Dear Flash Fan Boys (of which I consider myself one of),
I’m writing this out of concern that you are aggressively and needlessly attacking the new HTML5 standard. Such attacks and slander only make the Flash community look childish and unwelcoming.
Additionally, one could easily draw the conclusion (mistakenly or accurately) that flash developers are lashing out at the new HTML5 standard out of fear that their own set of development skills will not be transferable in the future.
Lets take a look at why the angry FFB (Flash Fan Boy) mob should calm down and begin to lower their pitchforks.
IMHO, all the rambling and carrying on can be traced back to one new little tag in HTML5 : <video> (OK, and maybe the canvas tag but I’m focusing on video here)
So why has this little tag been keeping Flash developers up at night? Well, video has been a big part of the Flash player since version 6 and it has been very good to the platform. I’d even be willing to bet that video has been the most beneficial aspect of the Flash platform penetration numbers since it’s inception. (As a side note, video was actually an accidental addition to the platform while researching ways to build screen sharing applications.)
When users browser their local new channel website, YouTube or go online to catch the TV show that they missed last night they are inevitably using the Flash platform. Admittedly, YouTube is experimenting with HTML5 but my mother and the 95% of other video watchers online don’t have any idea what that means.
Browsing video without the Flash player is notoriously painful and is solely reserved for the purest of Flash haters. [Side note: I think Microsoft fully understands this. And have gone so far as to make the first 3 version of Silverlight's primary focus on catching up to (and passing?) the flash player with regards to online video performance and features. Nice features like variable video bit rates and H.264 streaming.]
So enter HTML5 and no need for the Flash player right? Well, it’s not that easy. Content producers will need see a clear benefit to switching away from the way that they have always done things. The content producers have all the cards in this game and they are the ones that will have to be converted.
Wait, my technical opinion doesn’t even matter? Yeah, that’s right, unless you work for Hulu or some other content distributor.
So let’s put ourselves in the shoes of a content network organization and weigh in on the subject matter.
I’d want to be on the iPhone. Nothing we can argue with on this issue. HTML5++.
I’m also concerned about people taking my content and posting it somewhere else. With HTML5, my content is a right click away from being posted somewhere else without my permission. Now the majority of Flash video sites don’t use content protection and if you dig you can find access to the original FLV and convert it (here’s how) but real DRM content protection is available as an option on the Flash platform if that’s your bag. So if it content protection is an issue for my organization than HTML5 is not an option. HTML5–.
I’m interested in getting paid for my video content. As a viewer I hate this but remember I’m a content producer and I’d love to splice in commercials that I could sell. On the Flash platform we can add cue points to video content and dynamically splice in commercial content on the fly. While this isn’t being utilized on YouTube, it is a mandatory requirement for a number of different video heavy content distributors (think Hulu, CBS or even Revision 3) HTML5–.
Cross browser compatibility has always been the smoking gun for why to use the Flash over various JavaScript methods. With the announcement of solid HTML5 support on the future IE9 browser from Microsoft it might appear that HTML5 is distend to kill the Flash platform. Unfortunately, each major browser will implement the HTML5 spec in their own individual manor. Which means that developers will need to continue to worry each individual browser. Mozilla has said that will never support the h.264 video (the format that the other major browsers have settled on) which makes me worried that even some of the basic ‘flash killer’ features may be missing or spotty. HTML5–.
So if HTML5 isn’t extremely competitive with Adobe’s Flash alternative then why am I hearing so much whining from the FFB clubs?
I’m recommending that those whom consider themselves fans of Flash stop posting demoting or derogatory statements about the new spec from here on out.
If I were a fast runner, I wouldn’t discourage someone slower or less talented than I was from racing. That’d be unnecessary and downright ugly. I’d instead attempt to be encouraging in the hopes that one day the two of us may be competitive.
Here is my HTML5 statement of encouragement:
Good job HTML5. You’re kicking ass. The new spec. is coming along nicely and it has a ton of great improvements. Congratulations to all the people who are working hard to make it a reality. Open standards rock!
The FFB mob should sleep soundly tonight. Be confident in the continuing progression of the Flash platform but cheer on advancements in open standards by the W3C. And who knows maybe someday there will even be an open standard for handling native multitouch events!
Sincerely,
@multitouchup
Nope. They pissed me off. Nothing short of unconditional surrender will be accepted. In the end HTML6 won’t have anything more advanced than the tag.
Truly, I see your point. And I was a bit concerned with all the recent Flash-venom being spewed. But then I read posts and comments about the actual state of HTML5. That group is on the verge of revolution. But the internecine fighting going on around a whole slew of issues is really splitting up the community. Just wait until the standard is finalized. There’s going to be a civil war.
The iPad caused a lot of this ruckus, it wasn’t only the tag. But the amount of people using IE6 as their main way onto the Internet compared to people with iPads (or iPhones, or even Macs) will be much more for a long time to come. There are more people on crappy low-end devices than on high-end cutting edge devices (or with cutting edge browsers). So by using only cutting edge technologies, you’re cutting out a sizable minority of old-school users. Here Flash has the advantage. Except on the iPad, of course.
But my whole problem with the idea that HTML5 is going to replace Flash (video, canvas, or all of it) is that people seem to forget that the user, the people who actually come to visit your website, don’t actually *care* whether the site is in Flash or HTML5 or even one huge clickable image! It’s user experience that counts – making the website enjoyable, memorable, easy to use and design beautifully. The technology used to deliver this experience is completely irrelevant. It’s up to the developer to use the tools he knows to the best of his ability, whatever tool it may be.
(PS When’s the next version of your multi-touch app coming out?
@Neave,
I agree with you. The majority of the consumers don’t care what technology is driving a site, leaving that decision in the hands of the lonely old developer. Or in the case of a company like Hulu, the decision is made by a committee of people that are hell bent on protecting their content. Either way, flash isn’t going away any time soon and the post was an attempt to encourage our community to avoid partaking in a pointless mud slinging battle.
As for my next multi-touch app. I’d like get SimTouch working well on both Flash and Flex content. I’m planning on starting in on an easy gesture framework. And finally, I’d like to open up a community library of multitouch specific components.
Feel free to hop in and help with anything you are interested in
“I’d even be willing to bet that video has been the most beneficial aspect of the Flash platform penetration numbers since it’s inception.”
Long before video was added to Flash, penetration numbers were over 95% of users:
http://web.archive.org/web/20001215011300/http://www.macromedia.com/software/player_census/flashplayer/version_penetration.html
YouTube and other sites went with Flash video, despite it’s weakness in codec quality at the time compared to something like QuickTime, was because the majority of users already had the plugin. Users could see the video right away without having to install a new plugin. Perhaps video has helped keep penetration numbers high, but Macromedia got to that point without video in the Flash Player.
That said, I don’t think there’s anything wrong in pointing out the problems with HTML5. Especially since the majority of tech press don’t understand these problems and are under the assumption that eventually HTML5 will wipe out Flash. I think more needs to be done to point out the differences between HTML5 and Flash and what one can do and one can’t. Also more needs to be done to show the slow browser upgrade cycle, that even if IE9 supports HTML5 (although they are still missing canvas support… perhaps IE10?) it will be 5 years after it’s release date (2011?) before the majority of users have the browser (especially without XP support).
There’s plenty of great Flash and Flex jobs out there, so I don’t feel like my job is threatened at all. However, it bugs me when students and people getting into this industry don’t want to invest in learning ActionScript and Flash because they believe what all the FUD these tech blogs are saying. With so much lousy reporting these days, I think more people should be explaining why HTML5 is not a “Flash-killer” any more than Silverlight turned out to be or that AJAX was before it. That in the end, there’s a place in the market for all these technologies and rarely does one technology completely destroy another.
@matthewfabb,
Great comment and great points here. I agree that some of the success of ‘video on the web’ can be attributed to the popularity of the flash player. The preexisting penetration rate made choosing flash a no brainer for content producers.
I’d still argue that the addition of video to Flash 6 was the most significant feature addition to the flash platform in it’s 15 year history. I added the ‘I’d be willing to bet’ part because I don’t have any statistics to back any of this up. I bet we could just ask some old Macromedia folks what they were seeing during the 2002-2004 era.
I also feel your frustrations with regards to the tech press and their ‘flash is dead’ mantra. But I feel that those headlines are only sensational for a short amount of time and often the headline is right next to a flash banner add or is part of a site that uses flash video. It’ll be fun to post back to these articles a few years from now but I don’t see too much benefit from bashing the HTML5 spec. today.
Thanks for the comment.
“I’m writing this out of concern that you are aggressively and needlessly attacking the new HTML5 standard. Such attacks and slander only make the Flash community look childish and unwelcoming.”
Some folks get tired of the Flash-bashing and do return it in kind. Regrettable, but natural, considering.
Adobe’s CEO on HTML this week:
http://blogs.adobe.com/jd/2010/03/highlights_of_adobe_q1fy10_ana.html
(re your most recent comment: Video in Player 6 was a stealth thing… lots of us realized what *might* happen, but I think all of us were surprised by how deeply it *did* happen. Bigger than that, though, may be the additions of Text Layout Framework (which still needs authoring support), and the cross-device nature of the Open Screen Project… I suspect these will be bigger than video was.)
jd/adobe
Even with the iPhone/iPad out, Flash will still have a 95% penetration in being supported by Android and all other devices using the Open Screen Project.
Now HTML 5 penetration will be far from 95%, and HTML 5 development won’t start until the language is no longer a draft and there will be proper tools to create content (I don’t see webdesigners coding all their animations).
Based on this, I don’t see why Flash won’t being used widely within the next 5 years.
Exactly Baz. How do I create cartoon animations? Where is the application I need to create stuff in HTML5? I’m an artist I can’t code that stuff, it’s not my skill area.
Lets say a user wants to take quciktime movies in m4v format that HAVE CHAPTERS working in iPad and iPhone…. but want to release this to a safari browser?
So far… i see no ability to utilize my quicktime chapters in html 5 video. HERE IS THE KICKER…. lets say i want to stream the video to prevent piracy?
Im not mocking anyone…. in fact i would hire someone to help us with this. We want to take FCP or numbered chapter timecodes and allow users to interact with the video based on this time data. it took me FOREVER to figure out how to get .m4v videos to retain .mov chapter markers. i got all that down now….. but how the heck can i deploy a streaming or encrypted cache media player for training videos? Again…. i dont care much for spam…. so please respond to me by following my website link and using the contact page or support@ (domainname) .com so i dont get killed with more garbage.
PS…. yes SVG is an option i will accept in conjunction with this player concept.
I have been using an old version of Windows 98 – and for one thing, Microsoft broke its pledge by refusing to support a system it sold ……. and now, when trying to renew or revitalize Adobe Flash I even wrote to Adobe appealing for a solution that could fit my needs – but no reply whatsoever !!
Even if one would like to pay a symbolical fee, the doors are ‘closed’.
Adobe gets into all the nitty gritty of my system causing chaos and harm, and appears to have become the rudiment of hackers, as every time something wrong happens, I seem to get an attack through Adobe Flash.
Every time I looked for a solution, Adobe’s website claimed that my system is ‘unsupported’ and litterally appeared to try and make me feel as a ‘beggar’ begging to use my very own system and my very own computer.
Adobe and other companies have to wake up brutally as to their disregard to the lives of ordinary people, and human rights and dignity in general.
Multinational companies have to be drawn to severe accountability – as we see that BP’s disregard to world environment appears to make the previous late manager of ENRON appear as a saint – and perhaps wasn’t he helpless caught up in his own world and viscious ?? Multinational companies as Adobe and BP have many ‘experts’ that may be charged as criminally liable.
Thank goodness for the US efforts to advance SEC and many Americans who want to stretch their hands out to help, and together with other newer partners, we could enter into a new era of decent commerce and not merely try and put tiny helpless people intp ‘their’ gallows – but now it is ‘they’ who have to account how they have been rolling in billions – with no eye contact with their ‘consumers’ – most often practicing systematic extortion – but not helping guarantee proper protection from viruses and trojans – just as certain hosters as Facebook have been proven to be taking possession of people’s private details ….. small peoples as myself have my ideas constantly stolen – to see them used immediately by some extortionist company – That does not encourage fiar contribution to society !
Wow, lots to take in there.
I was surprised to see your Adobe BP comparison. I’m not sure I feel as if that’s valid.
I would agree that any sort of client side scripting language is going to be a security risk. As a user you can turn off javascript and flash in your browser settings.
As much as we joke around about one company being evil, I’d suggest that each individual company is made up of real people who genuinely want to do the right thing for their users. And while some companies like Apple may be misguided I don’t believe that any of these companies are trying to put tiny helpless people into their gallows.
Just my humble opinion.