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Apple's problem was not with Flash itself as a technology but with the half-assed player implementation form Macromedia/Adobe — the only one that existed at the

Apple's problem was not with Flash itself as a technology but with the half-assed player implementation form Macromedia/Adobe — the only one that existed at the time. There's nothing inherently terrible about ActionScript or the SWF format itself. On the contrary, it's a very nice container for scriptable vector and bitmap animations, still unmatched by any purported modern replacements. I sure hope that Flash eventually makes a comeback.

camillomiller 3y ago
It’s basically still here inside Adobe Animate, which is now a decent, albeit half forgotten, heir to Flash (the software to build animations). It basically works in the same way, and the exported animations are compatible with all modern browsers and run quite smoothly thanks to createJS and easel integration.
CharlesW 3y ago
> Apple's problem was not with Flash itself as a technology but with the half-assed player implementation form Macromedia/Adobe — the only one that existed at the time. Having been there at the time, this is the real answer. The Flash runtime had the distinction of being the #1 cause of crashes for Mac OS users, and Steve had f#@king had enough.
- Anechoic 3y ago
  Absolutely. I'm guessing most of the responders on this thread didn't use a Mac in the early aughts - Flash ran like dogshit on Macs (when it wasn't crashing) and Macromedia/Adobe had no interest in fixing it because "no one used a Mac" back in those days. I suspect that if Adobe had played lip service to trying to address those issue, Flash on iPhone may have had a shot. But they were also dealing with Adobe threatening to not update Photoshop on Mac, MS threatening to not update Office on Mac, etc. Given all of that, what incentive did Apple have in letting Flash on iPhone?
  - grishka 3y ago
    I haven't used a Mac back then neither have I seen one, I only knew they existed. But even as a Windows user, Flash was mildly annoying. Serious exploitable vulnerabilities just never ended. They'd fix one and three new ones would pop out. But then again, I also built my own stuff with Flash, and that side of it was amazing. ActionScript docs are some of the best API docs I've ever seen. The ease with which you learn to use Flash the authoring software is also noteworthy.
    - tracker1 3y ago
      I worked with Flash in my day job... I was working in the E-Learning space and a lot of the training content was Flash based. Once I'd found out I could read/write to local files, I locked my home/personal system down. There was a reason it was necessary for what I was working on, but in the end that was a crazy gaping security hole at the time. Later versions had safer options, and more things were locked down. That said, there were so many issues with improperly marked COM objects that could be misused in IE browsers that Flash wasn't even close to the only risk. From I-Love-You to so many other viral payloads through the late 90's to the late 00's. As many things as I liked about Flash, it was certainly annoying how many websites didn't have secondary navigation options in those days.
- thriftwy 3y ago
  They also did not have a viable Linux or Android strategy. They had some kind of plugin, which could get away with only working with specific browsers. They literally could not afford having one full-time Linux developer to keep the plugin updated! Is that a serious platform investment approach? Everybody complains that Apple did not allow Flash into iPhone, but the truth is, they virtually scrapped their Android strategy where nobody prevented its reach and then scrapped the whole thing altogether without fight.
- Marazan 3y ago
  It was always funny listening to Apple peeps in that time period complain about that horrible, resource sucking, unstable, machine crashing web plugin and realise they weren't talking about the Windows Quicktime web player.
Marazan 3y ago
When Adobe released tools to allow you to release Flash Games as native apps on the App Store Steve Jobs had a total meltdown that resulted in the infamous clause 3.3.1 banning cross compilers.

camillomiller 3y ago

It’s basically still here inside Adobe Animate, which is now a decent, albeit half forgotten, heir to Flash (the software to build animations). It basically works in the same way, and the exported animations are compatible with all modern browsers and run quite smoothly thanks to createJS and easel integration.

CharlesW 3y ago

> Apple's problem was not with Flash itself as a technology but with the half-assed player implementation form Macromedia/Adobe — the only one that existed at the time. Having been there at the time, this is the real answer. The Flash runtime had the distinction of being the #1 cause of crashes for Mac OS users, and Steve had f#@king had enough.

Anechoic 3y ago
Absolutely. I'm guessing most of the responders on this thread didn't use a Mac in the early aughts - Flash ran like dogshit on Macs (when it wasn't crashing) and Macromedia/Adobe had no interest in fixing it because "no one used a Mac" back in those days. I suspect that if Adobe had played lip service to trying to address those issue, Flash on iPhone may have had a shot. But they were also dealing with Adobe threatening to not update Photoshop on Mac, MS threatening to not update Office on Mac, etc. Given all of that, what incentive did Apple have in letting Flash on iPhone?
- grishka 3y ago
  I haven't used a Mac back then neither have I seen one, I only knew they existed. But even as a Windows user, Flash was mildly annoying. Serious exploitable vulnerabilities just never ended. They'd fix one and three new ones would pop out. But then again, I also built my own stuff with Flash, and that side of it was amazing. ActionScript docs are some of the best API docs I've ever seen. The ease with which you learn to use Flash the authoring software is also noteworthy.
  - tracker1 3y ago
    I worked with Flash in my day job... I was working in the E-Learning space and a lot of the training content was Flash based. Once I'd found out I could read/write to local files, I locked my home/personal system down. There was a reason it was necessary for what I was working on, but in the end that was a crazy gaping security hole at the time. Later versions had safer options, and more things were locked down. That said, there were so many issues with improperly marked COM objects that could be misused in IE browsers that Flash wasn't even close to the only risk. From I-Love-You to so many other viral payloads through the late 90's to the late 00's. As many things as I liked about Flash, it was certainly annoying how many websites didn't have secondary navigation options in those days.
thriftwy 3y ago
They also did not have a viable Linux or Android strategy. They had some kind of plugin, which could get away with only working with specific browsers. They literally could not afford having one full-time Linux developer to keep the plugin updated! Is that a serious platform investment approach? Everybody complains that Apple did not allow Flash into iPhone, but the truth is, they virtually scrapped their Android strategy where nobody prevented its reach and then scrapped the whole thing altogether without fight.
Marazan 3y ago
It was always funny listening to Apple peeps in that time period complain about that horrible, resource sucking, unstable, machine crashing web plugin and realise they weren't talking about the Windows Quicktime web player.

Marazan 3y ago

When Adobe released tools to allow you to release Flash Games as native apps on the App Store Steve Jobs had a total meltdown that resulted in the infamous clause 3.3.1 banning cross compilers.