As the battle over Flash’s very existence rages between Apple and Adobe, we took a moment to reflect on our interview with FWA from two years ago.
In one corner is Steve Jobs. The contender: Adobe. Their stances are each pretty clear: Jobs says HTML5 is the final nail in the Flash coffin. Adobe says “guess again, Stevo.” In the shadow of this battle royale, it was interesting for us to go back and read our interview with the FWA, often referred to as the most popular website award program in the world.
Setting the context for our response. The year was 2008, and creative companies like ours didn’t yet have quite as many issues to juggle. Facebook and Twitter hadn’t yet permeated every conversation regarding digital marketing as it does now. Many fewer companies had their own YouTube channels and the whole mobile browsing scene wasn’t as integrated into the marketing mix as it is now. Flash was still seen as the tool of choice for delivering great custom experiences.
The question from our interview that stands out to us now is “Do you think Flash is here to stay?” Our response:
“Watch any movie set in the future and you’ll see that the world expects the design community to give it slick, highly customized graphic experiences.
If Adobe can continue to provide the necessary support and info creative firms need to sell their clients Flash-based solutions while reducing some of the barrier reasons against employing the technology (accessibility mainly), then we think Flash will stick around for the long haul. And if they don’t, some future competitor will.”
So, why all this hub-bub between Apple and Adobe?
Among all the reasons Apple doesn’t allow Flash on its iPhones, iPods and iPads, Jobs takes issue with the “openness” of Flash. In many ways, we have to agree, in principle, on Apple’s concerns on this subject. After all, our own belief in open technologies has led us to adopt open-source development process. That belief is sometimes countered by a specific clients’ need for the most rich, custom expression of their brand possible. We approach the decision to “Flash or not Flash” on a case-by-case basis. To the best of our ability, we take a style- and technology-agnostic view in our work.
Job’s asserts Adobe’s Flash products are 100% proprietary. In many ways, this is a pot calling a kettle black. But, don’t get us wrong, both Adobe and Apple are probably the two most beloved brands in our office. We feel a little like a objective onlooker watching as two of our best friends duke it out on the playground.
So where do we stand on this same question over two years later?
The underlying sentiment remains unchanged. The world expects great online experiences. In the march to win the attention of audiences, there will always be brands that associate themselves with experimental design and development techniques. Whoever wins this argument in the end, Adobe or Apple, this expectation of new online experiences will survive in tact. What it means for those of us in this industry is that we’ll continue to find ways to deliver rich experiences that wow audiences. From a longer-term perspective, our industry’s innate urge to innovate may take us in many new directions as the technology of the internet changes, but it will never let us down.
Great creativity, like life, finds a way.
Read the OFC FWA interview from May 1, 2008.
Read Steve Jobs’ open letter, “Thoughts on Flash”.
Photo credit: FWA wallpaper design by Jonas Eriksson, Horby, Sweden. Download this and other awesome wallpapers at FWA’s site.
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