Comments on: I’m not on Adobe’s Christmas card list anymore :)

By: Arve Systad

Arve Systad — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 15:33:05 +0000

The fun thing is that it’s just a matter of time before Adobe will sit there all alone.

Flash *will* die. It’s not my opinion, it’s what is going on on the web right now. Everyone else but stubborn Flash developers stuck in the late 90′s has realized this, even Microsoft is doing an effort for web experiences these days. And with fewer flash developers (which I bet there are today than ten years ago), Flash really has no selling point in a few years.

That’s my prediction. And I will rub my tummy when I’m right in a few years.

By: rolf

rolf — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 14:48:58 +0000

Hi Aral, Ok, did not know that!

By: lawless

lawless — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 17:47:17 +0000

HTML5 video support on YouTube and Vimeo now.

That’s a serious threat for embedded Flash. Flash’s killer app was the FLV video, and now the HTML5 “video” tag is going to kill that.

Air and Flex are cool for application development but on the mobile space HTML5 support is going to kill Flash.

By: Aral

Aral — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 14:07:47 +0000

Rolf, not to beat a dead horse but I didn’t just think Lee was talking about me because of ego: he basically quoted a blog post I’d written a few days earlier in his post when referring to the second group.

By: rolf

rolf — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 15:10:23 +0000

Hi Aral,
don’t take this too seriously. The fact that you think Lee is talking to you (“gets me branded”) proves his point about egomaniacs :)

By: Nate Chatellier

Nate Chatellier — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 23:07:09 +0000

Aral, I have enjoyed your blog and many of your classes that I have attended in the past very much. I enjoyed dinner with you in London and think you’re a great guy. I think it is healthy for Adobe that you have been bringing up opposing views on their strategies. I found your prior post very interesting and believe that it did generate healthy discussion.

But this particular post seems unnecessary. Even the title of the post, “I’m not on Adobe’s Christmas card list anymore” has drama written all over it. Even if Lee’s post was a total personal jab at you (which I don’t think it was), it seems like you should have either dealt with it just between the two of you, or else let it drop altogether and been satisfied that you had already spoken your mind constructively. I can’t quite figure out what you hoped to accomplish by this post except to take a public jab at Adobe. I completely agree with your last paragraph, that ‘being on Adobe’s Christmas list is not what it’s all about’. So why write a blog post about it then?

Rather then defend your post against my words, I hope you can take a step back, realize that I’m a person who likes you and your work very much, and consider that there may be some truth to what I’m saying…

By: leef

leef — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 20:36:52 +0000

@ adam
In my view the two groups perfectly separate people like Aral who have constructive complaints, from the people who just hate Flash, and want to see it’s existence ended. I see their adamant anti-Flash complaints in forums occasionally, they tend to attribute animated Flash ads, intro’s, CPU usage, and overly-creative UI design as the reasons Flash should die.

By: Adam

Adam — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 16:39:24 +0000

I think the people pointing out Aral is in group 1 not 2 are missing the point, there shouldn’t be a group 1 or 2 at all. How are you ‘evangelizing’ the technology by labeling a portion of your customers ‘haters, egomaniacs, and people who are just trying to cause drama’?

By: Drunken Economist

Drunken Economist — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 04:09:56 +0000

I’ll be brief, since I’m *definitely* a detractor of Flash on any Apple platform. I consider Flash the Walter Mondale of the Internet (to MSFT’s ‘Jimmy Carter’).

Yeah, I have a point here and it’s this: If Adobe’s only strategy to counter dissent is whinging and ‘enhanced PR’ like Dowdell jumping on your blog — as opposed to addressing valid criticism (ref. Mr Bynkii) and diversifying their strategy — then you giving the Flash “platform” “several” years to naught is generous.

Adobe needs to learn to stop abusing the words ‘ubiquity’ and ‘platform’. Because to iPhone users/devs, they have neither. So, they should stop the whining and PR and move on to “platforms” (school’s in, Adobe: hardware + software) where they will be more welcome or apropo. And since you guys spend more time on PR than research: the Wii. Zippy Powerpoint type stuff. What Flash/Director used to excel at but what you’ve lost sight of. That kinda stuff.

It’d also help if they stopped abusing their users with all the fluffy PR, and trying the patience of system admins like me.

By: Lee Brimelow

Lee Brimelow — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 04:40:01 +0000

Haha well that’s just because you haven’t gotten to know me yet Aral. I am neither intellectual or thoughtful. I’m the guy you come to when you want to know what we really think about something ;)