flash is the walking dead
10/11/2011
It’s no secret that Flash has been stumbling around for a while, reeling from a sucking zombie bite as the rest of the tech industry looks on in either horror or bemusement, depending on their love and dependence on the third-party plug-in. Tech pndits stand in a circle waiting for the zombie poison to reach its brain and take full effect. And that’s when they’ll pounce and simply club it to death.
I’ve actually felt this way for a long time, even as I worked with designers to create interactive graphics in Flash. The technology is still the most useful and easiest way to get interactive content onto the web. I’m sure lots of people thought the horse was easier to use than the Model T back in the day as well. It certainly was less expensive and easier to learn — all excuses Flash developers are using right now on Adobe’s blog to defend the walking dead.
Yes, Flash is “easier” than HTML5 and in some cases for the PC it’s more powerful. But the problem with Flash has always been that it’s a parasite — a third party forced to be hosted by the native application. As native technology developed in the browser through HTML and CSS, Flash was destined to fail. Anyone who creates on the web should have known that, even as they created in Flash. I used (and in some cases will continue to use) Flash knowing that what I create will never see the mobile browser, and that’s fine in some cases. But wishing and hoping for Flash on mobile was foolish and out of touch with reality.
mobile is king
Flash’s Zombie status really hit me earlier this week while in meetings with a web developer to discuss a massive digital strategy rethink and redesign. We were discussing the obvious need for a seamless experience between the website on the PC and on the mobile device (phone or tablet) regardless of who makes what device. No one wants a banner saying, “click here to visit our mobile site,” or an obvious redirect, or anything silly — just a website built for a browser no matter where it lives. For anyone developing sites now, this is simply best practice and if this is best practice, that means no Flash — especially in the wake of yesterday’s announcement.
don’t talk to me about air
Adobe’s statement basically says that Flash will be used for two things:
- High-end production on the PC — Premium video and advanced games.
- Producing applications in Adobe Air that can be ported to multiple mobile devices.
I’m interested to see how this works out for them. Premium video is a short-term play. Yes, Flash will probably rule in this space for a bit, but the lack of mobile support will doom them here too. Also, HTML 5 will catch up in this space ,and probably pretty quickly as developers abandon Flash for good and start building their skills in modern web development. I can see games being a longer-term play for Flash, but that’s a pretty niche area.
Turning Flash into a development platform for applications is probably the longest-term play there is. There is plenty of demand for cheap, low-end apps that do the job. This demand will continue to grow as smartphones continue their march into everyone’s hands.
But don’t talk to me about Adobe Air for the desktop. Adobe Air is absolute crap. It is no more an application platform than Fluid. All Adobe Air does is take the web experience, pull it our of the browser and make the text and graphics look wonky and blown out. I have never seen an Adobe Air product that didn’t look like absolute shit and I challenge anyone out there to show me one.
long live adobe
Don’t take all of this ragging on Flash as a slight against Adobe. I love Adobe. Adobe makes the best, most powerful design tools around. Without Adobe, the rich, visual Internet experience we have today wouldn’t exist. The problem is that in some respects Adobe has become synonymous with Flash — which should never have been the case. Adobe makes great products for creative professionals and if they remain true to their commitment to bring those tools to the cloud and democratize them — as they have with Photoshop Express — so they’ll be useable for broader audiences, they’ll continue to make our world a more beautiful place.
Adobe also has to stay true to their commitment to help speed the transition to HTML5. Without Adobe’s help, many web developers and other creative will be left behind as we march toward the new standard. In their blog post announcing the death of Flash mobile, Adobe says, “we will design new features in Flash for a smooth transition to HTML5 as the standards evolve so developers can confidently invest knowing their skills will continue to be leveraged.”
Sticking to that philosophy will be crucial to the future of Adobe and in many ways it will be crucial to the survival of a thriving and rich Internet experience.
