Virtually Speaking

Dan Kusnetzky, Paula Rooney and Ken Hess

Mobile Flash: So long and thanks for all the crash.

By | November 9, 2011, 3:05pm PST

Summary: In an inevitable and not-so-surprising move, Adobe abandons its buggy and iOS-unsupported Flash for mobile devices. Surely, there’s a celebration afoot somewhere to commemorate the occasion in a respectful yet unregrettable manner.

What do you mean Flash mobile is going away?

What do you mean Mobile Flash is going away?

I’m glad Mobile Flash is going away and not a moment too soon. I’m tired of its “doesn’t play well with others” attitude. It’s true. Every day, I experience at least one Google Chrome browser crash due to the flash plug-in. Sick of it? Oh, yes, indeed, I am. But, I doubt it’s going to be fixed anytime soon and I won’t be holding my breath waiting for it either. I’m not sure why anyone thought something like Flash was a good idea. I wish it would go away completely and not just on mobile platforms. If Flash were to hit the market today, I’m afraid that techies would ban it and any site that uses it. Goodbye Mobile Flash, I won’t miss you at all.

And, Steve Jobs was right to prevent Adobe’s buggy Flash garbage from being supported on its iOS-based devices. Yes, it’s a little painful not to have Flash support because so many people use it but maybe this move will signal the ultimate demise of that horrid product.

I have a theory about why it’s so buggy but I will refrain from sharing it with you for now. Someday, however, I may unleash a rant so terrible about Flash, and products like it, that you might wish that you could unread the post afterward. So, I’ll save it for a special occasion.

I’m sure that developers are scrambling to redesign their sites–at least the mobile-friendly ones–as Flash-free. I’m excited at the prospect of a Flash-free Internet.

Of course, I hope that developers will use HTML5 instead of another much hated product: Java. Oh, the pain it brings me to even say or write the word, Java. OK, I promised to save the rant for another time.

Back to Flash. Adobe is doing the right thing by getting rid of it. There’s no real reason for them to continue to support that product. And, they would do well to abandon it entirely, IMHO.

As a matter of fact, in honor of Adobe’s move on Mobile Flash, I’m uninstalling the crashy Flash plug-in on all of my browsers: Firefox, Chrome and Internet Explorer.

What do you think of Adobe’s decision to toss Mobile Flash into the dustbin? Talk back and let me know.

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Topics

Kenneth 'Ken' Hess is a full-time Windows and Linux system administrator with over 15 years of experience with Mac, Linux, UNIX, and Windows systems in large multi-data center environments.

Disclosure

Ken Hess

My full-time employer is EDS (HP). I write as a freelancer for ZDNet. The postings and opinions on this blog are my own and don't necessarily represent EDS's, HP's, their subsidiaries or affiliates positions, strategies or opinions. I own no investments or direct financial instruments in the companies I write about.

Biography

Ken Hess

Kenneth 'Ken' Hess is a full-time Windows and Linux system administrator with over 15 years of experience with Mac, Linux, UNIX, and Windows systems in large multi-data center environments.

Ken writes on a variety of topics including interoperability, virtualization, data center operations, databases, and open source software. He has written and co-written books on Linux, databases, and virtualization. He currently writes a System Administration column for Linux Magazine and is a regular contributor to Linux User & Developer magazine, ServerWatch.com's Trends and InfoStor. He often contributes to other online and print publications as well.

His first computer was a Commodore VIC-20, which he purchased because William Shatner was in the commercials.

In his limited spare time, Ken enjoys painting, drawing, and flinging angry birds at fortified pigs.

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foobyfa 50 nzf
ddfwekrdfe28-24379075365516457089041130194915 25th Nov
dnoblu,nbfjokhj50, lckpy.
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Tomato magnet
Robert Hahn 9th Nov
This article is not a serious contribution to anything. If this is the quality of comment that ZDNet aspires to, you'll probably beat Flash to the ash heap.

This guy really doesn't know why Flash was invented? What, is he in high school?

No stars.
@Robert Hahn

enlighten us.
@dderss

Two completely different items. One is a client-side language used primarily with browsers (some desktops take advantage of it, though) and can be turned off if the end-user desires. The other is a server-side language that can create feature-rich programs but needs a client-side interpreter in order to carry out the server-side programs.
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@Robert Hahn
I primarily use Macs for a much more trouble free day.
I???ve loathed Flash longer than I can remember because of its sluggishness, crashing regularly and because of its complete lack of genuine quality.
The day it was possible to block the crap with ClickToFlash I was a happy man.

The day Flash is completely gone will be the day to celebrate.
And - btw - my IE9 doesn't crash.
@zaharia1010
That's because was designed to perform on Windows, i.e. with Microsoft.
Wish we could flag the article and not the comments.
@jasonmooney
OK, so tomorrow I'll come to your job and criticize your work.
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Poor you
Robert Hahn 10th Nov
Leave some room on the cross for Jesus, willya? There must be a dozen blogs on ZDNet about this Adobe announcement. All have SpiritedDebate(tm) and even a few thrown spears. But only yours has drawn multiple comments suggesting it was over-the-top unprofessional.

Think about it.
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Contributr
It's a simple commentary on the news of Adobe abandoning Flash.
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Okay.....
rhonin 9th Nov
@khess
But I am not seeing this wide spread crash in the mobile environment....
Using Nexus One and Galaxy S2...... Transformer......

So if I am not seeing it, what am I doing wrong? happy

I use it daily.....
@khess You mean simple, biased, unprofessional, and derogatory commentary.

It's lies and more lies. Flash player is running on almost every mobile phone and tablet out there without battery issues or crashing issues. Adobe isn't giving up because of any technical issues, they are giving up because they are being forced to by Apple market share. But now none of that truth matters. Happy static experience with your HTML5! happy
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@khess

You nailed it khess.

Flash is a turd. Mobile flash is getting flushed. Good riddance.
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I stop using flash many years ago and i'm glad they have seen the light! Like you, i just got tired of it and not a huge fan of java either (even though I use it quite a bit).
Somewhere, Steve is laughing.
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You won't miss it
Michael Alan Goff Updated - 9th Nov
But the simple fact is that a lot of people still use it.

By the way, two of the last three articles that I have read with your name as the author are about what you dislike. You sound like an angry guy. :P

You might need to work on your ability to deal with criticism if you think being an author is what you like. People will always be critical of your work, it doesn't help for you to lash out about it.

Your job is more... public than some. If blogging will ever be considered journalism, it needs to have some criticism.

That being said, it wasn't a bad article. You just seem to dislike a lot of things.
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Contributr
@Michael Alan Goff

I'm not angry just irritated that people feel free to launch empty and hateful criticisms. They are the ones that are angry. And, yes, when you're in the public eye, you do put yourself out there for criticism but at least be more creative than, "you suck, dude."
@khess Seriously your very own article is filled with anger, sarcasm, insults and derogatory hate. You are blind to your own hate. You not only hate Flash, but you also hate Java. Ken Hess: "another much hated product: Java."
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@khess

I can totally understand, and I wasn't in any way saying that you have no right to be angry at them. You have every right. But you insult them back, and they'll just keep coming back.

Oh, and I think flash was created back in the day to serve as a "one idea, every browser" sort of thing, just to answer the question you had above. I could be wrong, though. In the beginning, it was also the best way to get good graphics.
Well,
Looks like jobs was right. I just wished he could have seen it happen today.
Flash sucks and the proof's in the miserable death.
Every time turn around, my work PC has a Flash update.
One down, one to go.
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Contributr
@GSavage777
Very well stated.
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So long interactivity!
Razorz1 9th Nov
Ken Hess = True ignorance in technology and a terrible writer. Ken you are just another hate follower of the "Master Hater" Steve Jobs. Steve was filled with hate for his own employees, hate for competitors, and hate for any technology other than his own.

Turn off JavaScript while you are at it, and see how messed-up and unusable those HTML5 (JS dependent) sites become without it. JavaScript is a plug-in just like Flash; and it can be turned OFF!
@Razorz1

Sounds like it.

Personally, I am glad Flash is seeing its last days. It has little use on the web any more and almost never hit a site that requires it. It crashed regularly. It consumer massive resources. It crashed regularly. Oh I said that. It crashed enough to be indicated twice.
@Bruizer Wrong. It's "data intensive" video that consumes resources on any mobile device, not the container. I can drain the battery on my iPad 2 very quickly watching HTML5 video. Flash can now tap into the GPU for even more speed and efficiency, oh yeah and HTML5 can't! You comeback is pretty freak'in lame. I crash pseudo-streaming HTML5 video on the iPad all the time. What else ya got other than your emotional opinion?
@Razorz: ... the device. You could not possibly own device that does not play the lovely Flash and was conceived by person you hate.

So you are trolling, sir.
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HTML5 videos crash on iPad
Razorz1 10th Nov
@dderss - You may be full of hate toward me for no reason, but I do own the iPad 2 sir. I also own an iPhone 4 and a Droid 1. I'm a web developer day in and day out so I must test sites on multiple devices.

The truth is HTML5 video is a pseudo-streamer and still not ready for prime time. It stutters, it's choppy, and it will suddenly freeze and do nothing. And in testing it's easy to get it to do that.
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Contributr
@Razorz1

Wow, thanks for putting me into the same thought with Steve Jobs--one of the greatest minds and innovators of modern times.
@khess Whatever lies you want to tell yourself. Steve Jobs was psycho-buddist-evil-dictator who hated his own employees (Read the book). Wow, what a hero!
@Razorz1: Jobs loved his employees, that is why many of them worked for him for decades. So why the scary stories from 25-30 years ago are really scary, you have to see that obsessive perfectionism was the root of Jobs' brutal harshness to workers who performed below the standard. These workers, who never failed the level Jobs required, were dearly loved and themselves loved Steven dearly. And they all set and agreed the rules that they can be as honest as possible about each others' ideas. And they worked together in harmony for decades.
@Razorz1

Wow. After reading the replies to this comment, I'd say that your definition of hate is "anyone who disagrees with me". Wow. Just...... wow.
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Whatever
eMJayy 9th Nov
Until HTML5 video is supported on the plethora of International sites that I routinely visit. I'm not going to purchase any mobile device that doesn't allow me to access the flash plug-in to render content from those flash-only International sites.
Adobe are still very much supporting Flash, just not on mobiles. It's very much needed on the desktop (was it ever really needed on mobiles?).

How are you going to go about uninstalling Flash from Chrome? It's baked in. Disabling isn't the same as uninstalling.
Terrible article. Very disappointing to see such arrogance AND ignorance in a ZDNet "article", how come they tolerate that? It's inaccurate, miss-informed and completely emotionally-filled. How old is the writer?
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Contributr
@poimlk

Please point out the inaccuracies and misinformation.
Flash die. It can't be soon enough. I agreed when Steve Jobs wrote that piece Flash. He was spot on. I knew it because I had experienced it and could of wrote that piece myself as it was exactly what I thought but without the expletives. Die Flash Die. Now.
@root12 Wow look at what you wrote and see how much hate you are filled with... just like Steve was.
@root12 Wow you must be an Apple user. I can tell by how much you hate everything... just like Steve.
The web is a continuously changing beast, and without all these technologies we would be without a lot of **** coding but there is also a massive amount of inspirational work being down from java to flash to HTML.... When is 6 coming out?
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Last rites
johnfenjackson@... 10th Nov
The death of Flash seems to have brought out a lot of people who hated it. For all its faults I am not happy to see it go:

1. "I???m sure that developers are scrambling to redesign their sites." Indeed ... but how much effort is this going to involve? Will some fall by the wayside e.g.
www.monet2010.com
and will many lack the money to do so?

2. "I???m excited at the prospect of a Flash-free Internet." I hope the quality of its replacement technology will be far better too ... but how near are we to seeing that? I looked forward to Vista after reading the marketing trailer! Have you any HTML 5 demo sites to entice us?

3. "another much hated product: Java" Indeed ... used by The Hermitage Museum to display their high-resolution fine-art shots. The pattern I see here, into which Apple have locked us and M$ are proposing to lock us with Windows 8 Metro, is that all extensibility to their platform is being removed: more precisely will be controlled by the vendor taking a 30% cut of developers' work. I'd prefer my garden was not walled ... like Minoan cities in the times without war.

Flash is not being withdrawn because customers have railed against it ... it is being withdrawn because the two major platform owners wish to exploit their ecosystems: and exploit them they will unless opposed.

???doesn???t play well with others??? seems more appropriate for Apple and increasingly M$.

4. Unlike Foley and Hess I've had very few problems with Flash or Java. Moreover the last was a freezing ZDNET ad ... now there's a category of crap that could safely be discarded altogether!

5. "Someday, however, I may unleash a rant so terrible about Flash, and products like it, that you might wish that you could unread the post afterward." This will be new for a Hess post, how? On the other hand ... squeals with delight; sits on hands excitedly; oh please Ken ... do not make us wait until April 1st. How about making it the turkey for Thanksgiving Day?

6. "I???m not sure why anyone thought something like Flash was a good idea." Being unsure of computing history, global corporate culture, extensible architectures, device independence and graphic design ... it would pay you not to ask readers to point out your manifest ignorance.
What technology is better for server side development than Java? Nothing.
Hello,
i have been looking for this. i also faced this problem many times but after reading this article i fixed it. Thanks for sharing this post. i also got some help from this article chrome flash crash , hope someone might get help from this article.
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foobyfa 50 nzf
ddfwekrdfe28-24379075365516457089041130194915 25th Nov
dnoblu,nbfjokhj50, lckpy.

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