Flash player’s continued high adoption rate
Steve Safran August 17th, 2006
Yeah, it has its haters. Yes, since NECN.com switched to Flash we’ve heard from the cognoscenti that Flash is a processor hog and it’s just waiting for a worm to bring it down. But it’s getting us better numbers than we ever saw with WindowsMedia or Real. Adobe’s latest stats (and yes, they’re from Adobe) show the high penetration of the Flash player. As a Mac user, I can tell you it’s a welcome change. WindowsMedia is in the 95% penetration range, but it comes pre-loaded on Windows computers and plays terribly with other platforms. (Yes, I know there are some downloads that help - but most people don’t know.) That people are choosing Flash in these numbers is fascinating. (Via Digg)
10 Comments Add your own
1. Gerald Belton | August 17th, 2006 at 7:12 am
I’m not sure it’s accurate to say that “people are choosing Flash.” People are just trying to view content. If the content they want to view is in Flash, then they download the software. The process is being driven by web developers, not consumers.
The only thing Flash has to do, from a consumer’s viewpoint, is not be annoying. There’s still a lot of content out there in Real format, but the RealPlayer became so annoying that it drove people to remove it from their systems. Having access to that content was no longer worth the hassle. As long as Flash doesn’t annoy users, and web developers keep using it, it will continue to grow.
2. Evan Parker | August 17th, 2006 at 7:42 am
Where Flash is starting to get annoying is it’s ability to run audio in banner ads. It’s bad enough when movie ads are run without me clicking on them, but I really hate the “swat the fly-win a prize” ads with buzzing. That makes me want to remove it.
Don’t get me wrong I love Flash, but I still need it to be on my terms.
3. Jeff Bailey | August 17th, 2006 at 12:05 pm
I’m not much of a Flash fan personally, but when I get the chance to change my site’s video from Windows to Flash, I’ll make the move so fast it’ll make heads spin. I hate treating Mac and Linux users like second class citizens. I want to serve video to everyone who visits, not just 90% of them.
4. Mark Mascolino | August 17th, 2006 at 4:33 pm
While Flash can be used for evil, its almost foolproof and it works 99.999% of the time so that is why people are using it so much. Its so simple and you don’t have to worry about the right player launching, etc.
5. Trip Ericson | August 18th, 2006 at 8:26 am
Jeff Bailey:
If you plan to not treat Linux users like second-hand citizens, steer clear of Flash until Flash 9 for Linux is out. Right now, many people have to use workarounds or (in my case) go without audio on Flash due to the fact that Flash doesn’t support modern sound interfaces. This will change with Flash 9, which is set to come out in Q1 2007.
Further, the latest version of Flash available for Linux is Flash 7. This may not seem like a big issue, until you’re using it and realize that lots and LOTS of sites that use Flash require Flash 8.
Honestly, I’d prefer having video in Quicktime format–I use mplayer (your legality may vary) to experience audio and video, and I find that Quicktime format is the most reliable and easiest to use. I have the fewest problems with it.
‘Course, Ogg Theora would be preferred, but then you’d be cutting out the Windows folks (unless they were to install the codec).
6. Mindy McAdams | August 21st, 2006 at 6:16 pm
I agree that Flash provides the best video experience for online video today — and I hear a lot of the online news people agreeing with that. But recently I got shouted down when I said “And if you can’t offer Flash, then use Quicktime. Whatever you do, don’t use Windows Media Player!”
I got shouted down BECAUSE the online producers nearby said that when they offer video in WMP or Quicktime, almost all users choose WMP and very, very few choose Quicktime.
I don’t buy into that logic. Maybe it means their users do not know what Quicktime is. Maybe the users see the word “Windows” and think, “Yeah, I have that.”
I use three Windows computers, and I prefer Quicktime over WMP every time. Why? WMP almost never plays properly. It hangs all the time. I almost never have any trouble with Quicktime video.
That said, Flash is better than all of ‘em.
7. amateur gay teen boys fuc&hellip | January 24th, 2007 at 2:53 pm
chlamidia from vibrator…
blonde buxom wifey having sex…
8. deep dildo fucking&hellip | January 27th, 2007 at 9:13 pm
vaginal erotic areas…
dating sex chating pics…
9. oknama.com&hellip | March 21st, 2007 at 12:19 pm
pinemi.com…
bisena.com…
10. Robocop | January 20th, 2008 at 6:55 am
Wow, thanks for the excellent information!
Leave a Comment
(Please keep URLs out of the comment body or the spam filter will block you.)Trackback this post | Subscribe to the comments via RSS Feed