According to the prestigious New York Times, it is too early to write the epitaph for Flash video. (Read NYT 'HTML5 vs Flash')

They list seven reasons, each of which I will tear apart -

#1. 1.2 billion mobile phones are Flash capable

So what?  Those phones are also HTML5 capable.  Estimates put iPhones marketshare at thirty percent of smart phones.  That's a big enough tail to wag a dog!

#2. 70% of online gaming sites run Flash

But this does not represent (thankfully!) a huge percent of Web users, and it doesn't have anything to do with video.

#3. 98% percent of Internet-enabled desktops use it (Flash)

Yes, but 100% of Internet-enabled desktops that run up to date browsers can use HTML5.

#4. 85% of top 100 websites use Flash

And these will quickly switch to HTML5 or they'll drop out of the top.  This move is already on the way.

#5. Many major websites use Flash, including Hulu, Disney and YouTube

These sites are perfectly capable of changing to HTML5 in a matter of a few days.  Those who do not want to change could become tomorrow's dinosaurs.

#6. 2-3 million people belong to the Flash developer community

Oh really?  Where'd you get those numbers?  You would think if this figure was supported by facts, there would be less than a 1 million people gap in your range.  Is it two or three million?  And are these developers incapable of learning HTML5?  At one time, we all had to code in Assembly language because C and other higher-level languages weren't available yet.  Developers keep up with change, or they change careers.

#7. 90% of creative professionals have Adobe software on their desktops

What does Photoshop have to do with Flash?  This point alone, is proof that the writer is selling some goods.  I don't know if he's getting cash, a copy of CS5 or whether they already work for Adobe, but the writer makes wild, nearly frantic grabs at irrelevant facts and non-facts to try to sell readers that "Flash good, HTML5 bad".

Don't buy it.  And don't lose out on iPhone and iPad customers.  Make sure your online video demos will play on Apple devices.  This means, use HTML5.  It's simple and it's free.  Change or become extinct.

Another Business Shoot..

The current economic situation has hit many of us on two fronts. On the one hand, couples are spending less on their weddings than in previous years, yet as more people get laid off, there seems to be a swell in brand-new wedding videographers.

You can either lower your rates and work for minimum wage or less, or you can modify your business model. We've choosen the latter and have gone after businesses whose websites could benefit from video or better quality video.

One of those businesses we contacted was selling an instructional video from their website. They had a sample video posted that was obviously shot by an amateur with a consumer camera, on-camera microphone and untrained voice as narrator.

They responded to my email by telephoning and we had a fruitful discussion about how their current video was limiting their sales potential and how we could improve things. The next day, they paid our deposit through our website's PayPal form.

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