Comment: Adobe CTO Kevin Lynch defends the recently controversial Adobe Flash technology and warns that the HTML 5 standard will "throw internet video back to the dark ages."
Adobe's Flash technology has been hit hard recently. First of all, Apple's recently launched iPad tablets and iPhone smartphones do not support Flash technology. At the same time, Apple CEO Steve Jobs criticized the Flash software for being too many vulnerable, which can easily lead to failures, and criticized Adobe for being very lazy.In response, Adobe hit back at Apple, saying that Adobe can easily convert Flash apps into iPad apps. Two major threats Flash faces at present are Apple's refusal to support Flash on its touch screen devices, and the development of HTML5 as a new open standard. Kevin Lynch posted a blog post today to fight back against these two threats.
Regarding Apple, Lynch said that Adobe is ready to provide Flash support on devices such as iPhone and iPad, but Apple has refused to accept it for more than a year. Lynch said: Once Apple agrees to provide Flash content to users, we can immediately implant Flash into the browser of such devices. But so far, we have not received the necessary cooperation from Apple.
Lynch pointed out that the Flash 10.1 software for smartphones is about to be launched, and phones including Android, BlackBerry, Nokia and Palm Pre can run. If these phones support Flash, it is obviously Apple's fault that iPhone does not support Flash.
But in the long run, the greater threat to Flash is the HTML 5 standard, especially in terms of video playback. Lynch said that 75% of the videos on the Internet are currently displayed through Flash players. If the HTML 5 video playback function is activated, Flash's share will definitely decline, and Google and other companies are vigorously promoting the HTML 5 standard with products such as YouTube video websites and Chrome browsers. In response, Lynch said that HTML 5 cannot pose a threat to Flash, and Adobe will support HTML 5, but the incompatibility between this standard and multiple browsers will become an obstacle to its development.
Lynch said: Adobe supports HTML and its development, and we hope to add more features to our software as the HTML development process. If HTML can complete all the tasks of Flash at present, then we can certainly save a lot of energy. But this situation is unlikely to happen. Even in terms of video playback, Flash can play 75% of the current video playback on the Internet, and HTML's video playback function cannot obtain consistent support from major browser manufacturers. Therefore, users and content producers have to return to the dark age of Internet videos where incompatibility problems are everywhere.
Analysts believe that HTML 5 remains an immature technology and these incompatibility issues can be resolved over time. In terms of video playback, Flash is more mature. But HTML 5 is in a period of rapid development. As a natural Internet standard, it has many advantages to help it achieve long-term victory.
At the same time, there is a conflict between Adobe and developers. Flash is currently the most popular standard for Internet video and animation, so developers have to purchase Creative Suite software from Adobe to develop Flash applications. Once Flash developers turn to other technologies to develop applications for the Internet and devices such as iPhone and iPad, Adobe's competitive advantage will be greatly weakened, and the Flash standard will also be in trouble.