Is Flash really going to die?

A couple a weeks ago I attended to the Web 2.0 expo, I did it for a few reasons, one was to learn from people, its incredible what you can learn just by talking with people in this kind of events, but also a very important reason was to know what is going on with the UI technologies today, what new companies are using, is people really implementing HTML5 features, what is the feeling about Flash/Flex etc. I was not surprise to me that many people are still relying in Flash in one or another way, some people choose Flex for different reasons, Video, more interactive UI, faster development, easy deployment, real time data, etc.

Many people tend to compare them and say that HTML5 will replace Flash, many of those are people that have never done any Flex/Flash application and probably don’t have the enough knowledge about Flash technologies to make that bold statement.

Before I say anything, I have to say that I like HTML very much, but I like Flash/Flex too. One thing is clear, “free and standard” technology is most of the time better than “proprietary standard” technology, but as always, your requirements should drive the decision of picking the right technology. Sometimes when you are trying to do something that “free and standard” can’t do, you can always consider a well accepted and distributed technology that gives you much more.

HTML5
-Is much more than just a structure markup language (currently there is a debate about HTML5 is the specification name only and still want to keep the name of HTML only), most of the time implicitly includes CSS, Javascrip, jQuery, Ajax, etc.
-Its currently W3C is currently in a draft format and constantly changing (Adobe, Google, Microsoft, Apple are participating).
- The big changes are:
- , , .
-Enriched semantics.
-Offline storage, database.
- More: http://www.xibl.com/web-development/html5-features-tips-and-techniques-you-%20must-know/

Ajax
At this point Ajax is a very stable and well accepted technology implemented successfully on many libraries. Mostly used on a HTML presentation but also used on Adobe Air.

Flash
Is a complete platform, not only a technology to build applications and not directly comparable to HTML.
It uses ActionScript that is ECMA262 based dialect for declaring dynamic behavior.
Includes side channel communications like RTMP.

They both things that the other one don’t have, and they both have cons.

For example:
Flash       HTML
Anyone can provide input?                      Yes         Yes
Standard can change? (Drop API)          Yes         Yes(Web SQL)
Vendor advantage or control                   Yes          Not likely- Possible
Consistent implementations                   (+) Likely (-) Likely
Speed of Innovation                                  Faster       Slower
Current state of innovation                     Active        Active

The truth is that HTML5 and Flash should not be compared at this point, HTML5 specification does not cover all the features that Flash provides, so Flash is still going to be the preferred technology for some kind of applications, and HTML5 new features will take a few years to be adopted by all the browsers (http://html5readiness.com/). There are enough applications out there and enough different requirements that both can live together and help each other.

I like to finish with a say from John Nack:
“This isn’t about one technology (HTML, Flash) vs. another; it’s about putting customers, and the solutions to their problems, ahead of any technology.”

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