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There's still a lot of Flash that is used to compensate for things that are not doable without it. For example, Github has Flash; try right clicking on the "Cop

by jfim 14y ago

There's still a lot of Flash that is used to compensate for things that are not doable without it. For example, Github has Flash; try right clicking on the "Copy this repository's URL to the clipboard" button on any git repo. That, unfortunately, won't go away soon.

jstanley 14y ago
That can totally go away. What about plain text which you just select and copy? If copying text is hard, I think actually cloning the repository after you've copied it's URL is an insurmountable challenge.
- smackfu 14y ago
  Yes, that would be an alternate workaround for a missing feature in HTML, although not quite as good.
AnthonyMouse 14y ago
Maybe this is a dumb question: Why doesn't someone (e.g. Google/Apple/Mozilla) just make a list of the uncontentious things like that which Flash can do and HTML or javascript can't, and then fast track those things to be put in HTML or javascript? Obviously it would require some writing of code, but it seems like it would be a good cause that a lot of people could get behind, including organizations that have coders and/or money. I'm just kind of surprised it hasn't happened already.
- Silhouette 14y ago
  These organisations can't even get behind the same basic file format for something very common like serving video, partly because of all the open standards vs. patents mess. Unfortunately, that means there's even less chance that they're also going to sort out all the other useful stuff Flash can do as a video engine enough for HTML5 video to be a viable universal replacement any time soon.
ghshephard 14y ago
In the last 18 months there have been exactly two scenarios in which I have required flash: Videos and a really crappy remedy client at work. The Video problem has been mostly solved for web browsers (works fine on my iPad, I suspect tweaking the User agent on my MacBook would get me non-flash video). The remedy client makes no use whatsoever of flash capabilities - it could easily have been written in HTML 5. With that said - I know that right now flash is still used (see my Remedy/Video situation) - and the number of web sites using it are slowly diminishing (1 or 2 percent a year). My question is - what happens, in say, 5 or 6 years, when only 10% (or less) of web sites have any flash, and 100% of iOS device (and possibly some other mobile platforms) don't support flash. I'm wondering if we hit a tipping point where, instead of dropping 1% a year, flash just disappears altogether in 3 or 4 more years after that tipping point as browser/website support passes a point of now return. If so - We might see the end of flash as a supported platform in about 10 years.

by jfim 14y ago

jstanley 14y ago

That can totally go away. What about plain text which you just select and copy? If copying text is hard, I think actually cloning the repository after you've copied it's URL is an insurmountable challenge.

smackfu 14y ago
Yes, that would be an alternate workaround for a missing feature in HTML, although not quite as good.

AnthonyMouse 14y ago

Maybe this is a dumb question: Why doesn't someone (e.g. Google/Apple/Mozilla) just make a list of the uncontentious things like that which Flash can do and HTML or javascript can't, and then fast track those things to be put in HTML or javascript? Obviously it would require some writing of code, but it seems like it would be a good cause that a lot of people could get behind, including organizations that have coders and/or money. I'm just kind of surprised it hasn't happened already.

Silhouette 14y ago
These organisations can't even get behind the same basic file format for something very common like serving video, partly because of all the open standards vs. patents mess. Unfortunately, that means there's even less chance that they're also going to sort out all the other useful stuff Flash can do as a video engine enough for HTML5 video to be a viable universal replacement any time soon.

ghshephard 14y ago

In the last 18 months there have been exactly two scenarios in which I have required flash: Videos and a really crappy remedy client at work. The Video problem has been mostly solved for web browsers (works fine on my iPad, I suspect tweaking the User agent on my MacBook would get me non-flash video). The remedy client makes no use whatsoever of flash capabilities - it could easily have been written in HTML 5. With that said - I know that right now flash is still used (see my Remedy/Video situation) - and the number of web sites using it are slowly diminishing (1 or 2 percent a year). My question is - what happens, in say, 5 or 6 years, when only 10% (or less) of web sites have any flash, and 100% of iOS device (and possibly some other mobile platforms) don't support flash. I'm wondering if we hit a tipping point where, instead of dropping 1% a year, flash just disappears altogether in 3 or 4 more years after that tipping point as browser/website support passes a point of now return. If so - We might see the end of flash as a supported platform in about 10 years.