Microsoft Sides With Apple On Flash Issue
After recent criticism of Adobe Systems Inc’s Flash multimedia software by Apple Inc’s Steve Jobs, Microsoft jumped on board agreeing that the software had flaws, creating a rare bond between the two computing giants.
Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs sharply criticized Flash on Thursday and banned the multimedia software from its iPhone and iPad.
An executive at Microsoft joined in later that day, saying while consumers require Flash for access to a wide array of video content on the web, the software has flaws.
“Flash does have some issues, particularly around reliability, security and performance,” Dean Hachamovitch, general manager for the Internet Explorer browser, told Reuters.
He said that Microsoft is using the same protocols for delivering multimedia content over the Internet that Apple is promoting, a group of protocol standards known as HTML5.
Microsoft, however, was more appeasing toward Adobe than Apple. The software company works closely with Flash engineers to fix bugs in the product.
Steve Jobs, though, said in a letter that it is time for the industry to move beyond Flash. He did say that Flash is a successful business for Adobe, and it is understandable why they want to push it beyond PCs, “but the mobile era is about low power devices, touch interfaces and open web standards — all areas where Flash falls short.”
Adobe dismissed the claims, stating that Apple was simply trying to promote its own products.
In a short response to the letter posted by Apple head Steve Jobs, Adobe said the legal terms Apple imposed on software developers had led it to sway its focus away from Apple.
Adobe’s chief technology officer, Kevin Lynch, said in a blog posting: “We feel confident that were Apple and Adobe to work together as we are with a number of other partners, we could provide a terrific experience with Flash on the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.”
Lynch added that Adobe will shift its focus to get Flash working on products made by Google, Palm, Microsoft, Nokia and others.
Adobe is expected to release Flash Player 10.1 on Google’s Android system in May and then a general use release in June.
In the letter Steve Jobs wrote, Titled “˜Thoughts on Flash“˜, Jobs said the reason Apple did not want people to use Adobe’s automatic translation tools was because experience had shown that it results in “sub-standard apps”.
He described Flash as a closed system and that it was bad for the smartphone era because it does not support multi-touch systems and drains battery power.
He said that there are now alternatives to Flash technology, particularly for web video.
He also pointed out that Flash had security issues and was the main reason Mac computers crash.
The letter sparked many comments online, many saying that Apple’s restrictions on what can be done with its software go far beyond those on Flash.
In an editorial on OS News, Tom Holwerda said Steve Jobs’ letter was “hypocritical” because Apple was guilty of many of the faults it launched at Adobe.
Nearly 75 percent of all video on the web are Flash-based. Popular Flash-based sites such as Hulu can’t run on the iPhone or iPad, according to Adobe. But sites like YouTube have worked around this by specially designing non-Flash apps for those devices.
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