Why Flash Party?

The writer Darrell Etherington is trying to convince the Apple users

(especially i Phone users) who feel that lack of Flash Player on the i

Phone is a disadvantage to it. The writer’s intention is clearly revealed

in the title of the editorial, “i Phone out of the flash party – Big Deal”. So,

basically the writer didn’t care if the i phone participated in the Flash

Party or not. Flash is getting an update to 10.1 (i.e., Flash 10.1) which

will bring support for full flash functionality. There are many leading

companies like Google Android, Symbian, and now BlackBerry signed

for working together on the Open Screen Project. Open Screen project

will allow the mobiles to get full-fledged Flash experience to all platforms,

including HD video and Adobe Air applications.

I phone did not take part in the Flash party (Flash 10.1) because Apple

wanted to adhere to its policy of staying away from a technology that

may be widespread. Many of the i phone users don’t see this as a

disadvantage because there are very few things that requires only Flash

player . There are some gaming sites and also some online

advertising, which requires Flash player. Actually, both of these issues

can be categorized under “Advertisement”. So, many i Phone users do

not feel the lack of Flash player as a disadvantage. Whenever they

(i Phone users) face a problem opening some gaming website or some

big-budget movies , they simply shrug their shoulders and move away

rather than scolding or blaming the i Phone for not having the Flash

player. The second reason is that some people don’t like Adobe Air on

their desktop. It may be due to many reasons, may be they don’t like

Flash as such and hence they are not using Adobe Air. If they have

Adobe Air on their desktop, the desktop will crah every couple of days

and they(i Phone) users don’t want this sort of thing to happen on

their i Phone. They try to avoid Adobe Air at all costs which basically

meant that they don’t have to use it as long as they don’t use windows.

They even say that aside from Air, what has Flash really done for them

lately?

Moreover there are some new soft wares and new technologies that can

replace Flash player. CSS animation and other dynamic HTML 5 effects

are making extruding strides which will eventually bypass the things

like Flash altogether. HTML 5 is the next major revision of HTML of the

world wide web. So, now the dynamic HTML 5 is launched as the

rival of the Flash player. Also, Apple search giant is a strong proponent

of HTML 5. Every new feature in the browsers chips away at the walled

nature of the App store because it makes websites behave more and

more like dedicated i Phone applications. HTML 5 also allows advance

graphics , real time two way streaming (including binary data) and

audio. When Apple removes an application, the affected company can

rebuild on a website using HTML 5. HTML 5 and CSS animation will

be likely included in future W3 specifications.

The writer makes his point clear that he is not upset by the fact that

Apple is not participating in the Flash party rather he feels glad that

Apple is sticking to its own policy of staying away from tech that is

widely spread. So , the writer Darrell Etherington didn’t show any kind

of ambiguity in his editorial.

I personally feel that it is better for if Apple does not involve itself in the

Open Screen Project because Apple has got the recognition of being

different from rest of the normal technologies. Apple has introduce

MAC, i Phone to the world and gained a giant leap over the windows

which was there since many years. So, it is the tradition of Apple that it

does things in a very different manner than other companies do. It is

not only the case that is dealing with technologies, but the way that

these ideas are brought up and used in the market. Well Apple has a

different and successful kind of approach towards the market. It has

been very particular about its products and also it has made its point

clear by not signing the Open Screen Project. Apple has not mended

their own ways till now , so I don’t find any reason why Apple should

now change its policy and sign the Open Screen Project. So, it is

good for Apple to adhere to its own policy which was very successful

ever since it was launched. I have also conducted a small survey of the

people who have an i Phone. I have asked them a question that do they

feel the lack of Flash player in their i Phone.? 80 % of the people said

that they really don’t care if they have the Flash player because there

are hardly any websites that require only Flash Player. Where as some

people are concerned about this issue and they try to blame i Phone for

it.

This discussion or rather the fight between i Phone having Flash or not

is really turning out to be one of the hot topic in the field of technology.

There are many questions raised against Apple for not joining the Flash

party. Apple has already made it clear that it will not join the Flash party

because it doesn’t want to mend their policy. There are a few articles

that have a similar discussion as this editorial has but some of them try

to contradict with the fact that i Phone is not participating in the Flash

party. Colin Gibbs in his article “ Adobe’s Open Screen Project: Bigger

than the i Phone” stated the importance of i Phone in the world and to

what extent it is used by the people. He (Colin Gibbs) seems to give

i Phone a special kind of importance in his article. He stated that i Phone

dominated the traffic in the wireless world. The title “ Adobe’s Open

Screen Project: Bigger than the i Phone”, the usage of the word “the”

before i Phone seems to give it a special importance. He said that Apple

signing the open Screen Project is a far bigger play. Colin also feels that

Apple doesn’t seem to be willing to join the Flash party with other

companies. So, its not only one editorial that feels that Apple does not

want to sign the Open Screen Project but the article by Colin also seem

to state the same thing in a different manner.

So, finally Darrell Etherington and I personally feel that it would be

better if i Phone does not sign the Open Screen Project but rather

adhere to its policy of staying away from widespread technologies.