With the recent release of the iPad, YouTube’s migration to h.264 for the iPhone and Google’s decision to drop support for older browsers such as Internet Explorer 6 in favour of developing an HTML 5-based Google Apps, it doesn’t look like great news for the Adobe Flash plugin. The question on many people’s lips is — well, people in web and IT communities — ‘Is Flash dead?’. JavaScript libraries such as JQuery allow for rich internet applications and interfaces, HTML 5 video tags make video embedding a cinch and CSS 3 animation can be performed with a single line of code. Each one seems to be a nail in Flash’s coffin. Well, that’s on the surface.
HBO's new website, redesigned entirely using Flash
So, is Flash dead? The simple answer is no… even though Steve Jobs considers Flash obsolete and Apple refuses to support it on the iPhone or iPad. Obviously it’s within Apple’s best interest to keep developers away from allowing people to access applications outside of Apple’s App Store approval process. [Not that that stopped Google. Their Google Voice app, which was rejected by Apple in July last year, has since been redeveloped in HTML 5 so it can be accessed via a web browser, namely Apple's mobile version of Safari.] Even Microsoft claim that their Silverlight plugin beats Flash in terms of video performance and compatibility. And then there is the web standards community — web designers and developers who claim that there is not need for plugins like Flash, which breaks web standards, forces people to run download and install a proprietary plugin and often all for lesser performance than it’s HTML counterpart.
So, why isn’t Flash dead? Well, don’t get me wrong, as a web designer who is not the most proficient Flash developer, I am very much in favour of web standards, HTML 5 and the many benefits of open source software. I’ve also put up with the fair share of interface and programming language changes that Macromedia, and now Adobe, has made to the Flash application (not to mention their other software). However, I am also in favour of diversity. Let’s face it, there is nothing quite like Flash. Without it, there’d be no YouTube right now, no Vimeo, iView or if you’re in the States, Hulu. And even though we have fabulous browsers like Google Chrome, Firefox and Safari — and according to TechCrunch, Internet Explorer 6 is down to 20 percent of the market — HTML 5 is still a baby (and SVG is a very, very old foetus). There is no easier way to display vector graphics and animation, no better way to embed and share online video in terms of compatibility. In an article on the topic that is well worth reading, Adobe’s John Nack puts it best:
• Flash is flawed, but it has moved the world forward.
• Open standards are great, but they can be achingly slow to arrive.
• Talk of “what’s good for standards is bad for Adobe” is misinformed nonsense.
• Flash will innovate or die. I’m betting on innovation
What else? Despite the iPhone/iPad’s lack of Flash plugin, Adobe has already taken the plunge, giving another use for their upcoming Flash CS5 software — allowing you to output applications made in the Flash environment as iPhone Apps.
But the best proof that Flash isn’t dead is the developers creating great new content online. One of the most recent and best examples is HBO’s redesign, which is now entirely in Flash. Although there are some UI quirks in the design of the interface, it is a great example of how a large amount of content can be managed and easily accessed, not to mention the site’s beautiful design aesthetic. Oh yeah, and can’t wait for Treme (by the makers of The Wire), the animated Ricky Gervais show and a second season of Tim! And no, I am not paid by or have any affliation with Adobe or HBO 
Simon
4th February 2010
The lads at Aquafruzzl have just released to the public, their latest short film, The Business Trip. Directed by Scott Alexander, produced by Stuart Moulds and starring Elke Osadnik and Dave Kenyon, the film was shot over a few days with digital SLR cameras. I was honoured to be on set for the shoot and I must say it was quite a feat.
From the Aquafruzzl blog:
Watch our latest short film…. and this time it’s a comedy! THE BUSINESS TRIP was our first shoot with our new Canon 7D cameras, and boy did we learn a lot about them.
Thanks to everyone involved in the film – it could not have been made without you. It was a mighty hard slog to complete in the time frame we had, but no corners were cut and we are stoked with the final result
Forward it to your friends, work colleagues, lovers and local bishop – we just want as many people to see and enjoy it as possible.
Enjoy.
Team Aquafruzzl.
Simon
22nd January 2010
Robert Scoble has written an interesting article, ‘The Push and Pull of China’, in response to a TechCrunch article that claims that Google’s decision to no longer run a censored search engine in China was largely business motivated.
Simon
16th January 2010
Today marks the 3rd anniversary of Simantic.net… and to celebrate, we’re not doing anything.
More??… well, I suppose you can revisit our first anniversary post or have your say as to the future of the site. Thanks to everyone involved in this blog — particularly my thanks to Tristan, Charles and Chris. If you would like to become a writer or contribute in some way to Simantic, please let us know. We’re always open to new perspectives. We hope to have more features, a redesign and (worthwhile) podcasts ahead in 2010. ‘Til next post, have a good one.
Simon
12th January 2010
17 years later. The Afghan girl.
Tristan
6th January 2010
Tristan
29th December 2009
All new, direct from CS… falsemedia.net
Merry Xmas
Simon
24th December 2009
I know these sorts of things are always incredibly subjective, but here are the albums from the last decade that meant something to me…
A pack of Caramel Crowns to the person who can name the most discs. I’ll match that packet, plus a copy of the first season of AFI award-winning East West 101 to the first person who can name all of the albums and their artists.
Simon
14th December 2009
Today I received a link to this. Yeah, I know, it’s funny and to some extent valid. But I don’t know what I hate more, exploitative managers with archaic business models or smarmy graphic designers.
There are a lot of creative job positions out there where people do work for limited or no pay — including but not limited to photographers, audio engineers, production assistants, animators, painters and illustrators. Yet graphic designers (and to some degree, web designers) seem the only ones compelled to spend hours being smartarses about it. I know it’s important to let off steam, but publicly and constantly in such a brash way is hardly satirical. While I find a lot of the content humourous, I seriously get an email with a graphic designer having a whinge almost every week. And it makes me sad to call myself a designer. Because often I or someone I know has put up with a lot worse. We’re lucky to be in a job getting paid to do something we love. There are millions of people out there being exploited or who are in dead-end jobs and have no other choice. Then there are those who have nothing.
I know I’m on rant and a soapbox and I’m not having a go at those who forward these messages on or at the guy who wrote these, but rather at us as an industry.
Edit: I have just read a bunch of the other pages on 27b/6 and I believe that I’m am now well-informed enough to see that David Thorne is a clever and funny motherfucker. But I still think that graphic designers should be seen and not heard… or in some cases neither seen nor heard. That’s it, take down this blog!
Simon
26th November 2009
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