Go read Ted Neward's latest blog post.
Now do this: Replace everything regarding print screen functionality with the topic of Flash and HTML 5.
This is a big reason why I doubt any real progress will be made between these two technologies for a long time.
Apple, Flash and Developers' Rights
Via Slashdot comes a blog post by Ian Bogost arguing that Flash is not a Right.
In general, I don't see anything wrong with what he's saying. He's correct in asserting that developers don't necessarily have a right to use their favorite language/platform/technology where ever they go. As a developer, you just have to adapt to the demands of the systems you're working with.
But I can't help but feel that everyone's missing the bigger issues surrounding the Apple/Flash discussion.
Most of the attention has been on Apple's changing of section 3.3.1 of the iPhone developer agreement, which explicitly barred the use of Adobe's planned cross-compiler for Flash CS5. This system would have allowed developers to create native iPhone applications using Flash, rather than having to learn or use Objective-C (the native language used for iPhone development).
Now, without wading too much into that mess, I don't think that Apple was necessarily in the wrong for doing this -- the short version is that it's their platform, their rules, and if you don't want to play by those rules, you are free to explore opportunities elsewhere. Apple wants to ensure a certain level of quality of the user experience for the apps that run in the iPhone ecosystem, and this is how they want to do it. And really it is within their rights to do so.
The bigger issue -- the area that is giving a lot of Flash (and other) developers cause for concern -- comes not from the banning of the Flash-to-native-iPhone development, but from the fact that Apple refuses to allow Flash as a plug-in to the Safari browser on the iPhone. This has effectively cut off a rather significant number of websites from a rather large potential user base simply because Apple, for whatever reason, thinks that people should not use Flash for their websites.
The end result has been that Apple has given a lot of developers the impression that they are trying use their dominance in the mobile sphere (via their rather significant iPhone/iPad user base) to force web developers into ditching Flash on their websites. The question then becomes: Does Apple have a right to tell web developers -- developers not specifically developing for the iPhone -- what technology with which to build their own websites?
That is what has many developers at least a little concerned, and some extremely upset. All things being equal, Apple is in no position to dictate to any web developer what technologies they should or shouldn't use when building their own website. Yet, by all appearances, that's what Apple seems to be trying to do.
Now, keep in mind that Steve Jobs' suggestions in his Thoughts on Flash post of using HTML 5/H.264 aren't bad, either. Far from it. I think there's still some room for improvement where HTML 5 (and the technologies surrounding it) is concerned, but I'm definitely not going to call Mr. Jobs an idiot for suggesting them.
The problem is in the heavy-handed way in which Apple have tried to push their position, and seem to be using the iPhone/iPad user base as a Really Big Stick with which to dictate the direction of the web. They're basically saying to web developers, "You want to reach our users? Then you need to do things our way."
Other companies have tried that kind of approach before...
...it didn't work out too well for them, either.
In general, I don't see anything wrong with what he's saying. He's correct in asserting that developers don't necessarily have a right to use their favorite language/platform/technology where ever they go. As a developer, you just have to adapt to the demands of the systems you're working with.
But I can't help but feel that everyone's missing the bigger issues surrounding the Apple/Flash discussion.
Most of the attention has been on Apple's changing of section 3.3.1 of the iPhone developer agreement, which explicitly barred the use of Adobe's planned cross-compiler for Flash CS5. This system would have allowed developers to create native iPhone applications using Flash, rather than having to learn or use Objective-C (the native language used for iPhone development).
Now, without wading too much into that mess, I don't think that Apple was necessarily in the wrong for doing this -- the short version is that it's their platform, their rules, and if you don't want to play by those rules, you are free to explore opportunities elsewhere. Apple wants to ensure a certain level of quality of the user experience for the apps that run in the iPhone ecosystem, and this is how they want to do it. And really it is within their rights to do so.
The bigger issue -- the area that is giving a lot of Flash (and other) developers cause for concern -- comes not from the banning of the Flash-to-native-iPhone development, but from the fact that Apple refuses to allow Flash as a plug-in to the Safari browser on the iPhone. This has effectively cut off a rather significant number of websites from a rather large potential user base simply because Apple, for whatever reason, thinks that people should not use Flash for their websites.
The end result has been that Apple has given a lot of developers the impression that they are trying use their dominance in the mobile sphere (via their rather significant iPhone/iPad user base) to force web developers into ditching Flash on their websites. The question then becomes: Does Apple have a right to tell web developers -- developers not specifically developing for the iPhone -- what technology with which to build their own websites?
That is what has many developers at least a little concerned, and some extremely upset. All things being equal, Apple is in no position to dictate to any web developer what technologies they should or shouldn't use when building their own website. Yet, by all appearances, that's what Apple seems to be trying to do.
Now, keep in mind that Steve Jobs' suggestions in his Thoughts on Flash post of using HTML 5/H.264 aren't bad, either. Far from it. I think there's still some room for improvement where HTML 5 (and the technologies surrounding it) is concerned, but I'm definitely not going to call Mr. Jobs an idiot for suggesting them.
The problem is in the heavy-handed way in which Apple have tried to push their position, and seem to be using the iPhone/iPad user base as a Really Big Stick with which to dictate the direction of the web. They're basically saying to web developers, "You want to reach our users? Then you need to do things our way."
Other companies have tried that kind of approach before...
...it didn't work out too well for them, either.
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