Adobe testing optimized version of Flash for Apple's MacBook Air
Adobe's chief executive revealed this week that his company is currently testing an optimized version of Flash built specifically for Apple's newly released MacBook Air.
In an interview at the Web 2.0 Summit this week, Shantanu Narayen said that Adobe is looking to improve battery life on the MacBook Air with a new custom build of Adobe Flash, currently in beta testing in the company's labs. According to Engadget, he noted that battery life performance depends on hardware acceleration.
"When we have access to hardware acceleration, we've proven that Flash has equal or better performance on every platform," he said.
His comments come after testing of the new MacBook Air found that ditching Flash improved battery life by two hours. The new notebook gets six hours of uptime loading pages in the Safari browser, but that dips to four hours once Adobe Flash is installed.
Apple caused a stir in October, when it released its newly redesigned MacBook Air models, but shipped them without the Flash plugin preinstalled. Apple portrayed the change as an advantage to consumers, as leaving the user to install Flash ensures they have the latest version.
Apple and Adobe have been at odds in 2010, in a feud that gained considerable steam after Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs published an open letter criticizing Flash as old technology that is unfit for the modern era of mobile computers. Apple does not allow Flash onto its iOS-powered devices, including the iPhone and iPad.
Jobs also revealed that Flash is the number one reason for crashes on the Mac platform. For its part, Adobe fired back and said that any crashes of Flash in Mac OS X are not related to its software, but are instead the fault of Apple's operating system.
In an interview at the Web 2.0 Summit this week, Shantanu Narayen said that Adobe is looking to improve battery life on the MacBook Air with a new custom build of Adobe Flash, currently in beta testing in the company's labs. According to Engadget, he noted that battery life performance depends on hardware acceleration.
"When we have access to hardware acceleration, we've proven that Flash has equal or better performance on every platform," he said.
His comments come after testing of the new MacBook Air found that ditching Flash improved battery life by two hours. The new notebook gets six hours of uptime loading pages in the Safari browser, but that dips to four hours once Adobe Flash is installed.
Apple caused a stir in October, when it released its newly redesigned MacBook Air models, but shipped them without the Flash plugin preinstalled. Apple portrayed the change as an advantage to consumers, as leaving the user to install Flash ensures they have the latest version.
Apple and Adobe have been at odds in 2010, in a feud that gained considerable steam after Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs published an open letter criticizing Flash as old technology that is unfit for the modern era of mobile computers. Apple does not allow Flash onto its iOS-powered devices, including the iPhone and iPad.
Jobs also revealed that Flash is the number one reason for crashes on the Mac platform. For its part, Adobe fired back and said that any crashes of Flash in Mac OS X are not related to its software, but are instead the fault of Apple's operating system.
Comments
"...we've proven that Flash has equal or better performance on every platform," he said.
I have no idea what that is supposed to mean, in the context of having access to hardware acceleration or otherwise.
Are you serious?
If this doesn't tell you that Adobe is a fucking joke I don't know what does.
Public opinion against Flash has become a groundswell; what he's really trying to do here is stem the bleeding. Nothing he says can be trusted, so I wouldn't put too much faith in this little Engadget puff piece.
One helps its customers, the other its ego.
Jobs also revealed that Flash is the number one reason for crashes on the Mac platform. For its part, Adobe fired back and said that any crashes of Flash in Mac OS X are not related to its software, but are instead the fault of Apple's operating system.
That is such a lame excuse. Any developers out there think your boss would fall for that line?
You: "It's not my fault the XYZ app keeps crashing, it's the operating system's fault."
Boss: "Oh, ok, no problem. Take a vacation and will give you a raise."
What BS that Adobe blames MacOS X for flash crashes. I'm with Steve, current Flash on the Mac is old crap software.
-on my G4/1.25 MDD Tiger X.4.11
can anyone clear that up for me please ? I remember reading something about it ages ago .. but i'm not clear.
does adobe not have access to hardware acceleration? and why not ?
can anyone clear that up for me please ? I remember reading something about it ages ago .. but i'm not clear.
They have access. Didn't Steve Jobs call them lazy?
I have no idea what that is supposed to mean, in the context of having access to hardware acceleration or otherwise.
It means that enabling hardware acceleration improves battery life and performance on every platform. It's a terrible quote, but I think that's what it means.
Adobe do seem to be trying pretty hard to improve Flash for the Mac, especially considering the relatively small market and the fact that Apple would just as soon see Flash die.
They have access. Didn't Steve Jobs call them lazy?
Because Mac platform is small, Adobe decided to save effort by coding the program without using any HW acceleration for any Macs.
Now, it seems Adobe has given in. Jobs has won, clearly.
And what about non-video flash - how is hardware acceleration going to help there?
Adobe do seem to be trying pretty hard to improve Flash for the Mac, especially considering the relatively small market and the fact that Apple would just as soon see Flash die.
The market for the Flash plug-in on OSX may not be large (and OBTW the Adobe CS product split is about 50/50 between OSX and Windows), but this is a huge PR hit that Adobe takes over and over and over and over...
Narayen is doing everything in his power to counter that notion, because Adobe knows that it's that perception that will drive future development away from Flash. It's already happening now. Pathetic, but true.
Oh, and nice of Engadget to do everything in their power to try to give the guy the appearance of credibility...
That's the dumbest statement ever. As long as you have access to hardware acceleration Flash works great? Well as long as I carry around a beige box with a very long extension cord Flash would work great as well. If I ever want to drain my Macbook battery I just run two Hulu videos at the same time. 15 mins and it's dead. Flash optimized for Android, optimized for MBA, optimized mobile...they just don't get it.
Why would you run two Hulu videos at one time. What type of videos; movies or TV shows? For how long? windowed or full screen? Output to a HD TV? Volume level?
While I think that optimizing flash for a specific machine is silly, it is no more ridiculous that your statement regarding running two videos at once.
Hardware acceleration only helps video while it's playing. Perhaps Adobe can tell me why my fan comes on full, and the CPU usage skyrockets even while a video is paused, or has ended and still happens to be on screen.
And what about non-video flash - how is hardware acceleration going to help there?
While I don't care for flash, my Mac Mini's CPU (2.0Ghz dual core) usage for a flash video only increases (according to Activity Monitor) only about 10-12%. That really isn't skyrocketing.
If you want to someone to take you serious...don't use hyperbole.
Apple does not allow Flash onto its iOS-powered devices, including the iPhone and iPad.
I'm getting tired of reading this without stating what it is that Apple actually restricts on iOS devices.
APPLE DOESN'T ALLOW ANY 3RD PARTY RUN-TIME ENGINES ON IOS DEVICES!
This isn't some Flash only conspiracy that the media and blogosphere love to portray it as. For instance, Silverlight is also not allowed.
Developers *currently* do not have the ability to create any system-wide services or applications. All 3rd party code runs in a sandbox.