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Comment by tx | Hacker News Reader

I think he is not being mean enough. Personally I've taken even more radical position towards flash-only web sites: they endanger all of us, because they're going with a closed, proprietary platform over open standards, allowing (ultimately) corporate agendas to dominate the WRL "web runtime library". The author of the original flash site is an asshole. Here, I said it.

I don't want to live in the world, where I will be forced to install Java(FX), Flash and Silverlight (all fatty runtime downloads) in addition to perfectly fine HTML/CSS/JS.

Think of how much pain will it be (already is) to introduce new and innovative web-hardware, like an iPhone. You'll be at mercy of Adobe/Microsoft/Sun to release their stupid players for your architecture. And yes, by the way, Adobe prohibits you from reverse-engineering their player.

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He's an asshole because of the technology he choses to publish his own content? How can you say that? That's a very personal attack against a person that is making a very personal choice to publish his own content. I think you could only attack him if the content he published was of a different nature, say scientific data, government documents or general public stuff. But he can share his own data the way he wishes too, and I don't think you have the right to call him an asshole for that.

I understand the sum of personal choices can generate a problem for the general population, but in any case you can't attack the individual choices: you can't either regulate them by law (as in many other cases where individual choices get regulated for society's common well), or just let them be.

'Asshole' is strong, but tx's points are valid. I, too, much prefer the open web, and resent anything that promotes the adoption of closed alternatives.

You're right that one can't fault a guy too much for picking the tech. he likes best, but it's hard not to have a certain distaste for someone who's actions, however slightly, move us closer to a day when we'd be forced to use proprietary tools/protocols/servers to perform most tasks on the Internet.

As developers with this view, of course, all we can do is work to make the 'open' alternatives as attractive as possible. Calling people 'assholes' isn't helpful. Cathartic, though.

"Asshole" was harsh, I take it back.

I agree that flash-only web sites endanger all of us.

I unistalled my flash player, and it would take a compelling application indeed which has no HTML/CSS/JS equivalent to induce me to reinstall it.

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