Nathan CrauseMusings of a Software Developer

Since the Apple vs. Adobe over Flash issue flared up, I've seen it in several places now that HTML 5 supposedly has the capacity to completely void the need for embeddable content, such as Flash.

The problem I have with this is that the arguments focus 100% on video streaming.

What about gaming? There's a reason "World of Warcraft" wasn't developed using HTML 5 + JavaScript - it would be dismally slow, and not support 3D. However, even if we don't use such an extreme example, what about solutions for file uploading? I've been in several cases where the need for uploading entire directories was critical, so at one place we used SWFUpload, and at another we used my own custom Java Applet uploader.

There are plenty of other examples of this. For several years I've been involved in very high-end real-time encryption within a browser - what are the possibilities of having JavaScript perform complex calculations in 1024-bit prime numbers? Never in a million years, folks. The processing power is simply not there (even if JavaScript could deal with such massive integers).

This is the crux of the problem - it seems everyone is ignoring all the other places where using Flash or Java are still a requirement. HTML and JavaScript can never ever ever ever provide all the functionality that embedded content can do because of security considerations (aside from all the other technological limitations). 3D API for JavaScript? Don't think it's in anyone pipeline. Complex audio controls? Not a consideration at the moment.

Unless HTML 5 + JavaScript can do everything a full-blown desktop application can do (something which Flash comes close to, and Java Applets fully deliver), then people like Steve Jobs and other tech pundits needs to keep their misguided opinions to themselves.