In case you missed it, 2011 is not only the year that the predominant acquisition medium for motion pictures, celluloid, died -- it is also the year that Flash video, the predominant distribution medium for internet video, bit the dust. Yes, film and flash will be around for years, but active development on both are dead, and instead of a bright future their outlook is none more black. In the case of Flash the death knell sounded when Adobe announced they were killing off the mobile version of Flash and then adding Flash on TVs to the dead pool as well. HTML5 FTW.
Just today Google enabled 1080p HTML5 playback on youTube (join the HTML5 trial here), and they've also released a conversion tool to allow for conversion from Flash Pro animations to HTML5 (if it works flawlessly I'd be shocked, though). HTML5 is undeniably the future, but is it ready? On my Hackintosh, 1080P HTML5 video looks great, but the controls are sometimes buggy. Of course, HTML5 is about more than straightforward video. And Adobe is openly acknowledging HTML5 is the future:
The decision to stop development of the Flash Player plugin for mobile browsers was part of a larger strategic shift at Adobe. One which includes a greater shift in focus toward HTML5, as well as the Adobe Creative Cloud and the services that it provides.
This can be seen as a victory for Apple, who famously banned Flash on iOS in favor of HTML5. There's even a movement called Occupy Flash, whose goal is to rid the world of Flash by asking users to uninstall the plugin.
So, what do you say? Will you miss Flash video at all, or good riddance?
