VM Blog

Flash is 10 yrs Old
08/08/2006

Flash turned 10 years old today. It started out as "FutureSplash" and a way to do lightweight animation on the web using "vector graphics."

Today, it's installed in virtually all web browsers in use (around 98%) and is a powerful platform for rich media, streaming audio and arguably the best streaming video, and complex interactive applications on the web.

It's not that there are no competing technologies, but really there's no competing platform or technology that hold a candle to the range of things that can be done with Flash. Not Quicktime, not Ajax, not Realplayer, and not even Java can do all that Flash can do, nor do they have anywhere near the installed base percentage that Flash enjoys.

Flash powers YouTube and Google Video, but complex enterprise applications can also be developed in Flex for delivery to the ubiquitous Flash player.

At a recent Flash Forward conference, I saw some amazing techno geek science and also some really beautiful artistic expression that would have been impossible without Flash. 

Flash can be authored for mobile phones and PDAs, and even powers some home automation control panels and remote control devices. 

Flash was one of the main reasons Adobe purchased Macromedia recently.

OK, enough raving. Happy Birthday, Flash. Here's to another 10 good years. Who knows what those 10 years will bring? The web itself is barely over 10 years old.