Will Adobe’s Flash survive?

By Yoav Tchelet

Steve Jobs has openly displayed his disdain for Flash in his recent letter to the Adobe faithful.

The Adobe faithful have long been hoping for Apple to include support for the Flash platform in its devices, but this recent spat has cemented the fact that Apple will not support Flash in any form whatsoever.

But the recent run-in with Flash doesn’t end with Apple.

Scribd, The site that lets anyone upload almost any document and publish it to the web has announced that it is converting the millions of documents it hosts to HTML 5.

So what exactly is all the fuss with HTML 5 anyway?

HTML (Hypertext Markup Language), which is the core markup language of the world wide web, has come a long way since the early days of the internet.

HTML 5 is the proposed next standard for HTML 4.01, XHTML 1.0 and DOM Level 2 HTML. It aims to reduce the need for proprietary plug-in-based rich internet application (RIA) technologies such as Adobe Flash, Microsoft Silverlight and Sun JavaFX.

Recent introductions by YouTube and others of HTML 5 video support means that browsers will no longer need to have Flash installed to view their vast array of online videos.

HTML 5 also, for the first time in HTML history, introduces the “canvas” element which is used for rendering dynamic bitmap graphics on the fly, such as graphs or games.

So will this mean the slow demise of Flash as we know it?

I would bet against Flash just yet. From the Adobe camp they have embraced HTML 5 and all that it brings to the development of the web.

Adobe’s Flash Player browser plug-in is the reason so much rich media, audio, video and animation are playable on the web.

Without Flash, you wouldn’t be able to view most of the videos posted online.

“We’re going to try and make the best tools in the world for HTML 5,” said Kevin Lynch, Adobe’s chief technology officer. Adobe has a history of HTML tool development with products like Dreamweaver, he said, and called HTML 5 “a terrific step forward” for the web.

All of the major browser vendors including Microsoft, Mozilla, Google, Apple and Opera — are committed to supporting HTML 5 in some way.

Time will tell how this battle between Apple, Flash and the introduction of HTML 5 will play out.

But from my perspective anything that will enhance and contribute to the user experience and evolution of the web is very welcome in my eyes.

Yoav Tchelet currently manages the e-commerce division of Avis in South Africa.
Read his Blog or follow him on Twitter at @yoavtchelet
Blog: http://www.yoavtchelet.com