‘We Love Apple’ : So say Adobe
Adobe today, making a bold statement in an attempt to correct any potential damage that has be caused by the Flash versus Apple (iPod,iPad,iPhone) debate. Could also help mend some bridges with Apple.
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Flash on the iPhone?
Adobe have been pushing for some time to get Flash on to the above platforms. Seems really sensible, to have a multiplatform tool that can publish to any number of devices. It works in theory for the developer, because he/she only has one development workflow. It works for the device manufacturers because they need to make their devices as seemingly marketable as possible ( ie. It’s got to do everything!). It also works for Adobe, as they have the best position to push their own creative suite of applications to the market.
What Apple think
Apple however, disagree, and want to maintain control over the flow from developer to customer. Many people feel that this is unfair, that this is ‘a bit Microsoft’. I can see their point, I felt the same.
Apple vs Flash : A Brief History
- Adobe announce Flash CS5, the killer feature being that it publishes to iPhone AND Android. At last, Flash on the iPhone!
- Apple Announce new iPhone OS4 licence condition: No 3rd Party Undocumented API’s (MonoDevelop, Unity 3D, Flash, all potentially affected) – Adobes Mike Chambers blogs it here
- Adobes Lee Brimlow – ‘Go screw yourself Apple’
- Apples Steve Jobs – ‘Thoughts on Flash’
- Adobe – ‘We Love Apple’ Advert
Steve Jobs is right?
However, if you step back and have a look, you can see the points that Apple make are actually valid. The ones that appeal to me are:
- Control of UI is retained and thus promotes better usability and better user experience
- Optimised documented APIs mean battery draining code is kept out, and to a minimum
- Undocumented APIs can potentially open up security leaks
- Less bugs, as the closed code source is maintained by one party, and then quickly fixed
- New features of the iPhone platform, quickly available to market, rather than having to wait for 3rd party development software to support it
I’ve worked with Flash since Flash 4. I created sites in 1998 because I believed I could do better, offer a better web experience to the user. Make things move, flow, add some class to a web page that was sorely lacking in the early. Just check out Yahoo from 1998.
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Verdict
I believe Apple are trying to attain to a dream, a standard that they have idealised. Personally, I love that approach. It means they care about their end user. They care about the ideal. I’m all for that. For that reason, despite developing in Flash for all these years, I’ll happily move on to the next challenge, and develop applications that give me the power to create software I believe in.
