Is Flash as evil as Apple say? RIM disagree

Adobe and Apple have not seen eye to eye for a long time – not since Steve Jobs went public about his personal loathing for Flash anyway. Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen was at the Web 2.0 conference and refused to be drawn into the debate again.

While he refuted rumours that he was pushing for a merger with Microsoft, he was keen to point out Adobe's commitment to Google Android, RIM and HP webOS. Many of the press were still trying to draw him into the Apple/Adobe debate.

As most of you already know, Apple have been rather public in their negative commentary regarding the Adobe Flash platform. Steve Jobs said it destroyed battery life, killed page load speeds and was even a security risk.

Many of us live with Flash daily, it is a highly interactive platform that when used correctly can be a wonderful way to enhance web pages and content. That said, when in the wrong hands it can be both painful and irritating to many people, myself included.

I have an iPad, and find that I rarely miss Flash, many sites are using other methods now to display video content (youtube) and interactive webpages. Sure, there are times when the lack of support can destroy your experience, such as last night when I was browsing the Dell website and wanted to look at colour scheme options on their laptops. I ended up having to turn off the iPad and browse again on a laptop, not ideal.

The video above shows the BlackBerry Rim, against the Apple iPad. One with flash support, and one without. While it is difficult to take one video as a complete overview of rendering performance (especially when the video is presented by a RIM employee) it would certainly indicate that the Apple iPad isn't the fastest (or best) rendering device on the market, even against another tablet which has to support Adobe's Flash on the same pages.

Battery life on devices such as the Apple MacBook Air is said to be lowered by as much as 35% when flash is enabled, so perhaps there is some justification on this level. We would love to hear your views on this matter.

KitGuru says: Flash or not? Cue Queen music

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