2011年11月9日 星期三

Steve Jobs 去年對大家罵他不讓 Flash 上 iOS 後的反撥


 Steve Jobs 去年對大家罵他不讓 Flash 上 iOS 後的公開文章,在蘋果網站:“Thoughts on Flash”:

  “Apple has a long relationship with Adobe. In fact, we met Adobe’s founders when they were in their proverbial garage. Apple was their first big customer, adopting their Postscript language for our new Laserwriter printer. Apple invested in Adobe and owned around 20% of the company for many years. The two companies worked closely together to pioneer desktop publishing and there were many good times. Since that golden era, the companies have grown apart. Apple went through its near death experience, and Adobe was drawn to the corporate market with their Acrobat products. Today the two companies still work together to serve their joint creative customers – Mac users buy around half of Adobe’s Creative Suite products – but beyond that there are few joint interests.


I wanted to jot down some of our thoughts on Adobe’s Flash products so that customers and critics may better understand why we do not allow Flash on iPhones, iPods and iPads. Adobe has characterized our decision as being primarily business driven – they say we want to protect our App Store – but in reality it is based on technology issues. Adobe claims that we are a closed system, and that Flash is open, but in fact the opposite is true. Let me explain.


First, there's “Open”.


Adobe' s Flash products are 100% proprietary. They are only available from Adobe, and Adobe has sole authority as to their future enhancement, pricing, etc. While Adobe's Flash products are widely available, this does not mean they are open, since they are controlled entirely by Adobe and available only from Adobe. By almost any definition, Flash is a closed system.


Apple has many proprietary products too. Though the operating system for the iPhone, iPod and iPad is proprietary, we strongly believe that all standards pertaining to the web should be open. Rather than use Flash, Apple has adopted HTML5, CSS and JavaScript – all open standards. Apple's mobile devices all ship with high performance, low power implementations of these open standards. HTML5, the new web standard that has been adopted by Apple, Google and many others, lets web developers create advanced graphics, typography, animations and transitions without relying on third party browser plug-ins (like Flash). HTML5 is completely open and controlled by a standards committee, of which Apple is a member.


Apple even creates open standards for the web. For example, Apple began with a small open source project and created WebKit, a complete open-source HTML5 rendering engine that is the heart of the Safari web browser used in all our products. WebKit has been widely adopted. Google uses it for Android's browser, Palm uses it, Nokia uses it, and RIM (Blackberry) has announced they will use it too. Almost every smartphone web browser other than Microsoft's uses WebKit. By making its WebKit technology open, Apple has set the standard for mobile web browsers.


Second, there's the “full web”.


Adobe has repeatedly said that Apple mobile devices cannot access “the full web” because 75% of video on the web is in Flash. What they don’t say is that almost all this video is also available in a more modern format, H.264, and viewable on iPhones, iPods and iPads. YouTube, with an estimated 40% of the web's video, shines in an app bundled on all Apple mobile devices, with the iPad offering perhaps the best YouTube discovery and viewing experience ever. Add to this video from Vimeo, Netflix, Facebook, ABC, CBS, CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, ESPN, NPR, Time, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Sports Illustrated, People, National Geographic, and many, many others. iPhone, iPod and iPad users aren’t missing much video.


Another Adobe claim is that Apple devices cannot play Flash games. This is true. Fortunately, there are over 50,000 games and entertainment titles on the App Store, and many of them are free. There are more games and entertainment titles available for iPhone, iPod and iPad than for any other platform in the world.


Third, there's reliability, security and performance.


Symantec recently highlighted Flash for having one of the worst security records in 2009. We also know first hand that Flash is the number one reason Macs crash. We have been working with Adobe to fix these problems, but they have persisted for several years now. We don’t want to reduce the reliability and security of our iPhones, iPods and iPads by adding Flash.


In addition, Flash has not performed well on mobile devices. We have routinely asked Adobe to show us Flash performing well on a mobile device, any mobile device, for a few years now. We have never seen it. Adobe publicly said that Flash would ship on a smartphone in early 2009, then the second half of 2009, then the first half of 2010, and now they say the second half of 2010. We think it will eventually ship, but we're glad we didn’t hold our breath. Who knows how it will perform?


Fourth, there's battery life.


To achieve long battery life when playing video, mobile devices must decode the video in hardware; decoding it in software uses too much power. Many of the chips used in modern mobile devices contain a decoder called H.264 – an industry standard that is used in every Blu-ray DVD player and has been adopted by Apple, Google (YouTube), Vimeo, Netflix and many other companies.


Although Flash has recently added support for H.264, the video on almost all Flash websites currently requires an older generation decoder that is not implemented in mobile chips and must be run in software. The difference is striking: on an iPhone, for example, H.264 videos play for up to 10 hours, while videos decoded in software play for less than 5 hours before the battery is fully drained.


When websites re-encode their videos using H.264, they can offer them without using Flash at all. They play perfectly in browsers like Apple’s Safari and Google’s Chrome without any plugins whatsoever, and look great on iPhones, iPods and iPads.


Fifth, there's Touch.


Flash was designed for PCs using mice, not for touch screens using fingers. For example, many Flash websites rely on “rollovers”, which pop up menus or other elements when the mouse arrow hovers over a specific spot. Apple’s revolutionary multi-touch interface doesn’t use a mouse, and there is no concept of a rollover. Most Flash websites will need to be rewritten to support touch-based devices. If developers need to rewrite their Flash websites, why not use modern technologies like HTML5, CSS and JavaScript?


Even if iPhones, iPods and iPads ran Flash, it would not solve the problem that most Flash websites need to be rewritten to support touch-based devices.


Sixth, the most important reason.


Besides the fact that Flash is closed and proprietary, has major technical drawbacks, and doesn’t support touch based devices, there is an even more important reason we do not allow Flash on iPhones, iPods and iPads. We have discussed the downsides of using Flash to play video and interactive content from websites, but Adobe also wants developers to adopt Flash to create apps that run on our mobile devices.


We know from painful experience that letting a third party layer of software come between the platform and the developer ultimately results in sub-standard apps and hinders the enhancement and progress of the platform. If developers grow dependent on third party development libraries and tools, they can only take advantage of platform enhancements if and when the third party chooses to adopt the new features. We cannot be at the mercy of a third party deciding if and when they will make our enhancements available to our developers.


This becomes even worse if the third party is supplying a cross platform development tool. The third party may not adopt enhancements from one platform unless they are available on all of their supported platforms. Hence developers only have access to the lowest common denominator set of features. Again, we cannot accept an outcome where developers are blocked from using our innovations and enhancements because they are not available on our competitor’s platforms.


Flash is a cross platform development tool. It is not Adobe’s goal to help developers write the best iPhone, iPod and iPad apps. It is their goal to help developers write cross platform apps. And Adobe has been painfully slow to adopt enhancements to Apple’s platforms. For example, although Mac OS X has been shipping for almost 10 years now, Adobe just adopted it fully (Cocoa) two weeks ago when they shipped CS5. Adobe was the last major third party developer to fully adopt Mac OS X.


Our motivation is simple – we want to provide the most advanced and innovative platform to our developers, and we want them to stand directly on the shoulders of this platform and create the best apps the world has ever seen. We want to continually enhance the platform so developers can create even more amazing, powerful, fun and useful applications. Everyone wins – we sell more devices because we have the best apps, developers reach a wider and wider audience and customer base, and users are continually delighted by the best and broadest selection of apps on any platform.


Conclusions.


Flash was created during the PC era – for PCs and mice. Flash is a successful business for Adobe, and we can understand why they want to push it beyond PCs. But the mobile era is about low power devices, touch interfaces and open web standards – all areas where Flash falls short.


The avalanche of media outlets offering their content for Apple's mobile devices demonstrates that Flash is no longer necessary to watch video or consume any kind of web content. And the 250,000 apps on Apple's App Store proves that Flash isn't necessary for tens of thousands of developers to create graphically rich applications, including games.


New open standards created in the mobile era, such as HTML5, will win on mobile devices (and PCs too). Perhaps Adobe should focus more on creating great HTML5 tools for the future, and less on criticizing Apple for leaving the past behind.


Steve Jobs
April, 2010

  中文可見,去年4月29日,董福興先生的精彩翻譯

老人:其實我不喜歡這公開信,因為不像 Steve Jobs 的個性,像是別人代筆的。要是老人,絕不客氣,大ㄇㄚˋ.......見老人去年的“蘋果和Adobe的恩怨情結”。
        Steve Jobs重回蘋果後,先向微軟忍辱低頭,讓Office繼續發展在麥金塔上的版本。而後Steve Jobs找上 Adobe, 希望 Adobe 也發展在麥金塔上的電影視訊軟體 ,Premiere,卻遭拒絕!這讓蘋果Steve Jobs後來下定決心,自己發展!而後出現 Final Cut Pro,ㄧ統電影視訊軟體的江山!
         事實上,Flash is E.O.L.,end-of-live。不只是在行動裝置如手機上,也將在所有的Web上。過世的Steve Jobs不會高興,因為他早知道結果!

團購 Groupon iPhone App 上架

 
  團購 Groupon iPhone App 上架。
  如題。Groupon還特別舉辦抽獎活動。


EasyPay “易購”是“簡偷”購物方式

  “簡偷”購物方式,是蘋果零售店“極簡”主義下的產品,讓大家方便偷東西?
  一開始蘋果零售店的“EasyPay”易購程式裝在蘋果零售店內員工的iPod Touch內。當你選好產品時,他可以即時輸入價格於Touch內,讓你以信用卡付款,不用走到收銀處。  
    “EasyPay”易購程式裝有 barcode scanner,可馬上掃描出購物細節。
  但現在顧客可自己使用自己iPhone內或iPod Touch內的“EasyPay”易購程式!如果你有蘋果ID,就有信用卡資料,一旦連上店內的Wifi,蘋果很容易就可掌握顧客的買單,你只要掃描產品後,按“買”即可。
  店員也不需要了!!!
   因為太容易了,“EasyPay”易購可稱為
“EasyTheft”簡偷購物法?

   蘋果零售店的“EasyPay”易購,是不是讓“天才吧” Genius bar 的天才無用武之地?

老人:在中國,這招肯定行不通!!!

Adobe 放棄發展行動版 Flash!!!


  這保證是這一季次大的新聞,也是2011年IT界僅次於 Steve Jobs 過世的第二大新聞:

  “Adobe 放棄發展行動版 Flash

  前年當 Steve Jobs 不讓 Flash 上 iOS 時, 世界上有多少人在罵他,連三字經都出來了。台灣AAA (anti-Apple Association) 集團掌門人,宏碁,更是以宏碁平板可支援 (但不能跑) Flash,大作電視廣告來攻擊蘋果。許多人拍手叫好,還因此去買宏碁平板,最後卻發現它號稱可支援,但跑不動!很多被騙!見宏碁A500的災難"無":有也是沒有篇 一宏碁A500的災難"有":有也是沒有篇 二
  許多擁護 Flash 的人,可稱為 Flash Fan 也不為過,見“就是當機不能動,也要Flash!
  但當微軟的Windows Phone也不支援 Flash 時,AAA集團真是突然嚇呆了!
  但未爆彈還在最後,現在爆花了!Flash 的母體,Adobe,已打算終止 flash 發展,全力啟動
HTML! 見 zdnet.com,“Exclusive: Adobe ceases development on mobile browser Flash, refocuses efforts on HTML5”。
  Adobe的聲明:
  “Our future work with Flash on mobile devices will be focused on enabling Flash developers to package native apps with Adobe AIR for all the major app stores. We will no longer adapt Flash Player for mobile devices to new browser, OS version or device configurations. Some of our source code licensees may opt to continue working on and releasing their own implementations. We will continue to support the current Android and PlayBook configurations with critical bug fixes and security updates.
  事實上 Adobe 自己早知大事已去,只是它沒告訴宏基的王振堂教主,見Adobe 釋出Flash-to-HTML5轉換器Adobe似乎接受Flash已過氣的事實,支援HTTP Live Stream,等。(宏基王振堂的大問題,對岸也在罵,見“宏碁王振堂称要重整河山”...)

  Adobe 宣佈全球裁員全職人員750人!盤後股票下跌9.93%!

老人:老人不知為何喜開 flash 的玩笑,見“iPad 2評語佳,缺點是:一是沒閃光,二也是沒閃光?”。所以現在被裁員的大慨都是 Flash 高手?(開玩笑的...)

蘋果iPhone 38%用iOS 5,Android 不到0.3%用3x次新版本

  上圖是由Google官方公佈的9和10月份Android手機系統使用情況。使用3x的新版 (其實還不是最新版的冰淇淋三明治),佔不到 0.3%!!!而 Google的3.0版,Honeycomb蜂窩,2010年12月6日推出,已快一年。
  下圖是蘋果iOS的版本使用情況,其中iOS 5上市才2個月,但iPhone 38%用iOS 5,iPad 30 %,iPod Touch 12%。iPhone 3GS以上都可升級 iOS 5。
 
  有趣的是,以台灣宏達電HTC為例,每次宣佈它的部分手機可升級時,常常都是Android新版本推出半年後的事,而半年後更新的又出來了!但 HTC Fanboy 都還會拍手鼓掌 ..... 見 HTC 公布將會在 2012 年年頭升上雪糕三明治的手機名單

Google前執行長Eric Schmidt說Google比蘋果早發展手機,只是不是指觸控?

  2007年11月Google發展的手機
   IT歷史上有關蘋果的最大的謎題和間諜,就是有關Android手機的發展,見IT界歷史以來最漂亮的"明諜"行動
  Google 前執行長 Eric Schmidt 在 Steve Jobs 的NeXT 時代,和 Steve 建立友誼。Steve Jobs 在2006年8月引他進入蘋果的董事會。後因為Google 的 Android 手機,利益衝突,於在2009 年八月三日退出董事會。
  Steve Jobs 公開場合和他的傳記中,都認為Google 的 Android 竊取蘋果的創意。傳記中:
Our lawsuit is saying, Google, you fucking ripped off the iPhone, wholesale ripped us off. Grand theft. I will spend my last dying breath if I need to, and I will spend every penny of Apple's $40 billion in the bank, to right this wrong. I'm going to destroy Android, because it's a stolen product. I'm willing to go to thermonuclear war on this. They are scared to death, because they know they are guilty.
  Eric Schmidt 在昨天接受訪問時說Google 比蘋果早發展手機,所以Google沒侵犯蘋果的創意。
  Google的Android手機的首席執行者是蘋果離職員工 Andy Rubin。Google在2005年8月17日,買下 Andy Rubin創立的手機平台公司。見老人的“Google於2005年購併了Android”。
  上圖是Google 2007年的Android 手機的User Interface UI圖。
  而蘋果發展iPhone起於大約2001年。
  顯然的,在iPhone發表後,Google的Android手機是變了!
   所以Goolge不但沒比蘋果早發展手機,而指觸控更是抄襲!