You may have noticed CleanPix does not have a Flash interface. Flash is a marvelous product made by Adobe that runs code and applications specifically designed for it. By far, the most common application of Flash is within browsers as a plug-in. In fact, some websites are totally made with Flash. This is because Flash provides tools to create an animated and fresh look that, for a long while, simply couldn’t done efficiently any other way. Flash offers great possibilities for video and games on the internet and an all around rich media experience. Most video on the net today is done with Flash. Some of the occasional video we post on the blog is done using YouTube and therefore Flash, because it works. YouTube’s massive success was largely thanks to Flash.
That said, times are changing and modern browsers are baking in support for video and audio without the need of a Flash plug-ins. YouTube has a running experiment for the new HTML5 video support new browsers are offering. Many applications on the web can now be done with simple HTML5, JavaScript and a host of other open source web technologies. Flash is a great product, but it has its limitations.
Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple, after being criticized on why iPhone does not support Flash, wrote:
“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 200,000 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.
(Excerpt from the Apple site).
To deliver media (a website or application) in a browser using Flash content, you need to install the Flash plug-in. To view the latest Flash content, you need the most recent version of Flash. If you want to be secure, you need the most recent version of Flash. You also need a fairly powerful computer… something common in the home perhaps, but we know and understand that the office computers don’t get a computer upgrade every 3 months and many of those computers are not compatible with the latest Flash version. Besides that, your IT staff have a very delicate job deciding what software and versions get installed. This is why we don’t use Flash on our web pages at CleanPix.
Your computer asks you to upgrade new software on a regular basis. Whether you run Windows, Mac or Linux, you are constantly being asked to upgrade to the latest version. This includes your browsers. We decided that we didn’t want you or your clients to be burdened with yet another piece of software you would need to download, upgrade and maintain just to get access to media on CleanPix. CleanPix runs in your browser and all upgrades are done our server, so you never have to install a new application for your desktop or approve an upgrade installation to continue to use CleanPix.
CleanPix supports IE6, IE7, and IE8. We also fully support the latest versions of Safari, Firefox and Chrome. We even have support for mobile devices at m.cleanpix.com, where our customers can login and manage their account using a simplified version designed for mobile phones (You can see the full version of the site by visiting here). Flash simply isn’t required and isn’t needed to make your task easier.
By upgrading and running just one application–your browser–support for everything else done on CleanPix is baked in. This helps get the technology out of your way, out of your IT team’s way and out of your clients way.
