Adobe confuses me. They are now pushing to transform Flash into a fully
featured video game engine that runs in the browser. Here is where I get
confused:
1. Didn't Adobe once say they were going to scale back in favor of HTML5?
2. iPhone/iPad doesn't support it and they are ending support for Android.
3. PC gaming industry is "dying" in favor of consoles.
4. Focus is on Windows and Mac even though they are getting replaced by
smartphones and tablets in the consumer market.
5. Linux support will be phased out and only way is through non-free Chrome
plugin.
My problem with Flash is that it is considered essential for many people to
watch videos and for their kids to play games. Everything I seem to go on
requires it and it is near impossible to consume any video without it. Gnash
is still far off but average people cannot consume ESPN. It is also essential
for some students to use their coursework. By having Flash on Linux was nice
to have as a crutch but even that is getting taken away.
For average people who may have switched from Windows to Ubuntu or another
Linux, the transition was much easier due to both Java (OpenJDK and Orace)
and Flash having support. I applaud Oracle for supplying OpenJDK and also for
RedHat to create IcedTea. It would be nice if Adobe went down that same
route, but their revenue depends on their proprietary products and providing
DRM tools to media companies.
Its just unfair when the majority of sites require this Flash plugin and we
are handcuffed by Adobe to not only provide the libraries but make sure it
works. It is really hard when kids get fed advertisements on TV for some cool
game on a website and that website forces its users to be subserviant to that
company. I made a post about this subject already here and its quite a sore
subject.
I just wished that someone took Adobe to court over Flash for making it as
essential for the web as JPEG and JavaScript, yet they control the destiny.
