4 May 2010

Killing Flash: Throwing the baby out with the bathwater

This is frustrating. I continue to hear "Flash Sucks", and "there is no good reason for Flash" on podcasts and blogs. I understand many of the arguments, but there are still cases that still stick with me that need to be addressed.

LACK OF SUPPORT:
As a Flash developer, I still have not yet seen any tool that can touch the speed and capability I have right now with Flash. I tried to find some examples of HTML5 animations to look at. First things first; they don't run in all browsers. As I write this neither Firefox nor IE support it. Remember folks, some users cannot switch browsers such as those working in government offices.

EFFECTIVE TOOLS:
Again, I can set down and draw shapes and animate them at a moments notice. I am productive and can deliver products back to my client in a timely manner. Perhaps in a few years we will see a convergence or evolution of the tools we have now to those that can produce HTML5 code. But until then, I cannot take backward steps to hand code and deliver substandard animations that only work in certain browsers.

MOBILE DEVICES ONLY?:
Another small but related point has to do with mobile devices. With these you want as small a code footprint as possible. But many folks don't realize is you cannot lump all users into a mobile category. All of my users are basically forbidden from using anything but a hardwired connections.

THE BOTTOM LINE AS I SEE IT:
Sure, Apple has interest in non-Flash web. Sure, it is to their advantage. This way they won't have to support Flash. AT&Ts network "might" run faster due to less bandwidth and hence iPhone will load faster. However, not all users run iPhones. The business user setting at their desktop needs power and resources offered in a timely manner.

I hope Adobe does take the forefront in transitioning Flash (the authoring tool) into an HTML5 IDE. I bet it will happen. Lastly, for the sake of us still making a living how about we agree to use different language like "evolve" or "transition". Again, I understand HTML5 is the future, but here and now some of us depend on Flash for needs here and now. That is why all this talk scares me. All it takes in one person of power to hear "kill Flash" and make a bad decision based upon an incomplete understanding of the ramifications. By doing this they may end up "throwing the baby out with the bath water".

PS: I just bought an iPad 3G and I really like it. It's true!