Steve Jobs Slams Flash Platform in Open Letter
Steve Jobs Slams Flash Platform in Open Letter
Posted 04/29/2010 at 10:19am
| by Paul Lilly
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Just when you thought things between Apple and Adobe couldn't get any nastier, Steve Jobs decides to kick it up a notch by listing out all the reasons why Flash sucks and isn't allowed 10 feet from any Apple devices.
"I wanted to jot down some of our thoughts on Adobe’s Flash products so that customers and critics may better understand why we do not allow Flash on iPhones, iPods and iPads," Steve Jobs starts out. "Adobe has characterized our decision as being primarily business driven – they say we want to protect our App Store – but in reality it is based on technology issues. Adobe claims that we are a closed system, and that Flash is open, but in fact the opposite is true. Let me explain."
This might seem like a case of the pot calling the kettle black, but Jobs goes on to acknowledge that "Apple has many proprietary products too, however the Cupertino company "strongly believes that all standards pertaining to the Web should be open," and that "Apple even creates open standards for the Web."
But it isn't just the closed nature of Flash that perturbs Jobs and Co. Jobs goes on to criticize Flash for the platform's lack of reliability, security, and performance.
"Flash has not performed well on mobile devices," Jobs explains. "We have routinely asked Adobe to show us Flash performing well on a mobile device, any mobile device, for a few years now. We have never seen it. Adobe publicly said that Flash would ship on a smartphone in early 2009, then the second half of 2009, then the first half of 2010, and now they say the second half of 2010. We think it will eventually ship, but we’re glad we didn’t hold our breath. Who knows how it will perform?"
Jobs had plenty more to say on why Flash and Apple will never be BFFs, all of which you can read here. After you do, be sure to post your thoughts in the comments section below. Does Jobs make any valid points? Should Apple give in and allow Flash on its iPhone OS?
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Wildebeast
April 30, 2010 at 11:58am
My big beef with Flash was always the ADs, that slowed down the loading of pages. Flashblock & Noscript took care of this, for me, in Firefox.
There is still the problem though, that if you need to change Flash's settings on viewing a video, you have to do it every time you load a page with Flash content.
There's no way to save your prefs and some Flash videos don't let you change it's settings, at all. I assume this is because it's a marketing point for Flash ADs, that it's all automatically set to 'high quality,' looping, and 'show all.' This doesn't make it anything less of a dis-service to people who load the page, though.
Jobs didn't mention this specifically, but is it seriously so hard, to let individual users choose something like "play in Standard Def [or low quality], unless I say otherwise," BEFORE it takes a large bite of your bandwidth (& possibly system resources)??
Yes, there's hypocrisy, in Job's complaint; but he still has a very good point. (I own/use nothing Apple/Mac branded or licensed.)
TehRetroGeek
April 30, 2010 at 2:06am
that's yet another reason for me to like flash, now if only Al Qaeda could condemn it.
Glycerin
April 29, 2010 at 10:13pm
I'll never buy an iPhone because the owner of Apple is a douchebag. Flash plays perfectly on the DROID! Damn.. words can't explain how douchy Steve is. And why can't you put removable batteries in ALL your macintosh notebooks? Oh, I know why, cuz you don't give a shit about your customers! D-BAG. I hear they're coming out with the Apple iFag, named in honor of the owner. :)
ulpian
April 29, 2010 at 7:36pm
I choose to speak with my wallet, just ditch the iphone/AT&T and pick up a HTC Incredible with Verizon. And I'm pretty sure I won't buy any Apple product for a very long time.
BigC
April 29, 2010 at 5:58pm
I thought of a new apple product
Its called the iFail.
leave your imagination up to what it does/means
Current Computer specs*:
Processor: Intel Celeron 2.8 Gh
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Biceps
April 29, 2010 at 4:15pm
So the Microsoft Courier is DEAD, and you guys are still writing abou the iTampax? I thought this was MaxPC?
Havok
April 29, 2010 at 4:31pm
I was under the assumption that this here article was about Steve Jobs hypocritacly mocking Adobe for Flash, claiming it's a useless proprietary piece of crap (which it kind of is) while Apple is all about proprietary pieces of crap. I think you may have missed the boat on this one. If you're that interested in useless Apple gadget bashing, you could go to your neighbourhood drugstore, pickup a copy of Maximum PC and a box of maxIpads down aisle 2.
This is the type of 'Apple' article Maximum PC used to do before magic unicorns existed...
YES! This post made it through the Spam Filter!
majorsuave
April 29, 2010 at 4:14pm
Oh well. "Proprietary" is probably the reason why I never installed Mac OS on one of my computers. Well that and developer support I guess.
And to the person who said Quicktime... yep. Then there's Itunes. Sigh.
highsidednb
April 29, 2010 at 3:33pm
Please continue to put Apple news on this site only if it leads to mocking their epic failures.
jtrpop
April 29, 2010 at 3:21pm
Dear Steve Jobs,
Let me give you 9 reasons why you lie:
1) Q
2) U
3) I
4) C
5) K
6) T
7) I
8) M
9) E
If Apple believed what it said, then sites like trailers.apple.com would not exist, which require the propritary, buggy, and bloated, plugin Quicktime.
persondude
April 29, 2010 at 2:50pm
I laugh at Apple's attempts at technology control. It is exactly because of things like this that my friend (Who was a hardcore Apple fan, MacBook Pro, Apple AirPort, iPod, iPhone, iTunes and everything) quit being an Apple representative for Best Buy, specifially saying that he disliked how Apple was "...too proprietary and didn't work well with anything that wasn't Apple or had some sort of Apple stamp of approval on it." Sold his MacBook Pro for an Acer, and now spends his time building custom machines for a living, proudly installing Windows 7 on every single one of them.
I do believe that it's these wonderful moments of business stupidity that causes Apple to have the small more hardcore marketshare that it does. I also believe that this leads to people actively trying to find work arounds to Apple's death-grip they have on all their products (i.e. iPhone/iPod Touch jailbreaking)
If only they would play fair with more 3rd party software, they wouldn't have as big of an issue trying to keep up with Microsoft. Then again, I'm not Steve Jobs, so what do I know?
imagonex
April 29, 2010 at 2:32pm
Sounds like there's a cry-baby billionaire out there that wants a new yacht.
I perused through this supposed Open Letter. What a farce! Open letter to who and who wrote it? Lawyers wrote this, not Steve Jobs. I burst out laughing in the end when I read the term PC and PC era. Ha! Ha! Ha! PC era? What? I wasn't aware it was over. Oh, and what's a Mac Pro and an iMac? It's not a PC? Personal computer! Hello? Oh, please! What are we? Brainless zombie consumers?!
Additionally, this iPad appliance is nothing more than a conduit to all that is Apple store. They don't want Flash on iPad because that would open up a worldwide market and that would eat into their sales.
Again, Steve, you can fool some people some of the time but you can't fool all the people all at the same time.
Apple almost went belly-up back in the '80s. If it wasn't for Microsoft, Apple wouldn't be here today. I clearly remember Jobs calling up Gates for Office on Mac back then. It's the $650 million Microsoft invested in Apple that saved Apple's heiny.
Next, I would LOVE to see Adobe discontinue all their software production of all their software for the Apple platform. I'd like to see how long Apple last without them. Besides Quark and a few oddball sound & film editing packages, what other killer app out there exist to sell Apple hardware? Not much.
Sure, the iPhone, iPod and iTune are big money earners for them, but, in the long run with products running on Android and the Goliath Microsoft lurking around the corner, how long can they sustain a profitable market in such developing economies?
This sub-marketing campaign of theirs is nothing but that, a marketing campaign. Nothing else. It's all about inventing a cornucopia of vague and ambiguous reasons to buy Apple hardware. Nothing else.
Doesn't matter how they spin it, it's all about selling their overpriced, marked-up, closed systems. Nothing else.
Sorry, Apple. Epic fail!!
Glycerin
April 29, 2010 at 10:26pm
Nice comment. I didn't know that Microsoft saved Apple back in the 80s. I wish though that Gates had told Jobs to kiss his ass. The world would be better.
gendoikari1
April 29, 2010 at 2:32pm
If they believe that web standards should be open, explain h.264 in Safari. If they wanted to be truly open and such, it would be Ogg Theora, like Firefox and Opera.
SPAM FILTER MUST DIE
Nickompoop
April 29, 2010 at 2:16pm
Jobs was a visionary. He pretty much created the personal computer and the whole industry behind it. And now he falls somewhere in the realm of dumbass and totalitarian. He doesn't like Flash, because then his company won't have total control over their customers. Why anyone would ever want to buy an Apple product (besides an iPod. those work well) is beyond me.
gendoikari1
April 29, 2010 at 2:54pm
"He pretty much stole everything from Xerox."
Fixed.
SPAM FILTER MUST DIE
Danthrax66
April 29, 2010 at 2:54pm
hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha lol jobs invented the PC http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_Personal_Computer he didn't invent the PC IBM did he had the first popular computer but you know what who gives a shit apple sucks steve jobs literally sucks and quit with the fucking apple articles and oh yeah if the spam filter is still here fuck that too.
logicmaster2003
April 29, 2010 at 2:14pm
.. and now the table had turned around..
Microsoft is the good guy; Apple is the bad guy.
Carbon
April 29, 2010 at 1:53pm
He's just mad he can't control Flash is the whole reason he doesn't want it on his products.
Apple is all about locking you into their hardware.
Everyone thinks they are a software company but they only make software to sell harware and if they can't lock you in they won't make it.If you can play a free flash game on your iPad then he has no control over you.
screw them!
Havok
April 29, 2010 at 1:23pm
I made a quick dash over to Mac-Life to see their spin on this, and even Apple's own followers are split 50/50 so far on this. I say this because one user commented about how Jobs is mimicking all of the 'bad' things Gates has 'done', while the other user is drinking the kool-aid. Yes there were only two comments on the article.
YES! This post made it through the Spam Filter!
sammyd253
April 29, 2010 at 1:20pm
The fact of the matter is, Apple has the right to do whatever they want with their products (and represent themselves how they want). If you disagree with them refusing to allow Flash on one of their products, don't buy it. I don't get why people think they're entitled to a feature on a product that they're not forced to purchase. If you truly want to voice your opinion/frustration/concern, don't give them your money. It's that simple.
...And wait, there's more...
I'm not an Apple fanboy. I just don't understand why people purchase a product, and then complain when they don't get exactly what they want. Do some research, decide on if you can live with that product as-is, and then make the purchase.
IFLATLINEI
April 29, 2010 at 5:32pm
Your right Apple does have the right to do whatever they want but after the sale that product is no longer theirs. Its not up to them what I load up on my iPhone. When they block things or tell me what I can or cant do its wrong. End of story!
BTW I dont own an iPhone Im an Android user. I believe in open devices and tech gear. I can root my phone to other versions, I can download whatever I want and I can use it however I want. My PC's are the same. I run Windows XP, Vista, and 7 on my network currently and Im not ever restricted as to what I can do. I never get the feeling like im limited in any way and im better and more productive for it. In business and play. I can think for myself and I can protect myself. Im not a Zombie that needs Steve Jobs to tell me Pron is bad. Pron is actually fine. I also know Adobe sucks but guess what? Its pretty much standard for now so there should be access to it on all devices. Apple has a responsibilty to provide value for its customers and they are not doing that. They cant while continuing down this road and they will eventually fail because of it unless they change. This is what your kinda getting at but theres more to it than that. Its the fact that they operate in a free country and dont follow the same ideals. That disgusts me.
faheyd
April 29, 2010 at 1:29pm
And I have voted with my wallet! I do not buy any apple products. I need open source software that doesn't cost me any more money. I just bought the 'hardware', I don't need any costly plugins or 'apps'.
For single button pushers, apple is the way to go. I however, need to be able to customize my 'stuff'. Not be forced to some 'store' to 'buy' things.
Glycerin
April 29, 2010 at 10:30pm
Not to mention that Apple charges you for their service packs, while Microsoft will kick you down with service packs, hotfixes, and updates for FREE. Microsoft +1 — Apple -1
whr4usa
April 29, 2010 at 1:54pm
customers are always correct, technology is always advancing yet users are always wrong!
I'll be glad when Adobe, Apple both kill eachother
stradric
April 29, 2010 at 12:31pm
Forget the fact that customers actually want flash... No, it's not about what the customers want. It's about what Steve Jobs tells them they want! I used to look upon apple favorably just a year ago. Now I despise them. iTunes certainly helped make that happen. But also their overpriced hardware, and just the general attitude of arrogance. Don't like Microsoft? Go Linux. But if you think you're somehow making a better choice by going Apple, you are dead wrong. Apple is quickly becoming the douchiest company around. Plus, they go after journalists (see Gizmodo).
Scatmanbrandt
April 29, 2010 at 1:13pm
"Apple is quickly becoming the douchiest company around." I though they accomplished that early 2000 when the Mac VS PC commercials came out.
-----------------------------------------
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Zachary K.
April 29, 2010 at 12:48pm
SJ:"flash needs to run well on the iphone, and be open source. show me that"
adobe:"ok,let us put it on the iphone to show you"
SJ: "sorry, our app store is closed sourced. well you can't show me, p*** off.
adobe: "it would run good if you let us put it on the iphone"
SJ: "LALALALALALA I CANT HEAR YOU!!! LALALALALA"
Neufeldt2002
April 29, 2010 at 12:26pm
Security? Apple IS a VIRUS
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Please fix the spam filter it does not work right.
whr4usa
April 29, 2010 at 1:57pm
so is XP according to McAfee Lolz
...and anybody whom knows anything about Windows 7, Internet Explorer Nine or Office 2010
Biceps
April 29, 2010 at 1:37pm
Yep, if you don't believe it, just TRY to uninstall quicktime...nope, hahah you're screwed.
ajax344
April 29, 2010 at 12:10pm
you know thats whats going to happen, its horrible and unsafe and killes performance, until apple gets it on the iPad or iphones, Then its awsome.
unitymind
April 29, 2010 at 12:03pm
You all know if he says he hates it - it will be on the new iPhone 4.
Haha
fociwm
April 29, 2010 at 11:59am
I read through the Jobs' letter. Cool~ Very convincing. I hate Flash, and I've always hated it.
But, unfortunately, that's not an issue and I still think Jobs and Apple are evil. They censor. We're older than 18. Why should we be under control of Apple and Jobs if not illegal? It is OK for Apple to notify us that they'll not support Flash or anything they don't like, but they must not control our choice. For example, if they show some warning sign when I launch a Flash software, that's fine. I'll appreciate it. But they must not stop me using it !!! I'm not a child !!!
TechJunkie
April 29, 2010 at 11:46am
Steve Handjobs is...ahem...stickin' it to da man...er...in the man...He's such a dork.
Pyrophorics
April 29, 2010 at 11:08am
How much arrogance can one man have?
Regardless of whether Jobs performance claims are true, Flash still
has a place in our community until websites conform to a new standard.
Typically, a new standard is adopted and used by the masses not imposed by
a single company. It would be as if Sony and the other major companies
abruptly stopped manufacturing DVD’s with the release of Blu-Ray and
forced the community to adopt. While not a great example, the
interesting part is that Apple is not a developer of Flash based
products (Sony) yet has taken an arrogant step in assuming that the
popularity of their current devices will be enough to force the market.Furthermore, Jobs makes claims as if Flash would be the only
development tool used for creating apps, but why cant multiple formats
be used? Versatility used to be a plus in the consumer world. He has
made his career defining the word proprietary and to call Adobe out with
claims that web content is different than hardware and OS is, again,
arrogant.Truthfully, I think this shows the true sign of Jobs health. His
mental appearance is starting to mirror his physical and someone needs
to tighten the reigns on what Apple is about. The community appears to
like the style of Apple products but they jailbreak to overcome the
dictatorship.The bottom line here is that Flash is just another development tool.
There is nothing wrong with adding versatility to your line.
JanSolo
April 29, 2010 at 11:00am
The only real reason they want flash off of the iPhone/iPad is because they don't make money off of it. They say user experience but really, they cannot monetize flash games and apps.
The 6th point is total and utter BS: Apple's iPad/iPhone are totally closed and proprietary and he's arguing that Flash is closed? And stating that Flash is not "open"? Apple pays for the H264 license and the MP3 license. I don't see them embracing Ogg Vorbis or FLAC codecs.
oihorse
April 29, 2010 at 11:07am
Yet web apps are still allowed on the phone.
Seems to invalidate the 'Flash apps not on phone because they don't make money off of it' theory.
JanSolo
April 29, 2010 at 11:23am
You mean all those web games that aren't flash based that are playable via Safari on the iPhone/iPad?
oihorse
April 29, 2010 at 11:33am
You are correct. Flash games are out.
But wildly stating that Flash is banned because Flash Apps cannot be monitized is flat out wrong since web apps can still be freely installed and used.
It's a wide brush everyone is painting this argument with, and it's just so glaringly wrong... and getting a bit old.
JanSolo
April 29, 2010 at 2:20pm
I'd love to see a web game for the iPhone that is not on the app store.
Here - this is probably the best article I've seen that took apart the Steve Jobs anti flash rant: http://jessewarden.com/2010/04/steve-jobs-on-flash-correcting-the-lies.html
Danthrax66
April 29, 2010 at 1:17pm
you are wrong the best games are flash based end of story and if you could play bloons tower defence 4 on the web for free who would pay for it? That is the issue end of story.
Chief_runningwater
April 29, 2010 at 10:54am
The only thing open in apple is the open letter Steve Jobs gave out to the press.
kjrviking
April 29, 2010 at 10:53am
This letter is just a reason why he won't allow Flash onto apple products. anyone who buys this as fact is already against Flash and ready to support Jobs in whatever he decides to do - whether its make the new iPad 30 percent lighter and 50 percent more expensive or start a military coup to overthrow the US government and force Macs and iPads into everyone's hands.
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