Adobe doubles efforts in HTML5 and Flash at Adobe MAX 2011

Text and photos by Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

Los Angeles, CA: Ending years of "HTML5 vs. Flash" as the standard for future dynamic web content, Adobe's MAX 2011 keynote today focused on both standards as having the proper tools and frameworks for developing the Web of the future.

A series of demos from various developers showed how HTML5 and Flash have evolved and where each platform's strength lies. Aside from showing how all of the Touch Apps that Adobe released a day earlier were created using Flash and Air, they also demoed a variety of tablet applications as well as web applications.

For Flash, the game developmnet platform potential was most impressive. Rovio demoed the new web version of Angry Birds, a genre defining game that has enjoyed 400 million downloads (and countless millions of lost manhours for the multitudes that are addicted to the game). 

The dynamic nature of Flash was further shown when a demo of  3D first-person-shooter UNreal Tournament 3 was played  within a browser on stage by founding members of ID who designed the Unreal graphics engine used on major video game titles. The smoothness and fluidity of the Quake demo was impressive and showed how Flash can tap into the power of computer's GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) to help render realtime graphics and effects.

Tailored for developers, the keynote gave atendees at MAX the reassurance that they woud receive a number of tools, services and support for developing on HTML5 and Flash goig forward.