Adobe Flash

The more I use Adobe Flash, the more I understand why Steve Jobs hates it. I can't tell you how many times a misbehaving Flash video has crashed my browser and/or slowed my system to sludge. Happens at least once a week.

I have never been shy about bagging on the Adobe Flash team when I feel it is warranted, and heaven knows, they, or really, their evangelists and PR people give one a nigh-unending stream of rich source material. However, that does mean that when they do something well, or even noticeably better, I have an obligation to point that out as well.

So because Steve Jobs wrote a letter, of course, John Warnock and and Chuck Geschke have to write one too. In theirs, entitled "Our thoughts on open markets", they take a rather predictable, and somewhat incorrect tact, namely that Apple deciding who can develop native applications for the iPhone that are sold through the App Store is exactly the same as Apple trying to control the web. So you get an odd muddle of a letter...

Say the "F" word in front of Steve Jobs.

Big names in tech are trying to leave Adobe Flash behind, citing stability and energy efficiency concerns. Can the average web surfer take the plunge? Not entirely, but with the right tools, you can mostly forgo Flash.

Remember the brave band of corporations that was going to bring us to a brave new world of open standards audio and video? Yeah, about that.