Since it's introduction by Macromedia in 1996, the Flash Multimedia platform has increased it's online presence. In April of 2005, Adobe Systems acquired Macromedia in a $3.4 billion dollar stock deal; since then, Adobe has continued to expand the reaches and capabilities the technology.
One of the most popular feature of Flash is it's ability to add animation and interactivity to websites and banner ads. Flash is also a widely recognized as an efficient format for delivering video to web users, in both resident and streaming formats. Add it's powerful action scripting capabilities to the mix and it is obvious why Flash is such a major force among online multimedia platforms.
Is Flash Losing Ground in the Multimedia Battlefield?
Emerging technologies, such as the H.264/MPEG 4 video codec and HTML 5 have managed to grab a small share of the video streaming and rich internet application markets, respectively; but they are years away from claiming any significant amount of online multimedia real estate from the monstrous Flash dynasty.
Adobe's stronghold on internet multimedia delivery has strengthened with each release of the popular Adobe Creative Suite software bundles, but Apple apparently is not compelled to make room for Flash on it's iPhone, iTouch and iPad devices.
Apple's CEO Steve Jobs and Adobe's CTO Kevin Lynch Engage in a War of Words
For the past few years, Apple CEO Steve Jobs and Adobe CTO Kevin Lynch have exchanged verbal jabs at each other, but it is difficult to pinpoint the true villain in this scenario. According to a quote from Wired.com, Steve Jobs unleashed a verbal assault on Abode. "They are lazy. They have all this potential to do interesting things, but they just refuse to do it," said the Apple CEO. "Apple does not support Flash because it is so buggy... Whenever a Mac crashes more often than not it's because of Flash. No one will be using Flash...The world is moving to HTML5."
Flash 10.1 Is Compatible with Every Smartphone Except the iPhone
Not to be outdone, Adobe's Kevin Lynch fired back at Apple by posting this comment on Adobe's corporate blog: "Regarding crashing, I can tell you that we don't ship Flash with any known crash bugs, and if there was such a widespread problem historically Flash could not have achieved its wide use today."
Lynch followed up his strong words by announcing that Flash 10.1 will be compatible with most major smartphone operating systems such as Blackberry, Palm OS, Google Android, Windows Mobile and Nokia's Symbian. Apple's iPhone OS was obviously included in Lynch's list of mobile phone big hitters.
Make Peace, Not War
Mac users appear to be torn between the two opposing giants; very few seem eager to choose sides in this technological war of the roses. The consensus among Mac and Adobe users seems to reflect the same sentiment expressed by the immortal words of Rodney King, "Why can't we all just get along?". Only time will tell, but logic would suggest that Apple and Adobe lay down their swords and work together to resolve their differences.
Carlos Anderson - With over a decade of professional experience as a Graphic Designer and several years of experience as Art Director for internationally ...
