Flash vs. HTML5: Faux Drama
Updated 2011-11-16 (originally posted on 2010-11-07)
The HTML5 vs. Flash topic has become far too divisive. HTML5 is an evolving standard that promises some exciting capabilities, but it is most definitely NOT a Flash killer. HTML and Flash have always coexisted but I believe that 4 things are primarily responsible for the recent crusade against Flash: Apple’s refusal to support it in iOS, HTML5′s proposed <Video> tag, CSS3′s animation capabilities, and Adobe’s announcement that it has ceased development of the Flash Player for mobile browsers. I’ll briefly address each one:
Apple’s refusal to support Flash in iOS
Apple can and should do what it believes is best for its business and its customers. When iPhones and iPads were launched, the full version of the Flash Player wasn’t really optimized for mobile devices yet. Supporting Flash would likely cannibalize a good portion of Apple’s App Store sales since users could just navigate the browser to Flash-based content. And how would Flash affect their iAd business? I can see why supporting Flash would be rather scary for Apple from a business perspective.
Since iOS gained such tremendous market share and Apple staunchly refused to support Flash, it struck a huge blow to one of Flash’s key value propositions: ubiquity. For the first time, there was a major platform that Flash developers couldn’t reach. Over time, that became very difficult to ignore, especially when so many corporate executives purchased iPhones and iPads. Adobe gained ground when it released 10.1 on Android and Google TV and other platforms but it wasn’t enough to counteract the damage iOS was inflicting.
Video
Since many people associate Flash primarily with video on the web, some assumed that HTML5′s proposed <Video> tag would make Flash irrelevant. There are a few problems with this assumption. First of all, the <Video> tag doesn’t natively support streaming or any kind of digital rights management. If you want to post your family vacation videos for grandma to view on the web, the <Video> tag is fantastic (assuming she is running an HTML5-compliant browser), but don’t expect any premium content from TV or movie studios to use it. Another problem is that the browser makers disagree about which codec to use for the standard (although you can just include multiple versions of your video for compatibility). And Flash is the only option (as far as I know) that supports video with an alpha channel in all major browsers.
CSS3 Animation
In terms of animation, CSS3 doesn’t hold a candle to Flash. It’s not even close. JavaScript is more robust than CSS3 but even JavaScript can’t compete with Flash for building immersive, highly interactive animated experiences. Anybody who claims that “anything that can be done in Flash can now be done in HTML/CSS/JavaScript” probably doesn’t have a very deep knowledge of Flash.
Adobe’s abandonment of Flash Player for mobile browsers
Flash has always been a tool that picks up where the browser leaves off. The typical mobile browser is far more HTML5-compliant than the typical desktop browser, yet mobile devices have drastically less computing power plus there are battery concerns. The value proposition for Flash there is harder to make because the jumping-off point (where the browser’s native capabilities end and Flash’s strengths begin to shine) is higher but Flash doesn’t have much room to strut because it is limited by weaker hardware. I’m sure it took a lot of effort for Adobe to author, maintain, and enhance the Flash Player for each mobile environment but since iOS was still a complete no-go, developers wouldn’t target mobile browsers anyway. If a project needed to be viewed in the browser on mobile devices, any smart developer would immediately recognize the need to use some other technology or else risk losing half their audience (iOS).
Nevertheless, when Adobe ceased development of the mobile browser plugin, a lot of people felt betrayed, befuddled, and ill-prepared. We developers were left wondering what would come next. The trust level took a huge hit. Many clients heard the news and misinterpreted it to mean that the entire Flash ecosystem was (or soon would be) dead. Things were completely blown out of proportion. Steve Jobs’ recent death spurred attention-grabbing headlines about his predictions being correct. Twitter erupted with bitter developers ranting and spewing out all sorts of venom, whipping the crowd into a frenzy. It would almost be humorous of it weren’t so sad.
I must admit that I completely disagree with several of Adobe’s decisions, but I’ll restrain myself from going into details because it wouldn’t do anybody any good. Sure, I think their move was short-sighted and irresponsible even though it made sense on some levels. But I’d like to point out a few things that I think are important to keep in mind:
- Adobe has essentially conceded that web browsing on mobile devices is best served by HTML5 and they confirmed their commitment to empowering mobile app development with Flash through AIR. So do not misconstrue their actions to mean “I can’t use Flash to develop for mobile devices”. That’s not true. Their AIR compiler keeps delivering better and better performance for native mobile apps.
- Nothing has changed regarding Adobe’s commitment to Flash Player for desktop browsers which has always been its sweet spot by far. The Flash Player is installed on an insanely large number of internet-connected desktops/laptops (upwards of 98% last time I checked) whereas HTML5 is close to 50%. So if you’re looking to deliver a rich interactive experience on desktops/laptops, Flash makes a lot of sense.
- Adobe’s announcement only affects future versions of the mobile browser player, so it isn’t as though overnight Flash becomes inoperable on the mobile devices on which it is currently installed. Anything you could do the day before Adobe’s announcement can still be done today and most likely for many years to come. How many new projects still target Flash Player 9 today? The mobile browser version will just remain at 11.1.
- Even if Adobe decided to cease all development of Flash technology (which is not the case), it would continue to live on for many, many years. Large industries have built on it and their infrastructure cannot be changed overnight. There would be maintenance work for years. Heck, there some Director projects that are being actively maintained. You’d be surprised by how many people still use AS2 and target very old versions of the player today.
- I have heard several developers say that they can’t trust Adobe anymore. After all, just a month ago Adobe was trumpeting the message that they’re all about mobile at their MAX show and then BOOM! The hammer was dropped. Maybe they’re preparing to kill Flash on the desktop too? How can we look our clients in the eyes and advocate for an Adobe technology after this fiasco? I totally understand the fear, but let’s face it: there are risks with any technology and HTML5 has proven to be even more in flux than Flash. I’ve heard of big-budget HTML5 projects that took an insane amount of time to get working reliably in the various major browsers and then a few weeks after launch, a browser released an update that broke a bunch of the functionality of their site! The whole industry is in a state of flux, so I think it would be a mistake to characterize Flash as unstable and HTML5 as rock-solid. In my experience, Flash is much more reliable across platforms.
Moving forward
At the end of the day, we as developers must assess the landscape, discern what technologies would serve our clients’ needs best, and deliver the goods. True craftsmen use different tools for different tasks. Developers are no different. Consider the objectives of each project and choose the appropriate technology. Don’t avoid Flash just because it got negative press or because HTML5 is more trendy. And don’t use Flash just because it is what you’re comfortable with. I have seen plenty of sites that were done 100% in Flash for no apparent reason. That’s absurd. Likewise, some developers burn through an insane amount of hours trying to accomplish something with HTML/CSS/JavaScript, making all sorts of compromises just to avoid Flash. Use Flash if it does the job better, all things considered (including budget and time constraints). Otherwise, stick with HTML/CSS/JavaScript because the content will be more accessible and search engine friendly. HTML5 is another great tool for our toolbox, but it certainly doesn’t supplant Flash altogether.
Let’s all do a better job of honestly informing our clients about the tradeoffs of each technology for their particular project(s) instead of just catering to whatever request they make based on their [often ill-informed] impressions. If the CEO has an iPad and insists that he be able to view the entire site there, great, but how will that impact development time, feature set, etc.? What will the browser requirements be and what portion of the audience can realistically be expected to fulfill those requirements? If the client requests Flash because they think everything cool on the web uses Flash, make sure they understand the accessibility tradeoffs and what portion of the audience may not be able to view it at all. You’re the expert, so act like it.
HTML/CSS/Javascript are perfectly adequate for many projects, especially sites that don’t require advanced animation and interactivity. But despite all the hype, I don’t think HTML5 is well-suited for all projects. Flash continues to offer some compelling advantages. Here are some things that I think Flash does better today:
- Complex manipulation of Bitmaps at runtime – some pretty amazing effects are possible in Flash using BitmapData and various filters which would be virtually impossible to do in HTML5/CSS3/JavaScript. Canvas looks promising, though.
- Complex 3D
- Complex manipulation of audio at runtime
- Developing and debugging in AS3 is leaps and bounds better because of strict data typing and many other features of the language. This can translate directly into much faster development timelines too.
- Performance – in most cases, Flash is much faster (except text rendering).
- Rich banner ads – I don’t think anyone likes ads, but the reality is that there’s a vast infrastructure built around delivering banner ads with Flash technology. File size restrictions make Flash especially well-suited for banners too.
- Webcam video and audio – I understand there are initiatives in the works for a standard in the browser, but it is far from being something you could rely upon for broad usage in the real world anytime soon.
- Animated text anti-aliasing – HTML/CSS/JavaScript text animations seem more jerky because of the way the text gets anti-aliased in the browser. (anyone know of a solution?)
- Masking with any shape
- Advanced video – alpha channels, DRM, cue points, streaming, etc.
- Ubiquity and consistency – as much as folks like to claim HTML5 is a “standard”, the reality is that the various browsers have some radically different implementations and incompatibilities not to mention the fact that most people aren’t running an HTML5-compliant browser on their desktop/laptop yet. Adoption can be pretty slow too, especially in the government sector. Flash is already on well over 95% of internet-connected desktops/laptops. Flash is also used for many other devices like interfaces on car stereos, printer LCDs, TVs, and more. A swf generally runs the same way on any platform, so there isn’t such a need to implement hacks to work around various browser incompatibilities.
For the Flash developers, take heart. There is plenty of Flash work out there and that probably won’t change anytime soon. Flash is an amazing platform that is becoming more specialized as browsers grow in their capabilities. That’s really how it should be (in my opinion). Take this opportunity to embrace some of the exciting new tools at your disposal like HTML5, Javascript, and CSS3. Don’t fear them and don’t let the negative PR and crowd-think convince you that Flash is dead and that you’ll be out of a job tomorrow. What makes you great isn’t just your Flash skills – it’s your ability to execute interactive concepts and develop solutions for your clients. Much of what you’ve learned can be translated to almost any programming language. Rest assured that I’ll do my best to help make things easier for you too with GreenSock tools. I’m already working on a Javascript version of the tweening platform. Stay tuned for that…
HTML5 is great. Flash is great. Now go have some fun and create amazing experiences for your customers.
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Comments (47)
Great article Jack. It’s important for Flashers to also learn the differences between what is actually HTML5 and just plain old Javacript. I’ve had to make sure of that myself recently.
I’ve seen plenty of people look at something and say “well if it’s animating and it’s not Flash it must be HTML5…Flash is dead!” (I’m paraphrasing of course).
HTML5 has become the most over used buzzword as of late!
Thanks again for putting your thoughts out there Jack…Greensock Rules!
This is a great rundown. I would hope that it puts things in proper perspective for most people… but however reasoned the argument, some will just stick with their spoonfed mis-perceptions no matter what. (looking at you, Jobs’ media acolytes)
Yep yep, great article. I do a lot of HTML work, and have used much of CSS3 & a bit of the canvas&audio tags. When you see an antiFlash guy harping on proprietary plugins, ask him wtf he thinks the browsers interpreting his HTML/CSS/JS are. If making the Flash Player an open-standard means multiple Flash Players with inconsistency between them all, well I don’t want it. I would however like Adobe to open a channel for 3rd party developers to contribute nightly builds for Adobe review & possible inclusion similarly to the WebKit team.
Another great point in favor of Flash is fonts are consistent, smooth, and beautiful… AND you can embed them instead of using a terrible Text to Image script!
Great article Jack! It’s nice to see that some people are approaching this topic sensibly and realistically. I agree that HTML5 is in no way a Flash killer, but actually a great tool for developers.
Thanks,
Michael
Just wanted to say great post and right on the spot
I love the idea of HTML5. I think it’s going to kick ass when it’s finished. The standard is still a work in progress. That’s problem number one with the HTML5 > Flash crowd. You mention in your article that browsers are holding to tradition by implementing HTML5 differently. This is problem number 2. And problem number 3…
A few of the companies I work with are still using IE6 as their corporate standard. A large government agency just moved away from IE6. They upgraded to… IE7. So at this rate, we should have reliable saturation of HTML5 capable browsers in five to ten years with 20% still holding out with non-compliant browsers.
This dashes the HTML5 argument…
I can’t wait to work with it for paid stuff. But my customer base isn’t there yet and I’m not a gambler — I won’t leave them behind.
NOPE.
Adobe hasn’t released anytihng new since CS3 (now it’s in cs5), that makes it’s technology at least 5 years old. HTML5 is actively being built. So..
HTML5 will ultimately destroy flash as people more and more use adblock. Flash ads will go poof and youtube has no problems switching to HTML5 (digital rights handled via server side)
bob, you’re not a Flash developer, right? Nothing new since CS3? Yikes, that’s not even close to being true. And have you seen what Adobe presented at MAX this year with 3D and video?
HTML5 is actively being built, yes, and so is Flash but the thing about HTML5 is that it’s not even due to be finalized for like 8-10 years. Gulp. Which do you think will move faster, a single company like Adobe or a big group of folks who are arguing with each other about what the standards should be? Look at the historical data.
As far as ad blocks, sorry, but that’s another argument that doesn’t end up being in favor of HTML5. Have you seen ads built in HTML5? Can you imagine what will happen as they start coming out in vast quantities? Not only will there likely be performance issues (JavaScript code can be written just as poorly as ActionScript – bad developers are on both sides) but there will no doubt be tools that attempt to block HTML5 ads as they become pervasive (turning off Javascript? Great!) In a way, having ad content developed almost exclusively in Flash makes it easier for folks to block if they so desire – are you really in favor of making it harder?
DRM handled on the server? How could that possibly work? Wouldn’t it be pretty simple to circumvent (defeating the whole purpose)? If I can get the server to feed me the video file once without requiring any client-side validation and piece-meal trashing it, I could just save it and give it to all my friends. I dunno – maybe I’m missing something but I don’t see how this is realistic.
Server side DRM isn’t DRM… that’s authentication. I think the HTML5 crowd will figure it out… but they haven’t yet.
I swoon about some of the things HTML5 offers. Just awesomeness – I would love to be able to do things in markup that I could do in Flash. But I’m not so naive to think that it’s going to be possible or reasonable that I can do *anything* in HTML5 that I can in Flash with the same time investment.
I can’t wait to be able to use it (when browser saturation reaches a point where it’s sensible). Flash and HTML5 side by side, used when appropriate. Things are awesome for Web developers. Loving it.
Can I point something out that most people overlook? Technical truths don’t matter. It’s kind of like how marketing of a product X can make it sell like crazy while the better product Y fails despite being better.
What I’m getting at is that public perception matters. What will make or break Flash is going to be the people who make decisions on use of certain technologies or not, and even if they are misinformed they will still have influence. For example, one big Flash supporter is the ad industry. Should the ad industry decide they don’t want to be left out of the browsing experience on iOS devices, they could easily make a dent in Flash use for ads.
I have already seen the impact of Apple’s FUD, with many clients complaining their Flash sites cannot be seen on an iPad. I’ve heard the same from other contacts in the web design field.
So regardless of what the technical truths are, you had all better be prepared to do non-Flash sites because the demand for cross-platform is only going up.
I think that many of the reasons that people use to criticize Flash are not exactly Adobe’s fault or Flash’s fault. They are the fault of the developer-and designer community that uses Flash. For example, the recent little tiff about the MacBook Air losing two hours of battery life in heavy web browsing with Flash installed – Flash is hitting the processor hard because none of those web banners are reducing their frame rates when their animation is finished. I don’t think we can blame the designer community because most of them don’t have time to explore very far beyond gotoAndPlay() and that’s the sort of thing that could be automated. But the developer community doesn’t have much of an excuse. I have seen a huge amount of really bad ActionScript, completely disorganized, with memory leaks left and right. When I surf the net with my debugger player I am inundated with null object reference errors, External Interface not available errors and IOErrors; I see traces showing up in my Flashlog.txt file from random Flash objects. If we want Flash to stop being a scapegoat, we all need to help raise the standards of Flash programming. The Greensock library is a good start; LoaderMax in particular makes it a lot easier to keep loading code clean and memory-efficient, which is an area that often generates some sorry looking .as files. But it doesn’t do much good when you wrap it into a 2500-line ActionScript file that eats up 256 MB of RAM when it runs. It doesn’t matter if Apple opens up the iPad to Flash in that case; the poor thing only has 150 MB to spare for its web browser and it’s going to crash. Flash Builder has the profiler, step debugger, and unit testing built-in now, so it’s a lot easier to write quality Flash code than it was just a few years ago.
Totally agree with all of this, unfortunately it seems that the only people that are not trying to banish Flash to a premature grave are technically versed professionals in the field. And that includes the people that are currently coming up with amazing JS/Canvas/WebGL stuff (audio manipulation, bitmap data stuff).
I think the main point is the one you made re: ease of implementation. Most AS programmers are happy to give it a go in another tech but creating a coherent web application that combines video, usability, effects and some bitmap stuff will be much much harder to develop in HTMLS (in terms of debugging and plugging all these recent frameworks together) and hence more expensive.
Hi, great article!!
Talking about “Rich banner ads” I’m completely sure HTML5 canvas will never substitute Flash. HTML5 is too complicated to develop banners and create tracking on it. Also, all assets and code would be visible to anyone, so here is no way to maintain copyright. Make a banner in HTML5 will be more expensive than a flash banner.
In other hand, all tracking systems used actually will need re-design and re-code, to maintain the traffic system.
I have seen a lot of attempts to use HTML 5 with CSS3 to show that it has the potential to be a Flash killer but I believe they’ve all fallen short of the mark. In most cases the attempt falls short on browser support and performance. The development time for such an attempt also well exceeds the development time if done in Flash. As you say there are multiple ways to skin a cat, in the case of media streaming and intensive highly interactive experiences its possible it could be done with some other language but Flash certainly would be the best for a development of that nature
Thanks for the great article
I fully agree. Flash is a much larger more comprehensive cross platform toolkit than any of the new web technologies. The “HTML is a flash killer” bandwagon is exclusively for people who do not fully understand what flash is.
Another point to note is that Flash is open source licensed. Its just the source has not been updated or properly documented. http://www.gnu.org/s/gnash/
Excellent article but Adobe need to treat Steve Job’s blatant protectionist stance as a wake up call.
Flash may have been the only show in town and may continue to be the only show in town for a while, but Adobe need to pull out the stops and in response to what may be generally regarded as unfair criticism they need to make Flash an even better product.
I’m sure when Alta-Vista first heard about Google; when Frendster heard about Facebook; When Nokia first heard about Android, they all thought that time was on their side – and they were all very wrong.
The fact that HTML 5 is perceived in some quarters as a Flash killer should if nothing else encourage Adobe to make Flash a much better product than it is. The technology industry is littered with ‘bandwagon’ software that has unjustly overthrown existing good and better technology.
Despite the very laudable balanced argument put forward by Jack, Adobe need to come out fighting.
It’s been about 1 year since all this nonsense started. As a full-time freelance Flash developer, I’d like to be honest about the impact: There has been a definite reduction in demand for Flash content. This fact has been echoed by many fellow web media/Flash devs and designers I have spoken to over the last 10 months. Some have even had to switch to HTML+Ajax type of work, others are suffering like me with lower revenues, and a couple agencies [in Toronto] have even closed because they depended too exclusively on Flash.
Regardless of the “technical truths” (this article included), the more important truth is whether we can stay employed. The people who hold the cash and spend it have decided that website compatibility with IPad is more important than any “technobabble” we can throw at them about performance and HTML5 not being ready yet.
Better tech != better business model.
Great article Jack. I cant wait to try out some HTML5 myself!
I too have adopted the “Flash is over” misconception – but I actually like programming in Flash and steered away from it because of this misconception. This article has been quite informative and now I will look to ways as to how Flash fits in the picture developing projects. Thanks Jack – you were fair and balanced.
The important point is not technical, but commercial: Why to sell flash stuff for $10 when you can sell the same (or less) that some competitors cannot do for $20 because it’s in HTML5? More work to do, more money to get.
Steve’s thoughts on Flash back in April 2010:
http://www.apple.com/hotnews/thoughts-on-flash/
Apple != entire world
Thanks for this article and this site and your efforts on the tweener class! If it werent for this article, i would surely have wrote this myself (but im a terrible writer). Thank you for dispelling all the propaganda out there on the web,there is just too much of it on this subject.
@HARDIK, that’s an old letter, but we have FP 11 today and Steve was talking about FP 9.x
Man it’s a great post. Cool to read this during this Flash hating mob 
To support all browsers in a consistent way, we use flash for desktop websites. For mobile devices, people are not seeking an interactive experience, they are seeking information. Contact information should be the first thing they see along with a link to google maps, phone numbers as links that they can call, etc…
This division of labour is effective and useful.
If people are seeking interactive experience, we build an app, and the adobe platform offers a simple and powerful way to target these devices with AIR. I’ve deployed an app recently for adidas, and the workflow was fantastic compared to compiling to each device.
Will HTML5 replace flash? YES, for somethings. But with flash player 11, stage3D and the new mouse independence, right button… the game is about to change again.
Great job laying it. My hope is that Falcon JS (AS3 to JS) actually comes out of the darkness. Though my gut is Adobe was choking on it. A flash to HTML5 compiler would be an elegant solution. I’ve been working on a couple HTML5 projects, JavaScript is an UGLY step sister to ActionScript.
“… a Javascript version of the tweening platform” – that would be great!
Great Article, you put it the way it is…
I really hate how the press makes a big deal out of everything causing clients to become afraid over nothing.
And that’s where we, developers, have to make a stand and say it like it is… (like you just did)
We’ll be waiting for more of your products, sure make my like a lot easier (or maybe let me make more complex projects with the same effort)
Great article. But I still can’t believe and agree to claims saying flash was performing worst on mobile browser than html.
So I have prepared some test tool to find out about state of it.
DEVU it wasn’t. I already did quite a few tests and it was a LOT slower than Flash. They argued that Apple devices run HTML5 quite fast but that’s something we can’t compare since there is no Flash there.
When HTML5 was announced some years ago, guess what I did? I learned ActionScript 3 to an expert level. Why? Because culturally systemic boasting causes the lower skilled, less intelligent developers to flock to the newest most nascent thing, leaving a trail of open projects and thinning out the availability of developers to take the jobs. What I’ve seen is an increase of demand for advanced flash development. Companies who’d like to replace their current rich interactive applications with HTML5 5 ones are going to have a hard time finding an affordable market for getting the same thing, logic would say, the legitimate cases where HTML5 application programming is necessary, their going to pick a HTML5 programmer who can migrate their projects,along with leveraging the work already put into is in AS3, because it will be much cheaper.
The developers best positioned in this situation is…Senior Level AS3 developers, who almost always have a broad enough skill set to be on top of anything new that’s going to come out.
There’s a good amount of money out there to be made, to those who have a brain, and can use it.
~mike
I do not see Unity web player in this discussion?
Any warnings of wisdom about this tool?
Cross platform, powerfull, easy to use and script. License is less than Flash Pro CS5. Of course it is not as widespread as Flash but it does provide a web player supported by all platforms with a rich sea of possibilities.
well blanced article.
I would like to point out one thing. i have been working for e-learning projects for 5 yrs. and i have been useing flash from days of flash 8 to flashcs5.its is the only tool which works for e-learning projects till date. i do not think html5 can take over atleast for e-learning domain.
I direct a well-known e-learning website. Don’t be fooled by HTML 5 working on iOS devices. Very basic things we accomplish with flash, like sound synced to animation, background sounds, drag and drop that sort of work on desktop/laptop HTML5 capable browsers do not work at all in Safari on an iPad. I doubt this is innocent.
Steve Job’s article about Adobe’s closed environment is laughable in comparison to Apple’s closed economic ecosystem. Most of what we offer at our site is not yet possible using HTML 5 and I doubt it ever will be possible on iOS.
Doesn’t anybody remember the good-old-days of web browser incompatibility and version checking? We always needed to build several different versions of every UI just to get things to look, play and function the same. Good time$. Then Flash came along and ruined all that, one UI worked across all browsers, versions and platforms. But now comes HTML 5–halleluiah. Happy days are here again!
Hey Jack,
Great run down, and of course, all true. The technology comparison isn’t what concerns me. Adobe is what concerns me. Looking at Deepa’s blog (http://blogs.adobe.com/flex/2011/11/your-questions-about-flex.html) I get the impression that Adobe is abandoning future development for Flash and Flex. This means no more updates/improvements. Without serious development support Flash will die a slow death. Do you have any insights on this?
BrainstormWilly, I see no indication that Adobe is ceasing development of the Flash platform whatsoever. Yes, it is transitioning the Flex framework over to Apache, but frankly I have never been a fan of Flex -at all- and I think it would be a mistake to lump Flash and Flex into the same bucket. Adobe continues to demonstrate that they’re making Flash better and better, plus they outright committed to its future as a platform publicly. They were quite clear about that, although I don’t blame you for not taking them at their word immediately.
I have always seen HTML5 as a wonderful and welcomeed addition to the Flash experience. I am still waiting for HTML5 to stablize so that Adobe could include it in its publishing options. If HTML 5 can do what many are claiming, then imagine what a SWF could do with HTML 5. I don’t begrudge Jobs for not allowing flash players on iOS. The mobile hardware isn’t there yet.
Wonderful article with great insite, remaining objective and clear!
Nice read, would like to hear your thoughts on mobile development with Unity and how adobe’s Edge fits in this story!
Jochem, I’m not very familiar with Unity (although I’ve heard good things). As far as Edge goes, I haven’t been impressed by anything I’ve seen thus far, but I haven’t played with it much either.
As an avid iPad user AND flash developer I think what’s lost in the discussion is that the MOBILE BROWSER is dying. The kiddies want and expect an APP for everything. However Adobe seems to have its act together with the AIR 3.0 / Flashbuilder 4.6 / native extensions – all supporting native app development. When I showed my boss the iOS app I created and which now sits approved in Apple’s app store he FREAKED when I told him it was STILL FLASH. And how easy to then recompile and package for the android market! As an aside Jack I’ve been testing your BlitMask and ThrowProps plugins via AIR 3.0 on my iPad 2….and they work beautifully! Keep up the great work.
“… a Javascript version of the tweening platform” – that would be a dream come true 
Amen, great article.
I’m still amazed how one guy (Steve Jobs) says he hates Flash and that creates ripples through the industry and now people are going to abandon it.
I can really see (but don’t want to) Flash ceasing to exist on the web because more and more people will want to view content on mobile devices and I for one and sick of developing content for multiple browsers let alone multiple devices.
Sorry, Steve Jobs was a jerk and a hypocrite. He stated he wouldn’t support Flash because it was buggy, but holy cow…has anyone really tried to use iTunes or Safari on Windows? And what does that have to do with not even including it on Macs? Jerk. Jerk. Jerk.
“… a Javascript version of the tweening platform – that would be a dream come true”
I second that! I love greensock and I want to thank Jack for all the effort. However JS and webgl frameworks are catching up fast recently. Major brandsites start favoring JS frameworks for interactive content and flash is used as a fallback for older browsers. Maybe flash and air runtime(for mobile) will have its place as a browser gaming platform. I hope there will be a coexistence in the future.
Although there seemed to be a slow down in Flash work over the last year and a half it seems to be coming back in spades. In retrospect I’m not sure if the down turn in Flash work was a result of the economy in general or the HTML5 buzz, probably both. As I’ve been checking out all these ‘great’ HTML5 sites that only work in one browser I kept thinking “what am I missing here?”. I’m all for the one development solution of the Flash site + AIR app all device/OS deployment. Regardless I figured it was just a matter of time till clients figured out that HTML5 += (($$$) && (time) && (buggy crap)).
Thank you for you article, it is very helpful.