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Adobe Brings Flash-Free Flash To iOS Devices

Posted by timothy on from the extreme-front-loading dept.

CWmike writes "At long last Adobe Flash has come to an iPad or iPhone, writes Jonny Evans. Adobe appeared at Europe's NAB equivalent, IBC, this week to introduce Adobe Flash Media Server 4.5 and Adobe Flash Access 3.0. Adobe's solution repackages content in real-time, changing the protocol to suit the target device, HTTP Dynamic Streaming or HLS, for example. This should mean that iOS devices will get much of the advantages of Flash video support, without the processor degradation and battery life cost of the format in use on other devices. 'With Adobe Flash Media Server 4.5, media publishers now have a single, simple workflow for delivering content using the same stream to Flash-enabled devices or to the Apple iPhone and iPad,' Adobe says."

8 of 178 comments (clear)

  1. So the set is Zero by SuperKendall · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The things Flash is really good at -- multimedia experiences that can be delivered to a wide audience via a ubiquitous plugin

    The thing is, Flash SUCKS at that. Can you name a single site that really does that well? The only thing I can think of off hand is the MINIUSA configurator. But even there the site is rife with all the things that make Flash a terror - I can't copy text from just anywhere, sometimes the loading goes wrong, and the site bogs down my DESKTOP never mind what would happen to a mobile device.

    Pretty much every other site I've seen that relies heavily on Flash for a "rich multimedia experience" is just awful, non-intuitive and performs very badly. So many sites trying that kind of thing would be so much better serving users simplifying the site into something that would work with DHTML, never mind HTML5 and canvas stuff...

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
    1. Re:So the set is Zero by sunspot42 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Thanks, I was about to say something similar but you beat me to it.

      Every single "multimedia experience" I've encountered on the Internet since day-one has been a sucktacular piece of shit. Flash is one of the leading reasons for that, but the whole concept of using a web browser to deliver "multimedia experiences" is idiotic, and every implementation I've seen has been a sad, buggy, bandwidth and CPU hogging joke.

      Browsers. Aren't. Built. For. That.

      No "plugin" will fix it.

      Use a dedicated app, fools.
       

    2. Re:So the set is Zero by ColdWetDog · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Troll mods, eh. There are Adobe fanbois?

      God have mercy on their heathen souls.

      --
      Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
    3. Re:So the set is Zero by BlueScreenO'Life · · Score: 3, Insightful

      The problem is not with Flash, but with how it is used and the purposes for which it is used, specifically:

      - The braindead decisions and taste of the people who designed those pieces of crap - for example, the text on Flash CAN actually be selected and copied if the developer makes it so - but that seems to be the exception rather than the rule. In fact, I suspect many people use Flash mainly to prevent you from copying text and other resources.
      - The stupid thought that something designed to be used with a mouse, a keyboard and a large screen can scale well for use on touchscreen devices.

      Ultimately Flash is a close relative to Macromedia Director, and as such, it is about multimedia, scripted presentations with actually useful functionality, not just about trying to do cool stuff for the sake of being cool. I wonder how Director is doing these days.

    4. Re:So the set is Zero by tepples · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Use a dedicated app, fools.

      Would you want to have to download and install an app for Homestar Runner, an app for Weebl and Bob, a separate app for every single video or game uploaded to Newgrounds, etc.? And would you want to have to buy a copy of Windows to run those apps?

  2. Real meaning and goal: by Tharsman · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Adobes only goal here is to stop the slow but steady adoption of html5 video formats. By offering this upgrade they tell their clients they no longer have to work in a transition to target the huge and growing iOS user base.

    This is good for Apple as most video services are just a server patch away from providing video content to iOs users, drastically diminishing the "it cant play flash video" bashing competitors like to use.

    Flash gaming may not be available still, but most iOS users are far from game starved. It's video content most iOS users actually complain about.

    So, good for Apple and good for Adobe. Who is it bad for? Web standards, and perhaps Android users. Adobe still wants flash to be required anywhere that it can run so it's likely they won't offer the same HTML5 video streams to Android devices. Many of the handsets out there still can't handle flash properly and the ones that do do so with heavy battery penalties.

    With this available, it's very unlikely content providers will bother pursuing web standards for the sake of low end Android handsets or users that refuse to install flash in their computers.

    It's likely that sooner or later Adobe will provide the capabilities for all clients, but I doubt they have any intentions to do it soon. I do hope im wrong though.

    PS: unsure if it's related but have been streaming blip.tv episodes of the Nostalgia Critic on my iPad all night so I guess at least they (blip.tv) already updated.

  3. Re:along with by Riceballsan · · Score: 3, Insightful

    This sounds like the best complaint against flash ever. Flash 1. caused pages to contain far more worthless noise makers, longer loading times, and stop focusing so much on including content etc... 2. Brought the kind of people who like big flashing noises and lights screaming on every page, 3. cleared the way for intrusive obnoxious advertising, 4. opened up a whole new mess of security vulnerabilities. The internet wouldn't have been more boring without flash, they just would have been more focused on actually providing content in pages instead of blinking jumping crap and animated buttons. As far as those that were drawn to the internet by flashing blinking screaming things, do you really want to talk to those people, I'm known for unfriending at the first stupid chain foward etc...

  4. I am not always a fan of Apple. by 0ld_d0g · · Score: 2, Insightful

    But I like that they are a disruptive force in the industry. They force change in others - sometimes for the good. I think its healthy when entrenched companies are forced to change their ways. Firefox/Chrome with IE, etc. I predict that if/when Windows goes 50% market share that we'll start seeing some interesting changes in microsoft.