Flash Is Not a Right

medcalf notes that game designer Ian Bogost enters the debate about Flash by saying "[A] large number of developers seem to think that they have the right to make software for the iPhone (or for anything else) in Flash, or in another high-level environment of their choosing. Literally, the right, not just the convenience or the opportunity. And many of them are quite churlish about the matter. This strikes me as a very strange sort of attitude to adopt. There's no question that Flash is useful and popular, and it has a large and committed user base. There's also no question that it's often convenient to be able to program for different platforms using environments one already knows. And likewise, there's a long history of creating OS stubs or wrappers or other sorts of gizmos to make it possible to run code 'alien' to a platform in a fashion that makes it feel more native. But what does it say about the state of programming practice writ large when so many developers believe that their 'rights' are trampled because they cannot write programs for a particular device in a particular language? Or that their 'freedom' as creators is squelched for the same reason?"

Comments

Bundled Browser

[Dwyden7]

Yes, I find it rather annoying that the thousands of flash sites i could go to do not work and will never work on my phone. What i find more annoying is that I am forced to use the Safari browser. The browser is pre-bundled. Sound familiar to anyone? The difference here is that unlike with windows where i could go download opera or firefox and use that browser instead, there is no option to do that with the iPhone or more appropriately, the iPad. Where is the class action now?

How 2014 will be like 1984

[ADRA]

The government (in this case Apple) is telling you how to communicate. ObjectiveC is the new Newspeak, thanks a lot apple!

I'm sorry, but who's left in the tech world who can legitimately stand up for this farce of a company? I mean Microsoft still has its zealous FUD machines yes, but Apple's been fare more 'evil' the last few years than MS in the past 10.

Re:You signed away this "right" by picking Apple.

[dangitman]

Watch the rest of my profession, and a large chunk of the general public, be pulled into this trap? Or speak out against it?

Well, you're not going to have any effect with whiny posts on slashdot. In fact, if you whine like you do here elsewhere, people are only going to discount your opinion - hurting your stated goal.