Apple has won - Adobe stops flash on mobile

[Kuron]

I know what you mean with a win-win situation for us all, but this situation made several developers in the Unity-3d community *shit scared* that Adobe will buy Unity and drive the product into the ground just like they did with others

There was a lot of confusion and fear mongering when Apple first implemented the change.

[Ramihyn_]

There was a lot of confusion and fear mongering when Apple first implemented the change.

Yeah, but i wasnt too worried. Decent companies like Unity and others said they would have a plan B no matter what Apple would enforce. They where ready to export into native Apple apps in worst case.

[Kuron]

Yeah, but i wasnt too worried. Decent companies like Unity and others said they would have a plan B no matter what Apple would enforce. They where ready to export into native Apple apps in worst case.

I wasn't worried either. At the time, I debated the changes here and on other forums and have been proven right. To me, the TOS changes were easy to understand and very clear in their intent. Some emails from Steve Jobs were made public that also reaffirmed the actual intent.

The Unity guys don't make excuses, they get things done. This is part of why Unity has literally buried products like Blitz and DB. Unity comes into the 3D scene and literally dominates it and Blitz and DB are reduced to putting out new products that are 2D only.

[the.weavster]

I couldnt care less about Flash and Adobe, but i dont know why Apple is making a big fuss either. If they want to sandbox/virtualize their browser for security reasons, then they should just do it. Whats the point of Apple's hate against Flash?

I've read it's not really about Flash. Jobs always wanted parity between the Windows version of Photoshop and the Mac version but Adobe wouldn't give it to him, they prioritized the Windows version and the Mac version was always a step behind. Jobs hated that and he thought the success of the iPhone gave him a way of getting back at Adobe.

I don't even see this as an Apple victory - it's a side step from Adobe. By opting for outputting HTML5 their developer tools will be able to target any platform and there's stuff all Apple or M$ (don't forget M$/NOKIA are locking down their platform too) can do about it. With the Flash plugin as a necessity Adobe's options are limited, removing this obstacle seems quite sensible to me. I haven't used any of their developer tools but I understand they're pretty good.

As for all the criticism of Flash in this thread, it might be a long way short of perfect but it's still better than any of the current alternatives. My kids have got a little computer with PCLinuxOS on it and all they use it for is playing Flash games they find on the web. They love it and I love it too because I don't have to spend money on computer games.

[the.weavster]

This article's quite interesting: Mobile Flash ISN'T dead

[Kuron]

As for all the criticism of Flash in this thread, it might be a long way short of perfect but it's still better than any of the current alternatives.

I have to disagree. I have worked with games using all of the gaming APIs. Flash is one of the worst. OpenGL would be my first choice, if supported, DirectX would be second and straight GDI/GDI+ (or whatever API is native on the platform) would be my third choice. I would never consider Flash for game development.

[the.weavster]

I have to disagree. I have worked with games using all of the gaming APIs. Flash is one of the worst. OpenGL would be my first choice, if supported, DirectX would be second and straight GDI/GDI+ (or whatever API is native on the platform) would be my third choice. I would never consider Flash for game development.

Do any of the things you've listed work cross-platform in a browser? If not then they are not really an alternative to Flash.

I realise WebGL and the HTML5 canvas are widely regarded as the future of games/animations in the browser but in my experience they're currently a lot slower than Flash.

Also have a look at AsWing, a full set of UI components with an API similar to Java Swing that enable you to write desktop style applications that will run in a browser thanks to Flash. Here's a demo of some of the controls: http://demo.aswing.org/showcase/ComSet_Orange.swf

I know Flash is not without its problems but I still like it.

[Shield]

An advantage of Flash is also the products from Adobe.
Adobe Flash (or Adobe Flex) offer quite a lot of functionality to easily develop games and applications.

When using DirectX or OpenGL, apart from the fact that such Apps can't be run in the browser, you still
have to develop your own engine and tools. That slows down considerably.

On the other hand I also don't really like Flash applications because the usability is quite
low in most cases (no usable full screen possibilities, using right click is limited, ...).


@the.weavster
There is also 'Adobe Flex' that offers many classes and controls for application development.
It's built into the Eclipse editor and even offers a GUI designer.


Greetings,


Shield

[Kuron]

An advantage of Flash is also the products from Adobe.
Adobe Flash (or Adobe Flex) offer quite a lot of functionality to easily develop games and applications.

This is not specific to Adobe's products and exists for most programming languages and game development tools.

When using DirectX or OpenGL, apart from the fact that such Apps can't be run in the browser,

This is incorrect.

you still have to develop your own engine and tools. That slows down considerably.

Only if you choose to. No matter what the platform is, there are almost always engines and tools ready for you to use to make development easier.

On the other hand I also don't really like Flash applications because the usability is quite
low in most cases (no usable full screen possibilities, using right click is limited, ...).

It is rather futile to use Flash for anything nowadays due to so many people blocking Flash in their browser or simply not installing it. There are reasons major sites are moving away from using Flash for utilitarian purposes in their web design.

[Kuron]

OT, but somewhat related:

Adobe Flex SDK bombshell STUNS developers

Your Questions About Flex