The Case Against Ignorant Tech Analysts
It seems to be a recurring trend amongst amateur or ill-informed tech pundits to take aim at misuses of Flash as an argument against using the technology as a whole. And once and a while this mis-aimed cannon of vapid sophistry also takes aim at Flex. And quite frankly, I’m tired of it.
I mean, as a Flash developer for over 10 years (now a Flex developer too ; ), I’m never shy to admit that Flash Platform applications have their limitations and misuses. There is definitely a place for XHTML applications, instead of or as a complement to a Flash-based presence, and skip intros are a no-no. And as I’ve stated before, if you’re going to publish a site in Flash with lots of text, make sure that that text is at least accessible. But if you’re going to provide an argument against using a particular technology, don’t do it as a transparent attempt at promoting your own product at the expense of another, or creating attention grabbing headlines just to get a few more eyeballs to your site. You’ll land up looking foolish, and it’s bad karma besides.
Just recently someone posted a comment on this blog in response to what he probably thought was an “anti-Flash” post. Big mistake. First, as I indicated in my response, while his initial arguments had validity, his conclusion was way off. And it seems to be common occurrence for some bloggers to post comments on other people’s blogs in an effort to garner support for their arguments without considering the point of view of the blog they’re posting on, so the argument falls flat. I’m not opposed to a little healthy debate and free speech, but this tactic is getting tiresome: I see it used so often that, aforementioned comment notwithstanding, I sometimes wonder if some of these posts are provoked by corporations as a “web 2.0″ anti-marketing smear tactic.
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