I think, that one possibility to create fun applications without Flash is use HTML5 canvas mixed audio&video element, but we need good Javascript framework for this.

"The only notable exception was the Fairplay drm added to the opensource AAC. And with personal urging from Steve that has since been dropped by the music companies."

Personal urging? PERSONAL URGING?

Criminy, can you not spot what was nothing more than a well-used PR (lies and spin) opportunity when it kicks you in the butt?

What an utter pile of a statement! You obviously (like so many other blinkered fanbois) blindly swallow anything St Eve of Jobs spews (un)to his followers.

It is becoming more obvious that there are a growing number of brain-farting mouth-breathers who lap up any and all spin and deluded self-righteousness that the walking hypocrite puts forwards.

What scraes me, is that you lot walk amongst us. I sometimes feel seriously unsafe knowing that there are people like you, operating machinery and driving cars near me.

"Job's Mob"?!

Sounds rather shill-like ... Apple are no more or less proprietary than any other company - at the moment they have a competitive advantage - it's no wonder they are striving to keep it after the way Adobe abandoned them in the 90's.

I've came across a few web sites that seem to think they can make their customers experience fun by having a 100% Flash based web site.

But these web sites are shooting their own foot off.

Why?

Because the search engines can no longer word search their content and so these sites can no longer be found by using Google or Bing.

It's just plain daft to do this with current web search technology. But these sites still do it.

Don't they want to get new customers?

Is the format that Adobe uses for Flash video. It is covered by 129 patents owned by a large range of companies. Apple owns one. Microsoft about 7. Philips and LG are big contributors, as is the Fraunhofer institute, Panasonic, Sony, JVC, Toshiba etc. Apple isn't gaining significantly from the adoption of H.264.

The specification is openly documented and anyone can write a H.264 CODEC. If they can figure out a faster or better way of implementing the spec then they'll have a market. They will need to pay licence fees if they are in a county that allows software patents, but they are otherwise unrestricted.

Flash is a closed format. It isn't documented by Adobe and you can't write your own flash player. If you could then Apple would probably have written their own by now and it wouldn't be an issue. As it is Apple have chosen to to let developers write in C, C++ or Objective C and compile using an IDE that they give away for free. It's hardly a huge barrier to entry.

Erm, Webkit was derived from Konqueror's KHTML engine. As the engine was release under the GPL they have had to return modified code back to the authors and release source code of the engine that it has modified to anyone that asks for it.

OpenGL originated from SGI, And Darwin, based on closed source Nextstep, and open source BSD, which is licenced.

@ veggiedude

Actually, I think that you'll find that a lot of people complained A LOT about not being able to freely create MP3 files, as the program required a licence so the cost had to be passed on in the form of a cost for MP3 creating programs. Anyone else remember all the articles describing how to use Audacity with the LAME MP3 compatible codec to create MP3s?

So licensed technology is a bar to people being able to create freely, as it imposes a cost to creating commercial works.

Flash is not an open standard; it was a lie for Adobe to say it was.

The point is not that Flash is proprietary, but that it is crappy software on the Macs. Apple has taken the position that the computing world will be better off when Flash is in the boneyard.

This is risky for Apple, but Apple has led the way in obsoleting other ancient technologies. Do you remember the fuss about abandoning the Floppy disk?

It is all about how `Pot calls kettle black`.

You just can not get, do you?

"WHOOSH"

@Taomyn "afaik H.264 is not an open standard either"

H.264 is as 'open' as is MP3 format... but no one ever complained about MP3's before. In fact, they complain when MP3 is *not* supported.

Apple is stating a fact, and he author is a nutcase for thinking otherwise.

When you attack someone please have your fact straight. H.264 is not proprietary everybody can create their own H.264 codecs and sell it. They will have to pay licensesfees, but they can do it. It the think they can make a better codec than the ones that are all ready in the market. Nobody but Adobe can fix flash and they are doing a very poor job on all platforms but windows.

Afaik, well you're wrong. Engage brain before commenting. H.264 is an open format, Microsoft and Apple and many other have contributed to it. It does have licensing fees, but that doesn't stop it being an open format. It's not controlled by any one company and anyone can contribute to it. It's is free for non-commercial use. Btw no-one is using ogg theora for video seriously because it hasn't been fully patent tested to see if has infringing technology in it. At least with h.264 you can pay a license and not worry about being sued down the track. And with so much support h.264 is a much better codec. Which is why YouTube uses it exclusively now.

Apple fully supports open formats. And has open sourced many of it's core technologies. Webkit is one example. Originally a internal port of konqeror and then vastly expanded it now powers many other products. It runs chrome and the new RIM browser. In fact you'd be hard pressed to find any apple product that didn't use open source software. From PDF and OpenGL for display to html5 for iTunes and mobile me. The most obvious example being the open sourced osx of Darwin. The only notable exception was the Fairplay drm added to the opensource AAC. And with personal urging from Steve that has since been dropped by the music companies.

Apple has no reason for proprietary software for lock in, they make their money from hardware. It's in their interest to support open source because it makes it easier to integrate Macs with other systems. It also means that apple will never be dependent on another companies technology again. Ie thanks for ten years of crappy windows ports adobe ;)

I will partially side with Apple on this. Yes Apple are dictatorial hypocrites, have their own proprietary formats, are slack on maintaining licensed run-times (e.g. Java), sell overpriced tat, and block valuable stuff, but they are right, that Flash is unstable, insecure, slow, and proprietary.

Just look at Mozilla having to add process sandboxes for Flash and other non-native plugins, in the next Firefox version, because non-native plugins can, and do, crash or hang Firefox; obviously this is much worse on a portable device.

"Jobs' Mob was better off when it was saying that Flash is buggy than it is presenting itself as open.

With statements like this Apple reveals that it really is deluded about its business model in the IT industry."

Oh, well, right. I guess that's why Apple stock has been sinking over the past year.

It's about the money, Nick. You. Just. Don't. Get. It.

@Taomyn - Correct, in fact H.264's controlling parties are MS and Apple - which makes Apple even more deluded!

Only open source codecs afaik:

VP8
Ogg Theora

Like any other company - including Adobe - Apple support "open standards" when they have no choice.

After all, its not like "Apple Markup Language" is about to replace [X]HTML. So, since theyre going to have to support HTML5 anyway, they might as well be seen to make a virtue of it.

On the other paw, most sane people already hate Flash - or "Flash (spit)", as I prefer to think of it. So if Apple come out against it, they are in with a shout when it comes to replacing it.

Ideally, theyd like to replace it with a proprietary "standard" of their own, of course. If that succeeds, expect all the fuss about "open standards" to die down *real* quick.

Failing that, theyd like to replace it with an "open standard", on the grounds that if they cant win, at least they can make their enemy lose.

Fairs fair, since Adobe would do the same to them given the chance.

And though Im no great fan of Apple and all their hype and duplicity, anything that puts a nail in Flash (spit)s coffin *must* be a Good Thing.

afaik H.264 is not an open standard either

Compare that to Adobe and their semi-open formats. The specs are there, but if you dare to use them they'll (illegally) DMCA the shit out of you.