Too much to ask for Flash capabilities?

[gentlefury]

mmmm, apple kool aid.....yummy!

If you really want annoying flash ads go jailbreak and install flash! It's that simple. It works fine (as fine as flash works).....I had it installed but the switch to turn it off stopped working, so I uninstalled it....it was useless.

 

[pallentx]

OK then how does your company's app work on Android? Be honest.

As an application programmer I find Flash "apps" to be some of the most poorly written applications I have ever seen. Not kidding. Can't make it as a game coder??? No problem! Come to Zynga! lol

Michael

I haven't seen it on android. I would guess the screen size would be a major issue. I know the main developer is a big android fan - I could ask him. An Android tablet would be the real question, but no such animal exists yet - at least not that I have seen.

I'm certainly no huge fan of flash. I have had my share of frustrations with flash. It can be very buggy depending on how much effort has been put into the development side. Just because people can write bad code doesn't mean the platform shouldn't be supported. You can write bad java script too.

Still, this Apple company line about how everything flash is crap and the world would be better without it is nonsense. There's a lot of well-done flash content out there. Its not on every site, but every few days I come across a page that is missing navigation objects, or is in some way crippled if the flash plugin is not installed.

Who knows, maybe all your dreams will come true and Steve Jobs will win by destroying a perfectly good development platform just because his tablet couldn't handle it.

 

[gentlefury]

OK then how does your company's app work on Android? Be honest.

As an application programmer I find Flash "apps" to be some of the most poorly written applications I have ever seen. Not kidding. Can't make it as a game coder??? No problem! Come to Zynga! lol

Michael

I haven't seen it on android. I would guess the screen size would be a major issue. I know the main developer is a big android fan - I could ask him. An Android tablet would be the real question, but no such animal exists yet - at least not that I have seen.

I'm certainly no huge fan of flash. I have had my share of frustrations with flash. It can be very buggy depending on how much effort has been put into the development side. Just because people can write bad code doesn't mean the platform shouldn't be supported. You can write bad java script too.

Still, this Apple company line about how everything flash is crap and the world would be better without it is nonsense. There's a lot of well-done flash content out there. Its not on every site, but every few days I come across a page that is missing navigation objects, or is in some way crippled if the flash plugin is not installed.

Who knows, maybe all your dreams will come true and Steve Jobs will win by destroying a perfectly good development platform just because his tablet couldn't handle it.

I've run into 2 sites in the time I've had my iPad that required flash.....I just vnc'd into my mac and used that.

 

[pallentx]

Complaining about an ipad not running flash is like complaining that your old P3 cant run Crysis.

or that your PC cannot natively support running a Mac OS

Get over it. Deal. Be disappointed, but suck it up and realize you bought a device that unabashedly states it will likely never run flash.

Who cares about SJ and his reasons why. The fact of the matter is that it doesn't and won't without major changes.

So.... There!

Yeah, thats the way it is and we deal with it. Thats life.

A better analogy would be something that was intentionally built to be platform independent like Java - which also isnt supported.

On phones, its less of an issue. On the smartphones, I often go to the mobile version of a site - you expect that. The iPad, on the other hand, was advertised as having the "whole internet in your hands". Its supposed to be different.

Its Apples device - they can support it or not, thats not the point. Just dont feed me nonsense BS about how Flash sucks and the world would be better without it.

 

[Tinman]

I've run into 2 sites in the time I've had my iPad that required flash.....I just vnc'd into my mac and used that.

Bingo! The one time I "needed" flash I did the same thing (if you can consider looking at a restaurant menu a "need"). Though I use RDP into a Windows box. The speed using iTap RDP is incredible. Have owned it for like ever for my iPhone and to now see it works even better on iPad was a big bonus.

OK I will admit to one playing one flash game.... I curse at it when I do--cause the resources it consumes are absurd for a simple dice game--but I play Farkle on FB. Yea I admit it. But even before my iPad if I HAD to run in and get a quick fix (i.e., get my danged power dice lol), I used iTap RDP to do so (have had iPhone since iDay 2007).



Michael

 

[Seadog]

Flash, like so many Adobe products, has become bloatware. It is like MS Office. You cannot do the basics for all the geegaw add ons. Jobs has control issues, but for the majority of computer users, it is a welcome sanity. They do not have to worry about as much because they feel safer with Apple's oversight.

Pads/tablets are the future of computing. It will be a long time before they have the muscle to compete with a desktop or even most laptops. But compare that with what was available ten years ago. Jobs was aware that if he tried to support Flash in iOS devices, it would give lousy results. The same results that Android is having. So he is upfront about the problem. He loses fewer customers if they know up front that flash ain't goin happen.

 

[Gabriel1964]

An Android tablet would be the real question, but no such animal exists yet - at least not that I have seen.

I have owned an android 5 inch tablet since novemeber 2009, it's an Archos 5 inch media unit. They have also announced their next generation that includes a 10 inch and 7 inch units. All android. And none of them support flash. Promised when they upgrade the next gen to 2.2 froyo (earliest promise is October). So right now there are android tablets out their but no flash support until froyo which currently is on a small number of phones.

The only concession on the Archos is that they have a non-android media player that can play some flv players if you can get them on the device. There is definitely no flash in the android browser yet.

I run a web dev company that works primarily for mid size corporates and we are finding that most are asking us not to use flash and are preferring to go down the route of Ajax/JQuery. A number actually block their users installing the flash plugin (although to be fair they are also the ones that haven't upgraded their browsers since IE 6). Now don't get me wrong I am not anti flash, just seeing more and more of our clients move away from it.

 

[wrecklass]

All android. And none of them support flash. Promised when they upgrade the next gen to 2.2 froyo (earliest promise is October). So right now there are android tablets out their but no flash support until froyo which currently is on a small number of phones.

Small meaning hundreds of thousands of EVO 4Gs, Droids, Nexus, and G1s I guess.

I have FroYo on the EVO 4G and set it to only play Flash when I want it to. It is really quite good at it where the Flash apps are written well.

Fortunately on the iPad we only find AAA apps in the App Store.

 

[Susieq0356]

I love my iPad, but could use flash or anything else that would help me to participate in webinars for continuing education courses. Anyone know of anything I could use other than flash? I have had my iPad since Apr and wouldn't trade it for anything. In Nov when the new software will be available for download will be much better and am looking forward to it. This is the first apple product I have ever owned and am now looking into an iMac or MacBook pro. Loving it!

Susie

 

[Gabriel1964]

All android. And none of them support flash. Promised when they upgrade the next gen to 2.2 froyo (earliest promise is October). So right now there are android tablets out their but no flash support until froyo which currently is on a small number of phones.

Small meaning hundreds of thousands of EVO 4Gs, Droids, Nexus, and G1s I guess.

Yes in the scale of the mobile device market and even Android devices a few hundred thousand is small. I believe 1.6 donut still has the largest install base but it is moving. The other side of my business is mobile app development, specifically android. We still develop to 1.6 donut to reach the largest install base.
Outside of my dev community, in the general public if you like, I have not seen one of the devices you mention in real life use. Maybe that is living in the uk and the poor old west of London. Lots of blackberries, lots of iPhones, but none of the devices you list. In a real world general use environment froyo is not on every android handset out there. And all that to one side, and I accept I used the term phone, we were talking about tablets.