Adobe CTO promises better Mac performance in Flash 10.1
updated 01:30 pm EST, Fri February 5, 2010
Video a special focus
Macs will perform substantially better when running Flash Player 10.1, promises Adobe's chief technical officer, Kevin Lynch. The executive claims that Flash 10 now runs at "almost exactly" the same level of CPU usage on Mac and Windows systems, where previously the Mac suffered significantly. The v10.1 update is set to use CoreAnimation, which Lynch suggests could make Macs faster than Windows in some cases.
Lynch concedes that video is still a major weakness, as a 480p video, running on a 1.8GHz Mac mini, uses 34 percent of the CPU in Mac OS X and just 16 percent in Windows. Flash 10.1 is expected to cut CPU consumption in half.
The executive also remarks that performance may depend heavily on browser choice. Safari is said to be the fastest Mac software in this regard, whereas Lynch cautions people against Google's Chrome. The Mac version of Chrome is still in beta, and is believed to have problems with running Flash and other plug-ins.
Flash Player 10.1 remains in beta, and has no fixed release date other than the first half of the year.
comment title
02/05, 01:45pm reply
Sound like Adobe is in stage 3 of their grief regarding Flash's future.
jalb
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Jan 2008
Good news!
02/05, 01:47pm reply
I wonder if Steve Jobs was right when he reported calling Adobe lazy when it came to Flash implementation on the Mac.
Looking forward to better Flash performance on the Mac and maybe even the iPad/iPhone. If Flash will be accessing CoreAnimation, then that points up the advantage of OS consistency across all these devices, doesn't it?
DanielSw
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Aug 2009
Stop treating Macs like second class citizens
02/05, 01:55pm (1 reply) reply
Adobe just needs to stop treating Macs like second class citizens, with it's entire product line. They don't need to port every product to OS X but the ones that do should perform the same as the windows version.
bleee
Mac Enthusiast
Joined: Mar 2002
Same isn't good enough.
02/05, 01:58pm reply
And that's supposed to make Apple feel better? Why would Apple want to support a platform that can only run as well as it runs on Windows - as if that were a worthy benchmark of efficiency?? That just further proves something is wrong with Flash if it can barely leverage Core's advantages on a Mac to almost match its performance on Windows.
c4rlob
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: May 2009
Too little too late
02/05, 02:24pm reply
Too late. That POS Flash has caused me nothing but headaches. Crashes, CPU hog for years on end. No thanks. I'll look forward to HTML5 displacing that POS Flash.
slapppy
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Mar 2008
That's nice for them
02/05, 02:26pm reply
I doubt I'll notice though. Click-to-flash is here to stay for me.
cal6n
Junior Member
Joined: Nov 2003
only 3 years late
02/05, 02:36pm reply
It only took them 3 years to a) respond to criticism that Flash on the Mac sucks b) actually start doing something about it.
And Core Animation was announced 3 years ago, and shipped more than 2 years ago...
And for Flash to perform well on mobile devices, it REQUIRES specific hardware acceleration, which may not even present on the iPhone and/or iPad, so Adobe can't even say Flash would be able to run at an acceptable level on them.
nowwhatareyoulookingat
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Jul 2009
Day late and a dollar short
02/05, 03:17pm reply
Nice try Adobe. You've had your a$$ handed to you by Apple and the blogosphere. Don't try to suck up to us now. We don't want your "Flash" anymore. We're ready for the new stuff.
Woode
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Oct 2007
Not promise, DO
02/05, 03:51pm reply
Adobe has done nothing in years to improve flash performance. Why don't they actually delivery it instead of making an empty promise?
dliup
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Jan 2006
You still have a few Mac programmers?
02/05, 04:06pm reply
I'm surprised as I know you got rid of a bunch a few months back, I believe this was when you let 700 programmers go. I've dumped flash and Reader as well. I don't miss it.
Your core products on the Mac platform are way behind the technology curve. I'm see Adobe as a company that is resting on their laurels and has abandoned their Mac customers. Sad!
jfelbab
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Jan 2004