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| My views on Steve Job's views on Flash Steve Jobs has just released an open letter explaining his motivations behind leaving Flash support out of the iPhone OS, and you know what, I have to agree with him. Let's start by abstracting the App Store from the web, shall we? Comparisons cannot be drawn between the two, they're completely separate and any comparisons drawn should not be used in the web argument about openness. They're both internet-focused (for the most part), but are two entirely separate entities and should be evaluated as such. Jobs' argument is that Adobe commands their 98% penetration rate on user's computers using proprietary software and technology that you can only buy from them (save for some not-very-good cheaper programmes from other people), with a stiff mark-up and a closed engine. The iPhone's browser, in the meantime, supports technologies widely regarded as "open", and it does them pretty damn well. Flash is known to be buggy on a number of platforms and may also have an affect on a devices power consumption. We've not seen a full release of the technology on any mobile phone platform yet, which begs the question; should Apple have to wait for Adobe to get its stuff together? I'm not an Apple fanboy, in fact, if you look back over some of my past writings I've been positively anti-Apple, but this "openness" argument is positive, grade-A, bullsh*t. Safari vs Flash, in a battle of the open-formats? Who do you think would win. The App Store is another kettle of fish, but that's their own ecosystem so can do whatever the hell they want. On the web front though, they're actually doing it pretty well. This post has 1768 characters, and was posted by @stevefarnworth You must be signed in to comment |