Bandwidth is always limited

Not just about bandwidth, resources are always limited.

Ten years ago, when people start talking about Java technology, people are so excited about it. Java is cross-platform, write once and run everywhere, but Java is slow, so my friend told me not to worry, because CPU getting faster and faster. This is true, but not all the truth.

If you notice these days, website use a lot of Macromedia flash technology, and not java applet. There are many reasons why people doing so, eg. development tools, easy to use, compatibility (with earlier version), browser plug-ins available etc. Most important is the user experience, flash is fast.

The most popular short video website—YouTube, use Macromedia flash to playback videos, not Java applet, not Apple QuickTime or Microsoft Window Media Player. Even though we have broadband of 1M (or more), compare with the dial-up 56.6K is a lot of improvement, user still find that the internet connection is slow. User can’t wait forever until the video downloaded. Flash is light weight, it satisfied the users need.

Ajax technology is so popular today, because it improved the performance and user experience of web application.

There is a lot of potential for flash technology, is a right move for Adobe to acquire Macromedia flash.