The hype for Windows 8 is building up, with many people wondering if Microsoft will drop the ball after the success of Windows 7. The latest news is that the tablet optimised version of Windows 8 will drop Flash support, to concentrate on HTML5. Steve Jobs would be proud.
Apple don't support Flash on their mobile platform, a point made very public in the past. Steve Jobs had dealt with complaints from customers by saying that it was unreliable, have security problems and also negatively effected battery life. Apple have always been keen to promote HTML5 as the safest, most reliable route.
The move for Microsoft however has been a surprise for many, however they claim in their blog that “For the web to move forward and for consumers to get the most out of touch-first browsing, the Metro style browser in Windows 8 is as HTML5-only as possible, and plug-in free. The experience that plug-ins provide today is not a good match with Metro style browsing and the modern HTML5 web.”
Microsoft also claim that the Metro style plug in free system “improves battery life as well as security, reliability, and privacy for consumers. Plug-ins were important early on in the web’s history. But the web has come a long way since then with HTML5. Providing compatibility with legacy plug-in technologies would detract from, rather than improve, the consumer experience of browsing in the Metro style UI. ”
Compatibility is not a problem as Microsoft add “Most sites work fine in IE without plug-ins; others work fine in IE when IE identifies itself as another browser or runs the site in a different mode.” This has been a talking point for a while now, as even without Flash support, iOS devices will handle sites like Youtube perfectly fine, falling back on fully supported HTML5 content immediately.
Kitguru says: Has Windows 8 grabbed your attention?
Not interested in the least, looks like a phone operating system. why, oh why?
For a tablet it looks fine, but we already have android. I want a new desktop OS, not some bastardised thing like this. looks dire in that video too 🙁
Thank you, Microsoft for dropping Flash. The sooner the industry will move on from that Memory-Leeching-Blood-Sucking-Programming-Abomination, the better.
Unfortunately, I still have no reason to upgrade to Windows 8, especially since it’ll have the usual 250$ price tag on the Pro Edition, and I will continue to have no reason to upgrade until they release details about DX12, assuming it’ll even have it. Rumor had Ivy Bridge shipping with DX11.1 support, so who knows.
Some crappy desperate All-In-One Operating System however, is not on the top of my “To Buy” List. Didn’t they learn from the mess that they made out of Windows Phone 7? This is not going to work. It looks good on paper, but after you stop and think about it, it just can’t work.
It looks like unless you shell out around 500$ for a Touch Monitor that isn’t 10″ big, those of us who want to stick to Mouse and Keyboard will have absolutely no incentive to buy this at all. I mean, have they even shown a single change to the actual Non-Touch Designed part of Windows 8, which would be the Windows 7 inside Windows 8 which they said would still be there?