Rumours adrift that Microsoft’s IE9 will not support Flash [UPDATED]

Another one bites the dust; yes another tech giant is rumoured to have snubbed Adobe by not supporting Flash. Rosie Khdir looks further into the war against Flash.

Microsoft has confirmed that its Internet Explorer 9 Web browser will not support Flash and will only run video in H.264 format. This is yet another blow to Adobe who has recently been fighting a losing battle with Apple after Steve Jobs made the same decision for all Apple products.

What did Microsoft say, exactly?

It seems as though Microsoft has gone about this in a more graceful way than Apple, in simply stating the benefits of the alternative. Dean Hachamovitch, General Manager, Internet Explorer, said in a blog post:

“The future of the web is HTML5. Microsoft is deeply engaged in the HTML5 process with the W3C. The HTML5 specification describes video support without specifying a particular video format. We think H.264 is an excellent format. In its HTML5 support, IE9 will support playback of H.264 video only.”

This is the statement has sparked rumours that Microsoft IE9 will no longer support Flash, a rumour which looks set to be proven true. He then went on to say:

“Flash does have some issues, particularly around reliability, security, and performance. We work closely with engineers at Adobe, sharing information about the issues we know of in ongoing technical discussions. Despite these issues, Flash remains an important part of delivering a good consumer experience on today’s web.”

So Microsoft still feel Flash is important, and yet they will not support it in future browsers? A tad contradictory, it seems.

Following the Apple example?

This blog follows the epic post by, Steve Jobs, on the Apple website called “Thoughts on Flash” which talks about all the problems with Flash – it is nowhere near as diplomatic.

He starts off with a patronising paragraph, explaining how Apple met “Adobe’s founders when they were in their proverbial garage.” He goes on to say that Apple was their first big customer and that “Apple invested in Adobe and owned around 20% of the company for many years.”

Is this a trip memory lane, or a dig? I’ll leave you to decide that for yourselves. Steve Jobs follows on with this rather resentful paragraph:

“Since that golden era, the companies have grown apart. Apple went through its near death experience, and Adobe was drawn to the corporate market with their Acrobat products. Today the two companies still work together to serve their joint creative customers – Mac users buy around half of Adobe’s Creative Suite products – but beyond that there are few joint interests.”

Controversial to say the least

Not to get political about it, but Microsoft has in the past been accused of using monopolistic business practices and been probed for anti-trust issues and Apple now faces a similar antitrust case over its aversion to Adobe Flash.

My question is, does Microsoft actually believe that other platforms are better or are theses two corporate giants simply in cahoots to try and dominate the tech world?

Other companies don’t seem to have a problem with Adobe, or are at least working through the issues they have with Flash. A prime example is Google who has announced that it will work with Adobe to create integrated Flash plug-ins for its Chrome browser and boast that all their Android devices are Adobe Flash Player friendly as standard.

HP’s Slate device (see below video) proudly supports Flash as does the Asus EeePad, which is set to retail this summer.

These devices seem to prove Steve Jobs wrong, after he stated: “Flash was designed for PCs using mice, not for touch screens using fingers.”

Update – 05/05/10

After all the speculation began to mount yesterday, following the publication of IE general manager Dean Hachamovitch’s blog post, he posted another article to clarify the issue. It said:

“Several comments asked about Microsoft’s support for plug-ins (like Flash and Silverlight). Of course, IE9 will continue to support Flash and other plug-ins. Plug-ins are important for delivering innovation and functionality ahead of standards.”

So I guess that is that, Microsoft are not “team Apple”, lets hope it stays that way!