Flash is one of those things on the internet that’s been a source of irritation ever since it first appeared. From the perspective of a programmer, it’s bulky and difficult to "mold" into what you want it to do. From the perspective of the user, it’s "That thing that makes me wait to load just to view it, and when it does can potentially crash my browser."
Speaking of crashing, Flash does not play favorites on which operating system it likes to crash browsers on. From time to time, something will go wrong with the plug-in and completely lock up the browser, forcing a restart of the program. Not even Linux is safe from this.
If you’re saying, "I can load any Flash page just fine", try it with multiple tabs. Chances are it’s the only type of content that will make your browser slow down and even potentially choke, even with the most powerful computer. Does that mean your computer sucks? Not in the slightest. It’s just Flash.
Flash is so absolutely hated by some that there are specific browser add-ons to block it. This is because there is no manual way (nor has there ever been) to turn Flash off without uninstalling it. I’m not kidding.
Unfortunately we are forced to use Flash for video on the internet, both for viewing and broadcasting. Every video sharing web site is chock full of it. Every broadcasting site like Stickam, BlogTV, Ustream, Livestream (formerly Mogulus) and so on are also full of Flash.
When I produce videos for PCMech, I don’t use Flash because I want to. It’s because I have to. Personally I would love to switch over to WMV or MOV format as both are far superior to Flash-based FLV. But the problem is that one is Windows specific and the other for the Mac. Mac people hate Windows Media Player. Windows people hate QuickTime. FLV is the only one that can play no matter what OS you’re using because everybody has the Flash plugin installed.
When Dave (owner of PCMech) produces videos, he also has constant arguments with the Flash video format because it’s literally a crapshoot on whether or not the encoding will work correctly. Bear in mind Dave uses Macs. I use Windows. And we both curse Flash almost every time either of us use it.
Ironically, Flash is now having the exact same problem it did years ago, but this time on smartphone devices.
The original problem was that many computers weren’t powerful enough to run the Flash plugin. Now they are, but only because our processors and memory are well along enough to handle Flash’s bloat.. even though it still locks up browsers from time to time.
Smartphone browsers on the other hand simply aren’t powerful enough to handle "full" Flash. Yes, it can handle a watered-down version, but it’s a repeat of the same problem that happened in Web 1.0 days.
Is Flash the worst thing on the internet? Yes. Slow to program, slow to load, crash-happy, incompatible with many mobile browsers.. the list goes on and on.
Since we’re all forced to use Flash to view "rich content" on the internet, how long is it going to take for Adobe to release a version that isn’t so unbelievably crappy?
My guess is not any time soon.
What’s your opinion?
Do you think Flash is the worst thing on the internet?
I haven’t had any of the problems you describe — and I’m using a five-year-old computer. I browse with several tabs open and frequently visit sites with flash videos.
I agree Rich Menga that Flash is the worst. It uses too much of your computers resources. I wish there was an alternative. Gordintoronto, check the task manager while watching streaming video (like ustream) for cpu usage and you will see what we mean.
Considering the selling price of Flash ($0), I’d say it works as well as can be expected. When Adobe comes up with a pay version that’s still bloated and buggy, then I can join the catcalls!
In my opinion, the only way to improve flash and pull it out of this “black hole”, is to make it open source. That way, programmers from around the world would be able to take a look at the code and improve it, once and for all.
Where to begin. From a web perspective Flash is one of the easiest to “mold”. Try getting Java or Silverlight to do the same thing as quickly or effectively. Good luck. If you have to wait to load a Flash file in this day and age it’s a failure of the programmer not Flash. If it causes your browser to crash it’s due to the same issue. I’m far more likely to have my browser crash from poorly written Javascript or php than Flash. Suggesting that you load multiple tabs with flash content is ridiculous. You’re loading multiple instances of an audio/visual program. Open multiple copies of media player or quicktime and see how well your browser is doing.
If you think wmv and quicktime are superior streaming methods you’re out of your mind. Video formats? Sure. Streaming formats? Not even close. The reason you have to use Flash to watch video on every sharing site is because they SWITCHED from the other inferior options. I’ve converted hundreds of videos and have never had the encoding fail. Youtube does it on the fly thousands of times a day with little problem.
Face it, smart phones aren’t very smart. Unless you get a powerful model it wont play video very well either. That’s what the “full” version of Flash is for; a full audio/visual experience. Adobe gave us the “lite” version so that when you want make a more simple app for the more simple phones you can.
Is Flash perfect? No, not by a long shot. Nothing ever is. Particularly on the internet’s ever shifting landscape. Most of your post is shooting the messenger for the message though. Blame the lousy programmers for the lousy product, not the platform on which it’s written. I’m surprised you didn’t blame intro animations on Adobe while you were at it. There are a lot of people out there that dislike Flash and I’ve never felt the need to respond, because to one degree or another they’ve had good points as to the problems associated with the platform. You have none. Usability, accessability and security. Those are real problems.
When will your view of Flash not be narrow-minded and unbelievably crappy?
My guess is not any time soon.
@ Saverio – the swf specifications are open and a number of third party programs exist to both create and play them, but keeping up with the evolution of the format leaves the plugins far behind. Check out Gnash.
You must be a programmer. Lost you after the first paragraph because you waffled on for several hundred words.
Thanks for the comment anyway.. whatever it said.
Great post, I found it interesting and easy to follow. Thanks!