right. I honestly don't care either. As long as I can see what I want how I want. I'm good.
I was able to watch the video above in my phone cause I was given choice. Thats why I'll always respect Apple, Jobs, and the iPhone. But I'll never be on the same level.
You know, it's easy to say "Well, why not use Flash, because, what the hey, as long as I can see what I want, it's all good." But Jobs is right. They have to make decisions on a technological basis. Technologically, behind what you think you "just see" on the screen, Flash is BLOWING.
It's not just that Flash is not a touch-operable medium yet (they will get to that, but it will take a couple years to work well), and that almost all Flash depends on things that do not exist on touchscreen devices--that is, mouseover, mousedown, mouseup clicking, and the like.
It's not just that Flash DOES NOT EXIST FOR MOBILE DEVICES in any working form, YEARS after mobile devices with full web browsing made their debut.
It's not just that Flash doesn't run in hardware, and so consumes massive amounts of memory.
It's not just that Flash will consume massive amounts of battery power on mobile devices, since it's running in software layers.
It's not just that--as Jobs has pointed out at length--Flash crashes browsers, and even whole operating systems, regularly.
It's not just that Flash is a proprietary product, managed at Adobe's discretion and on their schedule, which has been, to understate, dilatory on the Mac and not all that rapid anywhere else either. Flash is NOT an open standard, despite Adobe's squid ink about it being one.
It's all of these things. Not just one--though any one would be enough to justify moving to an equally capable and LESS resource-hungry alternative, HTML5, which is coming anyway.
You sure do SEE Flash and feel happy you just see what you want to see. But what you don't see but would cost you nevertheless, is these things: