Adobe's "future of Flash" response
Worth a read. Some quick quotes:
On Flash being optimised for mouse input:
For existing Flash content developed with mouse input in mind, the Adobe Flash Player runtime will automatically convert the touch events into mouse events. This allows Flash content designed for the desktop to work seamlessly on touch-based devices.
On Flash video:
There are many claims that H.264 will kill Flash. However, H.264 is a video codec (which requires a player), while Flash is a complete multimedia runtime that can play back H.264, among other codecs. Furthermore, Flash provides a complete solution for advanced video distribution, including support for technologies such as streaming, adaptive bitrate delivery, and content protection.
(This one loses the point a bit, I think - sure, Flash can do all that, but isn’t the idea here that we now don’t need Flash to play video? It feels like you’re telling a real estate agent you don’t need his services because you’re selling direct to a buyer, but he comes in and says “But you can still sell to a buyer! Through me! Look at all the other things I can do for you!”)
Performance:
On mobile devices, better performance translates into better battery life. Adobe has made a number of further optimizations in Flash Player 10.1 around code execution, memory use, hardware-accelerated video playback, and battery life.
Openness:
Flex, the primary application framework for Flash, is also open source and is actively maintained and developed by Adobe and the community. Finally, Flash has a rich developer ecosystem of both open and proprietary tools and technologies, including developer IDEs such as FDT, IntelliJ, and haXe; open source runtimes such as Gnash; and open source video servers such as Red5.
Seems valid to me. Certainly more possibilities here than developing with just Xcode.
