Flash vs Quicktime Vs WMV

[Rob]

Scott Raymond who wrote an article for us in the past recently published this comparison article with ZDnet.

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/perlow/web-video-showdown-flash-vs-quicktime-vs-windows-media/13176

It hasn't got much to do with webcomics but it is interesting. Kinda flies in the face of Steve Jobs recent rant against Flash.
;)

[Funderbunk]

Steve Jobs will rant against anything that he doesn't have a hand in. He's the technological equivalent of a segregationist.

That said, I work with Flash a lot so I'm biased.

[Gar]

Flash is king of the impossible, and has also saved every one of us.

[Gibson]

I've never used Flash, but I have a lot of trouble getting Quicktime to work. It works well when I get it started, but...

[Gar]

It works well when I get it started, but...

You say that to all the Ladies

[Cary]

Strictly from a user standpoint I HATE Quicktime. It's not one of Apple's better products honestly. It's slow, it doesn't integrate well with browsers, and the stand alone download is invasive and annoying as hell. I say this as someone who spent much time trying to get it to quit taking over every file display setting every time I updated it. Frustrating, at least back in the PC days. The funny thing is now that I own and operate MACs...I don't even have Quicktime on my computers! Crazy I know.

Anyway, I like Flash, and from what I've seen the whole Jobs rant on that was more about competing with Flash than accepting it as part of the greater user interface and embracing it. Makes a bit of sense when you look at it from Apple's POV as they've got software in direct competition. You'd think they'd chill though, considering the market their in, and who they should really consider their enemy.

[Gibson]

It works well when I get it started, but...

You say that to all the Ladies

Your mama's been talking about me again?

OH!

[Largento]

I don't see how it contradicts anything Jobs said since Jobs never mentioned Flash's performance on Windows OSs.

Obviously, his only concern is on OSX and the OSX-based iOS. In their tests, Flash used more than 4 times as much processor power which was a drain on the battery life. Precisely like Jobs said it did.

I will add that as a Mac user, I recently installed a plug-in for Safari that disables Flash (it shows boxes where Flash content is and gives you the option to individually activate a Flash file or add the site to a list that will automatically load the Flash files. In the case of YouTube, you can even chose to view the H264 video instead of the Flash video.)

The result is that surfing websites has become much faster and much more stable. Pages that used to hang when loading or cause Safari to crash, now load instantly. You'd be surprised how much Flash content you encounter is jut advertisements. I certainly don't miss not being able to see them.

[Cary]

Ah see that might be a point where it matters, Safari I mean. I don't use Safari on my MACs, I use Firefox. Flash never gives me any issues at all.

[Gar]

It works well when I get it started, but...

You say that to all the Ladies

Your mama's been talking about me again?

OH!

Oh no you di'n't!

[Funderbunk]

I will add that as a Mac user, I recently installed a plug-in for Safari that disables Flash (it shows boxes where Flash content is and gives you the option to individually activate a Flash file or add the site to a list that will automatically load the Flash files. In the case of YouTube, you can even chose to view the H264 video instead of the Flash video.)

The result is that surfing websites has become much faster and much more stable. Pages that used to hang when loading or cause Safari to crash, now load instantly. You'd be surprised how much Flash content you encounter is jut advertisements. I certainly don't miss not being able to see them.

Most of the shit you run into during surfing websites isn't Flash Video (.flv), though. That's Flash Application (.swf), which is completely different in that it's basically a tiny new program being run on a website rather than simple audiovisual files being opened. It makes sense that it'd give more errors than a regular website.

I mean, I know everyone's expecting HTML5 to swoop in and save the day from that kind of thing, but that's just going to have the same problems. You can't have a whole bunch of new applications running on the web without having a higher risk of errors.