Much as I believe that Apple's stated reasons for not allowing Flash on their iOS devices is complete bs there's really no compelling reason to use it for web surfing in general.
As has already been noted the only thing you'll be missing from the vast majority of pages is ads. Aside from that there's the odd movie or game site which relies on Flash for 100% of their functionality but aside from being rare they're also slow an annoying and nothing I'd personally miss.
I wouldn't even use Flash on my desktop myself if I could get Chrome to stop throwing pop-ups reminding me to install it all the time.
@Mike10010100 Alot of websites in the last few months started using HTML instead of flash. Many sites that had embedded videos on them that i couldn't watch before are now iphone friendly.
@Almo Please. Everyother other page got embeded flash videos and menus from news sites to p0rn sites. This is just one of those things that when it comes available in 2 years time for a iphone nobody is complaining about having flash inside your phone after the Apple fans are out of the way. It sure isn't the first time in these 3 years and wont be the last one. Not all need flash, but it doesn't hurt to have it.
There is plenty of non-ad content on the web. It's not the first time I've heard some absurd justifications from iPhone owners. What if they took away Flash from you PC/Mac. Yeah, let's see how that works.
As just one random eg., news sites often tend to embed flash. Anytime you open a video which is not on Youtube, right click and see how often you see Flash.
@Bervick I think the main thing here, is that regardless of people's view point, you will come across things that you can't view. At the time, you know you can't view it so you just move on.
What I prefer, is to set my android to on demand, so I can see the where interactive content is without having to activate it (cause it download). You can view canvas elements, pure js elements, flash elements, all the most popular stuff (and perhaps even Unity seeing as their porting to android, though not sure that would be possible to enable direct in browser though admittedly would be awesome).
Once people start taking advantage of running flash applications specifically tailored to mobile devices, coupled other web technologies, you're on to a winner.
So regardless of all the negative points people spew it, at the end of the day I'd rather have the choice to view the content if I like, than to have no choice at all. It's simple a case of have and have not....
Are you kidding me? That is a pretty lame reason to remove even the OPTION of having flash on a device. Android runs flash beautifully without any fuss. Just render it like android does: static boxes that become enabled when the user clicks on it. That way the user isn't bugged by ads and can choose when they want to have content displayed.
@Almo I never thought I was missing flash until I switched to android and than realized that half of the iphone apps I had paid for were based on free flash versions I agree that sometimes flash can be annoying but apple should give users the choice to install flash if they want to
Ding ding. Half of the games and soundboards are Flash originally. And the apps for most websites are just to compensate for the fact that it doesn't have Flash.
@Mike10010100 Riiiiiiight. Keep telling yourself that. I have a jailbroken iPhone 4 and I'm not going anywhere near this hack. Absolutely no need. It's pretty funny that most sites are moving away from flash with apple being a huge influence for it.
@Exodite Seriously, I'm sick of people complaining about Flash. Flash for videos is 100x better than HTML5. HTML5 on YouTube is slow, doesn't offer true fullscreen (yet), and doesn't include the features you can embed in the player compared to Flash. Flash also doesn't make my computer slow. When I read people here complaining about Flash, it's as if their computers are from 2004. If they are indeed from 2004, UPGRADE. This is the technology world, and it moves quickly.
Also, this complaining of Flash ads on desktops is also BS because extensions like Ad-Block Plus remove them 99% of the time. I would also rather have ads on web pages when displaying them through my phone and also have the content the site is offering instead of missing it all.
Steve Jobs' reason for not using Flash is stupid. I really wish Adobe could just pull Flash from Mac OS somehow for a day or two and Steve Jobs would hear all his customers bitch and complain to him about how they need Flash.
Have any proof that Flash is dying? Or is that just the cognitive dissonance speaking? "We don't have the option of Flash, so nobody else needs it either."
The truth of the matter is that all of these sudden advocates for HTML-5 didn't exist until Apple decided not to support Flash. Suddenly they're coming out of the woodwork.
No, it really isn't. Not for video anyway, though it can most assuredly do more than HTML5.
One of the things that I personally dislike about Flash is that it comes with its own background updating services and ARM. Stuff that I have to manually weed out after every update. Aside from that the inability to block sound without blocking Flash content in general is also a major pain.
I can see some people liking it, especially those addicted to Facebook games or Flash games in general I'm not one of those persons though.
Nothing I use on the web relies on Flash, I've already tested that rather extensively, and if it weren't for the annoying reminders to install it I'd do absolutely fine without it.
As far as extensive javascript and canvas goes feel free to call backwards, or old-school if you prefer, but I'm of the opinion that things should be made as simple as possible. There's some form of balance between design, complexity and content to be maintained but the web in general could do with a less overdeveloped interaction.
@Mike10010100 And that means ads...i live on the north pole. I don't need ads. I don't want ads. I fucking hate them And steve made a good choice by not allowing flash content on iphones..flash generally means ads..don't bullshit me by saying you play flash games on your android...or maybe you do cause you're stupid And html5 will shit on flash...i doesn't require any plugins, it is supported by browsers as is. Period
@substance90 I thought I'd want flash on my iPhone... but since I've had my i4 I can't think of anything flash related that I would want to see on my phone. Hulu, youtube, funny or die, and netflix have pretty much all of the video content I'm interested in. Three of those already have dedicated iPhone apps. And I can stream Hulu, Netflix, CBS, Comedy Central, CNN, and others to my iPhone with PlayOn's updated server.
I guess I have to agree with the other posters when I express my lack of excitement for flash on a mobile phone.
I'm absolutely overjoyed that you're willing to spend money on things that are normally free.
I have a large patch of swampland and a bridge to sell to you, and my uncle needs help moving millions of dollars worth of money out of his home country, for only a small down payment.
@Almo you fanbois KILL me. Why do you need flash? Wow. Like 90% of the web uses it. You can have the dumb little box that shows the iphone doesnt recognize something that MOST web pages have... OR you can just have a browser that actually can surf the WHOLE internet.
HTML5 may be the FUTURE of the web, but Flash is the NOW of the web.
You probably didn't need cut and paste on your iphone either, or the ability to send pics via mms, or anything that Steve Mobs didn't give you.
@Exodite wow. You're living in a bubble. Apple has given you "the whole web" in the form of about 100 sites. You say flash is mostly used for ads... Youtube is like 95% flash!!! Being able to surf youtube in all its glory on my flash enabled nexus is AWESOME. I don't have to load some stupid little app that PLAYS youtube videos. I play the videos in the browser, with pinch and zoom and fullscreen etc. It's very impressive. I also like the fact that some man somewhere isn't giving me the internet the way he wants me to see it. I get to see every page the way the designers intended it to be.
The only reason that Steve Mobs didn't include Flash on his original iphone was because of it's anemic processor/memory configuration. That configuration allowed him to squeeze an extra dollar or two out of the already suicide-ridden workers at the foxconn factories. True, some sites are moving away from flash to the yet-to-be standardized HTML5 because of the strong arming of Steve Mobs, but that is only because the iphone has a fourth of the smartphone market. Had Mr. Mobs not bullied the market we would not be having this debate in its current form.
"HTML5 may be the future of the web, but Flash is the NOW of the web."
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Finally! I don't get how owners of unjailbroken iPhones even use their devices...
@substance90
Why? What do you really need it for? I've had iPhones for 3 years and yet to find out what I'm missing from not having flash??
@Almo
90% of embedded content/dynamic content on the web?
@substance90
I meant Cydia apps in general. I, too, have only rarely missed flash on my 3GS.
@Mike10010100
Like? Ads? Again, what crucial things have I missed?
@Mike10010100
Much as I believe that Apple's stated reasons for not allowing Flash on their iOS devices is complete bs there's really no compelling reason to use it for web surfing in general.
As has already been noted the only thing you'll be missing from the vast majority of pages is ads. Aside from that there's the odd movie or game site which relies on Flash for 100% of their functionality but aside from being rare they're also slow an annoying and nothing I'd personally miss.
I wouldn't even use Flash on my desktop myself if I could get Chrome to stop throwing pop-ups reminding me to install it all the time.
@Mike10010100
Alot of websites in the last few months started using HTML instead of flash. Many sites that had embedded videos on them that i couldn't watch before are now iphone friendly.
@Exodite
Well said, good man.
@Mike10010100
So far I haven't once missed Flash on my phone. Only time I ever use it even on my desktop is for YouTube.
@Almo
Please.
Everyother other page got embeded flash videos and menus from news sites to p0rn sites.
This is just one of those things that when it comes available in 2 years time for a iphone nobody is complaining about having flash inside your phone after the Apple fans are out of the way. It sure isn't the first time in these 3 years and wont be the last one.
Not all need flash, but it doesn't hurt to have it.
@Mike10010100 and most of that is ads.
@Exodite So, how do you feel about canvas/extensive javascript instead?
@Almo
There is plenty of non-ad content on the web. It's not the first time I've heard some absurd justifications from iPhone owners. What if they took away Flash from you PC/Mac. Yeah, let's see how that works.
As just one random eg., news sites often tend to embed flash. Anytime you open a video which is not on Youtube, right click and see how often you see Flash.
@Bervick I think the main thing here, is that regardless of people's view point, you will come across things that you can't view. At the time, you know you can't view it so you just move on.
What I prefer, is to set my android to on demand, so I can see the where interactive content is without having to activate it (cause it download). You can view canvas elements, pure js elements, flash elements, all the most popular stuff (and perhaps even Unity seeing as their porting to android, though not sure that would be possible to enable direct in browser though admittedly would be awesome).
Once people start taking advantage of running flash applications specifically tailored to mobile devices, coupled other web technologies, you're on to a winner.
So regardless of all the negative points people spew it, at the end of the day I'd rather have the choice to view the content if I like, than to have no choice at all. It's simple a case of have and have not....
@ all those "flash is only for ads" comments:
Are you kidding me? That is a pretty lame reason to remove even the OPTION of having flash on a device. Android runs flash beautifully without any fuss. Just render it like android does: static boxes that become enabled when the user clicks on it. That way the user isn't bugged by ads and can choose when they want to have content displayed.
@Almo
I never thought I was missing flash until I switched to android and than realized that half of the iphone apps I had paid for were based on free flash versions I agree that sometimes flash can be annoying but apple should give users the choice to install flash if they want to
@clayschluter
Ding ding. Half of the games and soundboards are Flash originally. And the apps for most websites are just to compensate for the fact that it doesn't have Flash.
@Mike10010100 And 100% of the annoying ads. Thank God Flash is dying slowly but surely.
@Mike10010100 Riiiiiiight. Keep telling yourself that. I have a jailbroken iPhone 4 and I'm not going anywhere near this hack. Absolutely no need. It's pretty funny that most sites are moving away from flash with apple being a huge influence for it.
@Exodite
Seriously, I'm sick of people complaining about Flash. Flash for videos is 100x better than HTML5. HTML5 on YouTube is slow, doesn't offer true fullscreen (yet), and doesn't include the features you can embed in the player compared to Flash. Flash also doesn't make my computer slow. When I read people here complaining about Flash, it's as if their computers are from 2004. If they are indeed from 2004, UPGRADE. This is the technology world, and it moves quickly.
Also, this complaining of Flash ads on desktops is also BS because extensions like Ad-Block Plus remove them 99% of the time. I would also rather have ads on web pages when displaying them through my phone and also have the content the site is offering instead of missing it all.
Steve Jobs' reason for not using Flash is stupid. I really wish Adobe could just pull Flash from Mac OS somehow for a day or two and Steve Jobs would hear all his customers bitch and complain to him about how they need Flash.
@JojoMojo
Have any proof that Flash is dying? Or is that just the cognitive dissonance speaking? "We don't have the option of Flash, so nobody else needs it either."
@ALBGunner04
Maybe not slow, but the interface is what I was talking about. The interface can get a bit clunky.
@ALBGunner04
The truth of the matter is that all of these sudden advocates for HTML-5 didn't exist until Apple decided not to support Flash. Suddenly they're coming out of the woodwork.
@ALBGunner04
No, it really isn't. Not for video anyway, though it can most assuredly do more than HTML5.
One of the things that I personally dislike about Flash is that it comes with its own background updating services and ARM. Stuff that I have to manually weed out after every update. Aside from that the inability to block sound without blocking Flash content in general is also a major pain.
I can see some people liking it, especially those addicted to Facebook games or Flash games in general I'm not one of those persons though.
Nothing I use on the web relies on Flash, I've already tested that rather extensively, and if it weren't for the annoying reminders to install it I'd do absolutely fine without it.
As far as extensive javascript and canvas goes feel free to call backwards, or old-school if you prefer, but I'm of the opinion that things should be made as simple as possible. There's some form of balance between design, complexity and content to be maintained but the web in general could do with a less overdeveloped interaction.
@Mike10010100 And that means ads...i live on the north pole. I don't need ads. I don't want ads. I fucking hate them
And steve made a good choice by not allowing flash content on iphones..flash generally means ads..don't bullshit me by saying you play flash games on your android...or maybe you do cause you're stupid
And html5 will shit on flash...i doesn't require any plugins, it is supported by browsers as is. Period
@JojoMojo So you prefer iAds on every app instead of occasional flash ads if you come to certains sites with ads?
@substance90
I thought I'd want flash on my iPhone... but since I've had my i4 I can't think of anything flash related that I would want to see on my phone. Hulu, youtube, funny or die, and netflix have pretty much all of the video content I'm interested in. Three of those already have dedicated iPhone apps. And I can stream Hulu, Netflix, CBS, Comedy Central, CNN, and others to my iPhone with PlayOn's updated server.
I guess I have to agree with the other posters when I express my lack of excitement for flash on a mobile phone.
@substance90: Flash? Get with the times, grandpa.
@Christopher02
And you PAY for the privilege to do so when you could otherwise watch it for free on the net.
Is the cognitive dissonance really this strong?? Do you really feel like paying that much?
@Mike10010100
If I have the money, what problem is it to you?
@Christopher02
I'm absolutely overjoyed that you're willing to spend money on things that are normally free.
I have a large patch of swampland and a bridge to sell to you, and my uncle needs help moving millions of dollars worth of money out of his home country, for only a small down payment.
@Almo you fanbois KILL me. Why do you need flash? Wow. Like 90% of the web uses it. You can have the dumb little box that shows the iphone doesnt recognize something that MOST web pages have... OR you can just have a browser that actually can surf the WHOLE internet.
HTML5 may be the FUTURE of the web, but Flash is the NOW of the web.
You probably didn't need cut and paste on your iphone either, or the ability to send pics via mms, or anything that Steve Mobs didn't give you.
Not trying to be mean, but sheesh....
@Exodite wow. You're living in a bubble. Apple has given you "the whole web" in the form of about 100 sites. You say flash is mostly used for ads... Youtube is like 95% flash!!! Being able to surf youtube in all its glory on my flash enabled nexus is AWESOME. I don't have to load some stupid little app that PLAYS youtube videos. I play the videos in the browser, with pinch and zoom and fullscreen etc. It's very impressive. I also like the fact that some man somewhere isn't giving me the internet the way he wants me to see it. I get to see every page the way the designers intended it to be.
The only reason that Steve Mobs didn't include Flash on his original iphone was because of it's anemic processor/memory configuration. That configuration allowed him to squeeze an extra dollar or two out of the already suicide-ridden workers at the foxconn factories. True, some sites are moving away from flash to the yet-to-be standardized HTML5 because of the strong arming of Steve Mobs, but that is only because the iphone has a fourth of the smartphone market. Had Mr. Mobs not bullied the market we would not be having this debate in its current form.
"HTML5 may be the future of the web, but Flash is the NOW of the web."