Appatic

Flash 10.1 from Adobe had a arduous road to travel for it to reach its final form. But it is now finally here and while it has been out for almost 2 weeks by now. It is just now that it had been tested and scanned enough for me to recommend it glowingly 100%. Well, at least when it comes to the Windows side.

The moment you install it, from a old machine to a new one, the difference from the last update is very noticeable.  10.1 comes with hardware acceleration by GPU. But even without a proper GPU and just a Integrated Graphics Controller like in the case of old machines and many netbooks. You should still see a increase of performance of 20 to 35%.  But if you got a proper GPU you can expect anywhere from 50 to 90% of performance increase. Also of note is how improved the installation experience is now compared to one year ago.

I would like to say that Adobe delivered more than what was expected, but that would not be true. It delivered what many thought the original Flash 10 release should had been. That is even more obvious by the decision to make this update a .1 release instead of a .5 release given the time and work it took to be done and the improvements it got compared to the last update.

Many call for the death of Flash because it is what is in vogue, because bashing flash brings hits or just because Apple is in war with Adobe (as it is bad for their totalitarian iOS ecosystem). The most obvious argument is that it is seen as something that only brings video to the web. But then that is of course a wrong perception of Flash. Flash is the core of more than one Adobe technology and it one Adobe’s keys to the future.

Flash is not just the Flash Player but also in big measure Shockwave, Flex and AIR.

That means Video, Interactive Displays, Games and Apps of all kinds running either in the Browser, Desktop, Mobiles or Devices.  Anyone who says that HTML5 is ready to provide anywhere near of what is required for all these scenarios is either kidding themselves or just don’t know what they are talking about. Mobile and Devices (TV’s, Media Frames, TopBoxes, BR-DVD Players, etc) being internet connected and running apps is something that no one would argue is a big part of the next 10 years. So for that reason only, Flash should be able to stay relevant for the future.

With that said, it is time to upgrade to Flash 10.1 and enjoy its improvements if you have not upgraded yet for some reason. Also now available is Adobe AIR 2.0.

Linkage

Adobe Flash                                                             <—Official Homepage

Adobe Flash for IE                                       <— Quick Download Page

Adobe Flash for Other Browsers                    <— Quick Download Page

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