Comments on: Kevin Lynch Interview at Web 2.0

By: Dave

Dave — Tue, 11 May 2010 21:44:19 +0000

Zach:

I don’t know what you mean by ‘sanctioned’, but there are several alternative IDE’s out there for Flash development. Personally I prefer FDT, and there’s also FlashDevelop and IntelliJ. I think there’s also a plugin for Visual Studio but I can’t remember the name.

By: mikechambers

mikechambers — Mon, 10 May 2010 20:26:10 +0000

@Zach

–
It’s very interesting to me how he notes that flash “technically” works so many times.
–

I believe what he is trying to emphasize is that Apple not allowing applications created with Flash on the iPhone is a business and not technical decision.

i.e. from a technical standpoint, we have shown that it will work. Apple has argued that they are not allowing them due to technical reasons.

mike chambers

mesh@adobe.com

By: Zach

Zach — Fri, 07 May 2010 21:51:39 +0000

It’s very interesting to me how he notes that flash “technically” works so many times. I’m not really against flash if they can get it to run on a mobile without killing the battery or crashing the device but he’s cleverly dancing around the real issue of quality. Flash “technically” gives the same experience on all devices. That’s not good enough. As a matter of fact, that often times flat out sucks.

There are Applications that were made on PCs initially that “technically” worked “as well” on the Mac (*cough Quicken cough*) but the problem with that is that you cut off the innovation that comes with the other platform. There are things Macs do that PCs flat out don’t and vice versa. People who have grown familiar with their platform of choice will be upset when an app fails at the fundamental user experience of that platform.

These realities also exist with mobile devices. Quality is the single most game changing factor as to why the iPhone has been successful. I’ve compared blackberry apps that are “technically” the same as their iPhone counterparts that function magnitudes worse.

A “one-platform-builds-all” approach is always going to fall short of feeling fully native. That’s just the nature of the beast. And besides Adobe, how many other sanctioned Flash Development IDEs are there?

And for all the “opensource” people out there, please don’t forget these company’s have budgets to make. It’s really about the money not “openness”. The decisions they make are for the betterment of their business. That goes for Adobe and Apple. So really, it would make more sense for Adobe to bring value back to Dreamweaver instead of spending a lot of effort arguing Flash’s role on the web. Remember these are just 2 businesses competing for your dollar. Don’t get your idealism mixed up with their capitalism.

By: SmartyP

SmartyP — Fri, 07 May 2010 20:36:10 +0000

Great interview, very level headed and looking at the big-picture of what Apple is doing and what Adobe is doing.

By: mturner

mturner — Fri, 07 May 2010 18:13:13 +0000

Really good interview, Kevin provides such a balanced, rational perspective. Apple’s market lead right now is really making it tough for companies with a big investment in Flash. If some amazing Android-based devices start hitting the market, the dynamic will turn. Right now it’s a difficult and expensive position for Flash developers.

By: spacefrog

spacefrog — Thu, 06 May 2010 20:28:14 +0000

A very welcomed fresh and serious interview and great talk. I hope this video serves as kind of an eyeopener to the swarm of Apple acolytes listening to the huge load of nonsense Steve Jobs babbles about when he is getting bored…

By: Milan Orszagh

Milan Orszagh — Thu, 06 May 2010 20:19:13 +0000

Very well said, cool interview.

On a side note – that’s the worst video player I have seen.

By: rumori

rumori — Thu, 06 May 2010 18:08:51 +0000

Thanks Mike, that was interesting.

By: Joe

Joe — Thu, 06 May 2010 16:09:52 +0000

heheheh… “Adobe doesn’t judge what developers are releasing or their contents”

By: venkatnarayanB

venkatnarayanB — Thu, 06 May 2010 14:30:30 +0000

I love Adobe. Adobe never kills any technology, rather they help other technologies to grow. Flash is always ahead of HTML, but Adobe’s move to create HTML5 authoring tools shows how open minded Adobe is and also they are so confident about flash. FLASH and HTML will always stay together. Thanks Mike.