There’s been much discussion about what the future holds for Flash. The recent spat with Apple has continued to stoke the debate with many commentators predicting that the end is nigh for the platform. I think that this couldn’t be further from the truth and in fact this multi faceted piece of technology is going to continue to be at the forefront of the web’s development for the next ten years.

Here are some reason why.

1. Video streaming

Video is without doubt the most significant media consumed on the web today and its importance will continue to grow and grow. Flash has long been the best platform for playing video and web users love it. It’s a medium that is becoming ever more accessible as a new generation of compact high def cameras hits the market.

HTML5 is also capable of playing video and it’s for this reason that it is seen as a competitor to Flash but that is as far as the competition goes. Flash is the only platform that is able to stream video and provide a facility for live broadcasting and teleconferencing. HTML5 cannot do this.

If the future of the web is video then the future is Flash.


2. Input support

When it comes to capturing video websites like Facebook, YouTube and MySpace invariably rely upon Flash or a specialist desktop app to fulfill this function. These sites also use file uploaders that add data both quickly and in volume. Again in Flash.

The latest crop of augmented reality sites that merge real and virtual imagery use video that has been captured by a device’s camera and complete this process in Flash. Flash is also at the sharp end of touch screen technology and has developed a full support package for this growing area.

The next few years are going to be hugely exciting with Flash continuing to be at the forefront of Input Support technology.

Flash 10.1 is looking very excting for the mobile market and this video shows the raw power of Flash 10.1 against the Html 5 canvas.

I've been keeping a very close eye on HTML 5 for some time now with all the hype about it's going to kill Flash off for good. Apple has recently released some demos to showcase the new HTML 5 capabilities and i had a look a couple of days ago. My first impressions were lets say a little disappointing as i believe HTML 5 is capable of so much more than what apple has showed.

I was doing this type of stuff in flash 8 and if this is all we have to look forward to from this new technology then the future is not so bright. Another interesting observation was that the HTML 5 demos only run on Safari! Steve Jobs has been shouting from the roof tops that it's an open platform yet they don't run on any other browser a part from Safari, even going as far as to not run on their own iphone either according to some reports.

I think there will always be room for both HTML 5 and Flash, but from what i've seen so far Flash has so much more power and flexibility than HTML5. I think if Apple really want to show off HTML 5 maybe they should hire some talented flash develoeprs to show what HTML 5 can really do...

Several people have been making assertions that most Flash sites will not work properly on touch-based devices because these sites use rollovers or hovers for things like effects and navigation. Well I put together this little video together showing that Flash sites do indeed work the way you would expect since the Flash Player dispatches rollover events even on a touch screen.

This video is aimed at clearing up the misinformation surrounding Flash rollover events and touch devices. The assertion that most Flash sites need to be rewritten is absolutely false. But please grab a tablet and see for yourself. I tried every FWA Site of the Month and they all worked fine.

Source: http://theflashblog.com/