Could Internet Explorer 9 signal the end for Adobe Flash?
Could the next version of Internet Explorer be the final nail in the coffin for Adobe Flash? This week, Microsoft unveiled a preview version of Internet Explorer 9, with some significant new features. Perhaps the most important was expanded support for HTML 5, the next generation of the markup language that underpins the World Wide Web.
The Internet Explorer 9 Platform Preview supports a number of features within the next generation of HTML, which hasn't even yet been ratified. These include scalable vector graphics (which make it easier to create line-based drawings), and perhaps most importantly, video and audio embedded in web pages without the need for a separate Adobe plug-in.
Many web pages that serve up video and audio features today use Adobe's traditionally popular Flash plug-in to make it work. The problem with this system is that, for whatever reason, it is inherently buggy. Apple CEO Steve Jobs reportedly cited this as one reason for not supporting it on the long-anticipated iPad tablet device, which ships next month. Just today, I had a web page crash my browser after trying to load a video rendered in Flash. The browser even told me that the Adobe plug-in was the offending piece of code that brought it to a halt.
The HTML 5 support in IE 9 will also be hardware supported. If you have a powerful graphics card, the browser will be able to use all of the processor's computer and muscle to speed up rendering of HTML 5 features such as video.
I personally wouldn't be sorry to see Flash go. There are only two things that I see it being useful for today: rendering video, and drawing line graphs (Google Finance uses Flash to draw the line graphs of stock charts, for example). Both of those things can easily be accomplished with HTML 5. All of the things that Flash advocates say HTML 5 can't do, I don't need. Overbearing web interfaces with whizzy menu bars and rotating globes are a thing of the past.
Right now, IE 9 is still in preview mode, meaning that it doesn't have all of the functionality that you might want to browser (such as a back button, for example). But brave users can download the software now, and at least test it out, as the company continues to perfect it.
We won't see Adobe Flash disappear overnight - and astute observers might note that Microsoft has its own multimedia plug-in technology to tout, called Silverlight. But, as mainstream browsers begin increasing native support for alternatives, Adobe should be worried. If it wants to continue its dominance in the browser plug-in market, it should start thinking about making its code more secure, and less bloated. And the sooner, the better.
Danny Bradbury, MSN Tech & Gadgets
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Posted by: Derek | Mar 21, 2010 4:09:36 PM
Ummm does anybody on this planet actually use IE?
Posted by: Martin | Mar 21, 2010 11:11:36 PM
Writtent by a MSN writer, it loses a bit of credibility. Firefox is always ahead of IE in most areas. IE 8 was supposed to be the thing, Firefox 3 (old version) is still way faster, more stable and more secure. Only reason I still use IE sometimes is because of Lotus Domino, one of the worst web-based email servers, imposed on me...
As for the end of Flash by IE, I'll believe when I see it.
Posted by: Danny Bradbury | Mar 22, 2010 12:04:34 AM
Martin, FWIW I'm a freelance writer, and I use Firefox and Chrome on a Mac :-). That said, IE is still the most popular browser on the web, according to figures from Net Applications, IE still nets over 55% of the browser market share. That alone give it incredible punch in terms of influencing web development standards.
Posted by: Mosab | Mar 22, 2010 6:03:31 PM
I am still one of those people on this planet who use IE, and I love it. I hate, not dislike, but actually hate FireFox. The reason is nostalgia, familiarity of use, and just to spite the Firefox dorks. By the way, my brother uses FireFox and always grilling me to use FF. Btw, I also use Bing, not google.