In the wake of Jobs' explanation to the world that Flash isn't shipping on iPhone because it's a slow pig and a resource hog, Adobe has apparently gotten interested in the Mac platform and given its Mac version of Flash some optimization loving. Approximately tripling the framerate Flash could render in Apple's browser is something Apple's customers might have liked to see, you know ... five years ago.
I have yet to figure out what Flash developers expect users to do with sites that depend on things like mouseovers that don't have an iPhone analog, but the prospect of enticing Apple to ship Flash instead of pushing the world toward honest-to-goodness standards by shipping an open alternative has improved somewhat with Adobe's efforts. Adobe's effort to support more platforms and to add GPU acceleration for some features doesn't really seem a substitute for an open standard that can be implemented anyplace and optimized by interested parties for any platform that may come into existence. But hey, since when do facts matter?
As always, interesting to see software politics in action. Also: regardless which way Apple goes on Flash, I applaud Steve Jobs for publicly embarrasing Adobe about the pathetic performance of its product, to the point Adobe was shamed into taking steps to make it suck less. This is the kind of ranting developers just don't listen to from me.
For example, most of iWork is still a pig. Performance, Apple! Have some pride!
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