[size="1"](*) Flash mobile that is.

No idea where the heck to post this, the Lounge, General Programming, or Scripting... hell even News makes sense, as it isn't very often a large programming language is killed now is it? If I picked wrong, please move this.


But according to ZDNet, the just killed off Flash for mobile.

Our future work with Flash on mobile devices will be focused on enabling Flash developers to package native apps with Adobe AIR for all the major app stores. We will no longer adapt Flash Player for mobile devices to new browser, OS version or device configurations. Some of our source code licensees may opt to continue working on and releasing their own implementations. We will continue to support the current Android and PlayBook configurations with critical bug fixes and security updates.


Obviously Flash is going to live on in some form on the desktop, but mobile is playing an increasingly important roll, especially in the consumer segment. One of the big selling points about writing your app in Flash was the run anywhere in a browser aspect and that just took a giant hit. If I was invested in Flash right now, I would be doing a serious double take right now.


That said, from what I've seen, HTML5 isn't even close to being a Flash replacement, so this is really going to create a hole in the market. Are we really moving towards a future where HTML5 + Javascript are the predominant platform? I sure as help hope not, what a giant horrific step backward that would be. Now myself, I don't particularly like Flash, but I do greatly appreciate having it on my mobile device, which is why my Transformer gets lots of use, while my iPad collects dust. Why browse on the one that can do 90% when I have a browser that can do 99%.

Anyways... what are your opinions on this development? Think HTML5 is ready to be the replacement? Happy to see flash die?

I don't see how loosing the flash runtime to html5+js is a huge deal. Sure, the tooling isn't yet there, but there's no fundamental reason that it can't be. And flash's scripting capabilities are base on ECMAscript, just like JavaScript.

The only really rough patch for html5 right now is lack of proper sound support. Chrome (or was it Mozilla) has a good sound API under works, but what's really needed is something akin to "WebSL", just like we have with webGL.

Another smaller stumbling point is that, so far, Microsoft is saying that WebGL is a no-go over security concerns, but at some point they're either going to concede and support it, or admit that the "plug-in free" future they talk about is just BS meant to undermine flash.

Ultimately though, html5 and js are a good thing.

Sadly, I get to deal with a lot of flash rendering in my job. We've run into a bug where flash basically ignores one of the variables you pass it. Called up dev support from a company that dwarfs Adobe and got the 'sorry, we only support IE 9' run around.

Html5 might not be there yet, but Adobe has never been there and has no chance of ever getting there.

I don't see how loosing the flash runtime to html5+js is a huge deal. Sure, the tooling isn't yet there but there's no fundamental reason that it can't be.

Are you talking about Adobe, or somebody, putting out an IDE that uses HTML5 + JavaScript as a target platform but let's you develop in a richer language and/or development enrvironment? Maybe this is the future of the Flash IDE.

Even if Html5 can do everything flash can do, does it have language niceties like the equivalent of how you can embed assets in the target .swf file right from an AS3 script, etc.? (Not asking this rhetorically ... I've used Flash for little things and Javascript for little things but know next to nothing about both)

Didn't the CEO tell me just last month that Flash would be an important language to learn for my future?
Now I know how to reply.


L. Spiro

I'm glad to read that. Now please dear Adobe, kill Flash for PC too.. And while you're there also kill Air and shockwave.

Haha, I think Shockwave was dead a long time ago.