IBM smashes Flash out of Wimbledon, serves up HTML5 app

Next month’s Wimbledon tennis championship in London will serve up more player data than ever before and, for the first time, deliver live video to game fans over the web. SPSS software from IBM will be deployed at all 19 courts and to capture information, draw up competitors’ stats and evaluate their performance. The kit is …

[Charlie Clark]

Disingenuous

Adobe's double fault: too snazzy and doesn't work on Apple kit

Adobe itself has said that it is dropping updates for Flash on mobile devices and is busy developing tools like Adobe Proto, which is well worth a look, for generating straight HTML. So the sub-headline isn't really news. You can get the eye-candy with HTML 5 & CSS but support across browsers isn't guaranteed.

And if IBM is in the business of selling SPSS then it helps to be able to do this without having to bundle or rely on other runtimes.

[Ilgaz]

You say it like its normal

By childishly dropping support for mobile, adobe created a severe security issue especially on Android which every single black hat has concentrated on.

[Irongut]

Re: You say it like its normal

What severe security issue? They may have announced they're moving away from Flash but they still write security updates. Flash on my Android is usually updated before my PCs.

Don't believe the anti-Adobe FUD.

[Ilgaz]

2 platforms I own

First, there is my cheap Huawei u8650 which is stuck on flash 10 (no updates) and powerPC macs which are absurdly dropped from all updates (security included).

I lost half of my /. Karma while defending adobe and real networks from real FUD guys but adobe has really made itself impossible to defend.

[Charlie Clark]

Re: 2 platforms I own

Apple dropped support for PowerPC first and made multiarchitecture builds very difficult by dropping carbon. I don't know what version of Android is on your phone but that is certainly part of the problem. Product liability allows you to hold you vendor, admittedly tricky in your case (shop, Huawei, Google, Adobe) accountable for a defective or dangerous product.

Slashdot karma, seriously? I think this one is yours.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: You say it like its normal

"......Android which every single black hat has concentrated on"

Applites seem so smug and secure. Have you read the latest security issues plaguing Apple?

W O W.

[Charlie Clark]

Re: You say it like its normal

No, I still say it like I said it: it's no longer news and, therefore, disingenuous to portray it like it is. As others have noted Adobe still providing security updates to Flash players, even on mobile.

[a_been]

Re: Disingenuous

SPSS has nothing to do with Flash, it doesn't use Flash and cannot export to Flash. Also IBM doesn't sell SPSS, you pay for a very expensive yearly license.

[Oolons]

Re: Disingenuous

IBM do sell SPSS software as they own the company - bought them for 1.2 billion.... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SPSS

But you are right about flash - not sure how the subject got onto SPSS and flash given its only mentioned in that IBM moved from flash->html5....

[Anonymous Coward]

Flash

in the pan?

[Ilgaz]

Another advantage

Platforms adobe dropped support will also display data fine, down to power macs running osx 10.4.x. How? Tenfourfox, Firefox compiled for 10.4.x+. Look it up. Also all devices that can run opera (mobile) which has amazing html5 support.

Not particularly fan of Firefox but one really sees how closed source has no chance compared to open source and standards.

[Charlie Clark]

Re: Another advantage

Not particularly fan of Firefox but one really sees how closed source has no chance compared to open source and standards.

Yeah, Mac OS 10.4 is a really huge opportunity being missed.

FWIW Closed-source Opera dropped support for 10.4 later than Firefox did.

[Ilgaz]

Get out of Starbucks

What is your problem? Tenfourfox is still Firefox with patches added to get it out of x86 only junk.

Once desktop gets rid of x86 monopoly (soon or later), those patches will have great use.

So, couple of professional, way advanced developers offer a free service to people who doesn't throw away their working computers. Is that the fact which bothers you? Not your business iphone guy.

[Anonymous Coward]

The Beginning of the End for Flash (Rejoice)

Hoorah, bravo IBM!

[h4rm0ny]

Re: The Beginning of the End for Flash (Rejoice)

Well a client of mine is still using it and it is nothing to do with all the fancy screenwipes, etc. that this person mentions. Any of the fanciness can be done in HTML5 and Javascript now (well, lots of it). The issue is streaming and security. Until HTML5 players handle streaming well and until they support DRM (which may be a very long time on the latter), there's going to be a large market segment that wants to retain FLASH. I think the will to move away is there, but these are the roadblocks.

[Charlie Clark]

Re: The Beginning of the End for Flash (Rejoice)

I think you're right on streaming, although the protocols are in place for that. You can still encrypt h264 streams and the smart way to do it would be using a hardware device such as a CAM or a SIM. Like, webcams and Geo location this will require an API to allow the browser to talk to the OS. You can just guess who is best placed to offer this in its browser, technically for all platforms but practically limited to two.

The arguments from Mozilla and Opera about video have never been about encryption of the stream but about the codecs - the customer should be able to choose their player.

[Anonymous Coward]

SPSS

If you didn't know what SPSS (originally, Statistical Package for the Social Sciences, rumoured as Sales People Sell Shite for a while) stands for then this covers you: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SPSS

Nice and logical of IBM to move from flash to html5 and on a side note if it wasn't for this release of information I'd have completely forgoten that WImbledon is on this Olympics year.

That all said this year I shall be mostly routing for the rain and bad transport.

[Ilgaz]

Big deal

Wimbledon is the one which very high level suits/ decision makers watch. If you are telling them there is no reason for flash in 2012 and they don't get it, you can point finger at their screen showing Wimbledon site.

Java applets were just stupid water effects and menus until NASA started to do things with them.

[Miek]

“But tablets don’t support Flash and we are seeing an increasing number of these." -- Sigh.

[Winkypop]

"...and consistency of servers."

Oh I see, those kind of servers!

Doh!

[Dave K]

Ahh, SPSS. The program which *still* doesn't support Windows 7 libraries properly and which has more bugs than an average episode of Spring Watch. And we can all look forward to Wimbledon's systems falling down when one of the systems decides to randomly reject its SPSS license as well!

Where I work, I spend more of my time dealing with SPSS issues/faults/foibles/etc. than I do for all our other software put together. And that isn't an exaggeration!

[Tom 7]

Doesnt support Windows 7 libraries??

like my traction engine is incompatible with the space stations coms system so they're going to re-design it for me?

[Captain Scarlet]

Flash AHA Saviour of the universe

Oh wait Flash has retired :(

[Anonymous Coward]

“But tablets don’t support Flash and we are seeing an increasing number of these.”

Reg? Why didn't you tell him that 'tablets' do support flash and that "iPad" purchasers should go without for purchasing devices that don't support the tech.

[Anonymous Coward]

Rather, it should be "Flash doesn't support tablets"

Adobe has announced that they will not be providing any updates for Flash on Android, preferring "other technologies" such as HTML5.

So while Android tablets support Flash today, in the foreseeable future they will not.

[Tim99]

Market forces apply

The performance and battery life of most tablets is poor when Flash is used.

Also - Why would you cut yourself off from 70 million plus users who have access to the type of funding that bought them an iPad?

[Mike G]

Re: Market forces apply

That old myth was disproved long ago, yet you state it as a fact (which is typical of uninformed anti-flash trolls)

[Stretch]

"But tablets don’t support Flash"

"tablets" != "shitePads"

[Paul Johnston]

Sport and Statistics

Rant!

Will someone please take out all the bl**dy statisticians from sport and have them shot!

Who really cares if X got Y % of first server in whereas A got B % with a SD of J????

Rant Over!