Not Cool!
Recently, my hatred against Flash websites (and other non-HTML websites, Silverlight in this case) came back. I know I shouldn’t blame the platform, rather I should blame the users.
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2008/en/us/serverunleashed/default.html
Why is this website in Flash? Why is there a robot? Yes, geeks like robots but they are not 5 year old kids. An acrobatic robot won’t convince them the OS is good. A simple HTML page with big tables and numbers is a lot more erotic.
Ummm, actually it seems to be Silverlight, not Flash.
At least for me – it prompts to install Silverlight or see the html version. I don’t have Silverlight and I don’t intend to install it anytime soon.
Obviously, MS is trying to push adoption of their technology…
Yeah, it looks to be Silverlight and I agree with Gaspy in that I don’t intend to install it anytime soon either.
On another note (maybe a completely random note):
I visited your LinkedIn page via your “About” page and noticed that the first line in your current job description is “Develop interactive websites in Flash + JavaScript + HTML + PHP”.
I’m confused. You have a hatred for Flash websites, but you build them?
I think it’s marketed toward business execs, not IT people. Obviously the IT people know how to use the MS assets to properly research the product and test it. Business execs, for the most part, could care less about specifics, they are impressed by “cool” marketing ploys.
In regards to SilverLight, I’m impressed in some regards. I still prefer Flex, but I figure it can’t be a bad thing to have multiple RIA platforms under your belt.
To TJ Downes, I think you are right. It’s more of non-IT people. But still, it’s really a sucky website. The concept is so bad.
About RIA, it’s good to have some competitors so Adobe won’t slack around.
To Jason,
Last time I like full Flash websites a lot. But now, there are too many of them and too many of the sites are not suitable for Flash platform. The extra amount of money and effort put in Flash websites are not worth it.
It comes back to a question of “Does your Flash website serve your client’s need? Is the website in Flash because it’s the best media or simply because you want to use Flash and you feel so because everyone else is using Flash?”
To make things worse, nowadays everything is in Flash and in Papervision3D Flash. Is it necessary?
I am a flash developer and I totaly agree with the author )
No need in flash, where flash is not needed )))