Should Windows Phone Get Support for Flash?

[Scorpus 208]

And? That makes it superior? Forget Linux and Mac... as long as it runs great on Windows, it's good to go. If it can't run efficiently on multiple platforms, that shows a major limitation of the product.

I find it kind of funny that you immediately took my simple observation and thought immediately that it was some sort of "Flash is superior" argument.

Of course if it can't run on any other platforms it's a limitation. But because it runs fairly decently on Windows, gets the job done in most circumstances and coupled with the fact that there is no alternative that works as well with the same feature set at this point, makes it obvious that Flash is ran on the vast majority of computers

[KevinN206 46]

Well that's strange. I have a Samsung Vibrant running Android 2.2 (custom ROM with Voodoo) and my experience has been very smooth. You must be doing something wrong

I can't imagine how I am doing something wrong for the phone to be laggy other than using apps from the Market. How am I, as a user, know what is causing this lag? My brother has an identical phone, and his also lags as well although not as bad. This was on the stock ROM, so I also tried custom ROMs with Voodoo lag fix. Unfortunately, it helps but not a lot.

[bjoswald 210]

I think they should. Just because HTML5 is the future, there's no reason to not enjoy the present. Love it or hate it, Flash is responsibile for most dynamic content on the web. Without it, you may as well be reading text the whole time or just listening to a video.

[tsupersonic 1,841]

Flash works wonderful on my Droid Incredible (which has the same specs as some of the WP7 devices). I'm looking to move to either to a Pre3 or a WP7 device for my next phone, and WP7 needs to step up its game. Flash would be nice to have, if not it will be lacking compared to Android and WebOS.

[rajputwarrior 280]

And LOL at someone saying Silverlight + HTML5 LOL.. Silverlight is so much worse than Flash but hey.. it's ok if it is used on Xbox or WP7 for example.

except silverlight doesn't run like ass on OSX... i was really hoping silverlight would have penetrated the market better. i really like it and it performs a lot better then Flash on OSX. And maybe flash is used on 90 percent of PCs because there has never been an alternative?

[BajiRav 2,137]

Not having flash SUCKS

true but flash sucking the life out my computers sucks equally bad.

[neo158 281]

What would be nice is to have an "on demand" mode like Android has, then it won't be running all the time.

[chrisl 8]

I don't miss it as much as i thought i would but it is annoying when i use some sites that have flash videos (BBC News etc) and it says my browser is out of date. Would definitely be an advantage to have it.

[REM2000 145]

The choice is always a winner.

Personally im not a fan of flash on the desktop or mobile devices. I use Chrome with the flashblock and it's noticeably quicker when surfing, from my Quad Core to my Netbook, surfing is just faster.

However if there was an option either in the settings or on the actual page, like flashblock where upon loading a flash page in the browser you click to activate the flash container.

[lalalawawawa 59]

Silverlight is so much worse than Flash

How exactly is Silverlight worse than Flash?

[BajiRav 2,137]

How exactly is Silverlight worse than Flash?

because it uses a much more elegant and powerful programming language and as a browser plugin, it doesn't use the whole CPU...not using 100% CPU is wasting available resources!

[lalalawawawa 59]

because it uses a much more elegant and powerful programming language and as a browser plugin, it doesn't use the whole CPU...not using 100% CPU is wasting available resources!

Had to read that a few times. :rofl:

[George P 5,573]

because it uses a much more elegant and powerful programming language and as a browser plugin, it doesn't use the whole CPU...not using 100% CPU is wasting available resources!

Hahhaha.

On-topic I think MS said the IE9 mobile will NOT have any sort of plug-in/add-on system or something like that. So I dunno, MS also said they're not stopping adobe from making flash for WP7. I don't quite get what the hold up is but It could just be that adobe, like many other devs, are waiting for all the new APIs that will come with Mango because as much as flash helps users to view content it's also a pain in the ass for MS and what they're trying to do with the platform. They will probably run any flash player for WP7 through the testing ringer to get performance and battery life, not to mention security up to a high level.

[Nexus- 14]

LOL this argument is so funny.. The point is that the end-user DOESN'T KNOW he's missing much in terms of multimedia content not that he doesn't care.. you are forced to go visit sites that only work with your iOS device.. It's not the same thing. And Apple deliberately took out that blue cube so users might miss that there's some content missing there and wonder what's wrong with the site and not that there's something wrong with their device.

Actually they do know. If they go to many a website that uses flash for its menus or something, I know its not a large portion of the internet but an iOS user will run into trouble at least once in the 2 years they own a phone.

What really scares me is if apple puts ARM in the next macbook air, then its bye bye flash on the desktop too.

[Elliott 235]

because it uses a much more elegant and powerful programming language and as a browser plugin, it doesn't use the whole CPU...not using 100% CPU is wasting available resources!

I :heart: this post.

[Prince781 36]

What really scares me is if apple puts ARM in the next macbook air, then its bye bye flash on the desktop too.

And when that happens it'll be bye bye to Mac on the desktop too. :D

[tanjiajun_34 23]

I would say later.... When smart phones are strong enough to handle it smoothly.

[Elliott 235]

And when that happens it'll be bye bye to Mac on the desktop too. :D

Microsoft is making Windows 8 run on ARM as well. Your point?

[George P 5,573]

Microsoft is making Windows 8 run on ARM as well. Your point?

His point was that Apple switching the Mac to it's mobile hardware would mean they'll also kick off flash from there like they have on the iPhone and iPad. So no flash on MacOSX which is a desktop OS means no more Mac on the desktop.

I doubt Windows 8 on ARM wouldn't support flash, hell in the end adobe has to update it's software to run better on ARM anyways. But MS isn't going to block anything on Win8 for ARM hardware.

[Prince781 36]

Microsoft is making Windows 8 run on ARM as well. Your point?

Yeah, but Windows 8 will support Flash. I'm just saying that Apple removing Flash from their desktop OS (if they do) is not going to go well with the average consumer. Am I wrong?

[nub 181]

HTML5 is great, but flash is still going to be around for awhile. HTML5 isn't even standard across major browsers yet.

[BajiRav 2,137]

Yeah, but Windows 8 will support Flash. I'm just saying that Apple removing Flash from their desktop OS (if they do) is not going to go well with the average consumer. Am I wrong?

AFAIK, OS X doesn't ship with flash anymore but users can easily install flash if they want. I guess as long as Adobe builds an ARM version, it should be non-event?

[norseman 256]

I for one would like the flash option. Ability to disable it in the IE9/other supported browser(s) - should WP7 have FFX or OPERA as browsers in the future.

It can be useful for some people. Being able to turn it off should satisfy those who do not want to use it. More options = win for the user!

[migo 105]

Flash websites are the most annoying thing ever. I've got No(t)Script installed on Chromium/Opera/FireFox to prevent it from automatically loading, and if I can help it I don't even have it installed. I have the same hatred of Java apps and avoid having JRE installed whenever possible. Not having flash is great, it eliminates all the annoying ads. I'd like to see Microsoft build in script blocking to make the web even less annoying, rather than building in flash to make it more annoying.

[Touchadowns 85]

I honestly don't know what websites people are going to constantly that are flash-based and are leading people to clamor for it on their mobile. The only flash I ever see is in the form of annoying ads and I can do without those while mobile browsing.