NxtGen Media - The Freeman View

Can’t we all just get along?

Can’t we all just get along? Nope. Too much money to be made. If Flash became the tool it was supposed to be, then it would be the gate keeper for all media which kind of kills the App Store. Flash everywhere, on every platform was and still is the ultimate goal. That potential still exist, and if nothing else Steve may have started a war he is going to live to regret. I don’t 100% agree with Steve Jobs, but I understand his position. It’s business.

Adobe makes money on tools, not the Flash player, so beefing it up and opening it up and making the tools ‘better, stronger, faster’ could be a great thing for them and be the move that tips the scale in this cold war. Hope Adobe gets the point. A superior player, with lower barrier of entry for development, and quality tools will lead to more apps (good and bad). A plethora of killer Apps not available on the iEcosystem could be a tipping factor in time. On the other hand, if Adobe does not step it up, then Steve was right and Flash may go quietly into the night cuz they failed to keep up. With the fire now lit, I am seriously doubting it.

Steve Jobs/Apple: Thoughts on Flash

Adobe CEO’s Response to Steve Jobs

Both Apple & Adobe are extremely full of shit and I’ll tell you why…

Scaleform 3D Interface using Flash

Would love to get this going in Unity.

Proud Dad

My son Zach Freeman performing at The Rendezvous in Miami

Choosing Sides

I am more than a little concerned about this 3.3.1 clause that Apple has added to its Developer Program License Agreement. I have been a Flash developer since version 5.0 and recently started getting into Unity3D since the October indie release. I am a PC guy that has been using Windows and Linux. The last three years has been spent doing Flash and some .Net development. My organization was really excited about the iPad and the prospect of building applications for it using Unity and Flash. It just made sense to leverage what we were already using. We ordered an iPad and most of the doctors on staff are iPhone owners. The excitement was in the air that we were about to start developing apps for a device that could become as popular as the Palm had become for the medical community. Then our hopes were dashed with the 3.3.1 clause.

Will we switch to a total Apple development solution? I don’t think so. In fact, the day the announcement was made, was the day that we started considering other options for phones and tablets. If Unity continues to be allowed on Apple products, then we will most likely stick with our iPad development without Flash. If Unity is not allowed, then we will still use Unity and Flash but we will move to another platform altogether. I think that is a bloody shame because the ‘iPlatform’ has such promise.

The 3.3.1 clause is not set in stone yet, but in the obvious blood lust to kill Flash, I can’t see how it could be rescinded unless some really major negotiations occur. Personally, I think that if it has gone this far, then it is close to impossible to bring it back to something amiable. This is like being in the middle of a really ugly divorce and waiting to see who you are going to live with.

Has Steve Jobs gone mad?

DCF

Flash Hardware Acceleration…Coming

When I used to see articles like this, “Hardware-accelerated Flash almost here“, I would have gotten excited and begun dreaming of all the cool things that I would be able to do with Flash. Now I just shake my head, and wonder why it took so long to address this. The ‘Almost’ in the title of that article, is indicative of what has been going on for years with Flash. Too little, too late.

It’s not like there was no writing on the wall. Folks have been saying (begging) for years what was needed to make Flash a truly unstoppable force on the web. Hardware acceleration has definitely been high on the wish list. The potential for Flash to become the ‘gaming console of the web‘ has been mentioned in the past, but it’s like the point was missed as to the importance of games. If the player performed really well with 2d and 3d games (the most demanding of all apps), then RIAs would benefit as well. Meanwhile, many Flashers are looking at Unity for their game development needs.

I am just glad that a fire has been lit under the proverbial arse of Adobe to beef the player up. If nothing else, Apple has sure stoked that fire. Flash still has a chance to secure its position as it is still early in the game, but that window is closing fast. Almost is still not good enough.

DCF

Flash on any Screen

Here is an Adobe Flash promo video that sums up the immediate and assumed future penetration of Flash. Love the idea and concept, and vision. I really hope they can pull it off, but there are many who want to see Flash die and are truly gunning to make it so. Interesting times.

-DCF