[Hopperxx] Farewell Flash

[Danny Kodicek]

I'm guessing everyone here has seen the news that Animate (nee Flash) is
being abruptly discontinued as Adobe "pivots to AI". Considering that it's
still very much actively being used as an animation tool, despite the death
of the SWF online, that really does seem like a very sudden and callous
move, and one that I think they'll regret.

I found myself thinking about how things might have played out if Adobe
hadn't decided to kill off Director. Even at the time, Flash was already in
trouble - it had been seven years since Steve Jobs put the first nail in
its coffin. Shockwave had already been essentially rendered useless, but
Director was still a viable tool for making apps. Maybe if Adobe had put
its force behind Director instead, even melded the two tools into one, they
could have salvaged the situation.

And with Animate gone, what do Adobe really have left that's unique and
justifies their exorbitant cost? Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign are all
still great, but there are so many cheaper rivals out there (Affinity is
especially snapping at their heels). The PDF obviously isn't going anywhere
any time soon, so Acrobat will still be around, but who really uses it now?
Premiere is still my favourite video editor but obviously there are many
more. AfterEffects is probably the only truly unique tool in the suite, but
Adobe has never really known what to do with it and I'm frankly astonished
it's still going.

Anyway, it's 3am over here so I need to get to bed. But I felt the need to
raise a glass to our old friend.
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