MicroSoft could Kill Flash Banner ads

[Linda Buquet]

"Why Flash Could Disappear from Online Ads"
› › › Using Ad Technology

BY Eric Picard | October 27, 2003

Here is part of the article:

"Flash could disappear from online advertising. Sound ludicrous? Then you aren't aware of what has happened between Microsoft and a little-known company called Eolas. If you are aware, you probably don't know the issues this will raise for online advertising.

Back in August, Microsoft lost a patent infringement case related to how Active X controls load into Internet Explorer. Eolas (which holds the patent in question) was awarded a whopping $500 million dollars. Active X is the mechanism used by most Explorer-compatible plug-ins, including Macromedia's Flash and Shockwave, Quicktime, Real Media, Adobe Acrobat, and many others."

http://www.clickz.com/tech/ad_tech/article.php/3098671

Read the article, then come back to discuss it.

[Linda Buquet]

More on this subject:

October 30, 2003
Browser Changes to Hit Online Advertising
By Susan Kuchinskas

"There's still some denial among marketers, but many are preparing code re-writes to cope with Microsoft's pending changes to its Internet Explorer browser, which were forced by a patent ruling."

"Last August, a Chicago jury awarded Eolas Technology $512 million in damages for patent infringement related to the way Microsoft's browser allows the embedding of small interactive programs in HTML documents. Advertisements made with Macromedia Flash, which has become an increasingly popular format, rely on this embedding to display properly. Other ad creative formats face the same issue. "

"While Microsoft appeals, it began work on a new version of the browser that eliminates the infringement by prompting the user to determine whether an ActiveX control should be loaded or whether to display alternate content. This means that users visiting Web pages that have not been updated to work with the new browser version will see a dialog box instead of a Flash movie or other content that uses ActiveX controls."

Read the rest here:
http://www.internetnews.com/IAR/article.php/3101661

What do you think?

[mikmik]

I wonder why Microsoft didn't uncover the 'previous use' clause? I'm not upset over Windows OS's that have their issues, but I am starting to really what is going on in marketting and management over there.

First, and just very recently, had to put up with their obstinance over Sun's claim of contract violation in the java virtual machine battle. Now this. I wonder why they won't pay a judgement or conform to the courts rulings. Seems to me like they go off and pout, and in making things difficult for millions of internet users, expect us to feel sorry for them and/or blame the other party.

Looks like the behavior of a spoiled brat.
Most likely, in the long run, I expect flash to still be around, though. It may not be quite in the league of java, but there is no Microsoft equivilant as an alternative either, so they (hopefully) hold even less sway over this.
Just a very uninformed opinion, for now.

[Que]

I recently read an excellent article on the code used by macromedia to embed flash movies in an html document. http://www.alistapart.com/articles/flashsatay/
In a nutshell, he found that the "clsid=" was specific to internet explorer to tell it to load the flash plugin via active x. You don't have to code it that way after all. I've tried his method and it works fine. The cool thing is, the amount of code needed to make flash work in netscape and ie browsers is now halved.
Once you get to the article, there's a "discuss" link in the top right-hand side of the page that has an abundance of great coding discussions.

I wouldn't worry too much about flash going away. Also, there's no difference between a flash banner ad and a flash based website. Same flash .swf files. Why does this article only target flash banner ads and not the stability of any sort of flash movie? Sounds suspect to me.

-=Randy

[seizure]

In my opinion flash is way to powerful for microsoft to completley diminish it's use. Unless of course they buy out Macromedia. Flash is way to useful though, from online apps, to animations to design it handles all these with an easy to use user freindly enviroment. To take flash out of the picture is completley stupid. It can't happen...I use this as the main interface on my website, and I can't see how a new browser and 500 million dollairs is gonna put flash in the dumpster...

Flash lover

[Robin]

I find it discouraging that Microsoft chooses to make the Active X tools useless. This includes Flash, Shockwave, Windows Media Player, Apple QuickTime, RealAudio. RealVideo, Java applets and Custom ActiveX controls according to the Macromedia website.

It seems like it would be in the best interest of the web community to integrate legacy software in new applications to make the www less confusing and easier to navigate. (This is assuming that Microsoft considers itself a member of the web community and not the dictator of the web experience)

My site is almost entirely based on Active X controls and I am confident that Macromedia will provide a solution. But that is little help for the time investment I will be forced to make to ensure a seamless experience for my websites visitors.

Regards

Robin
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Robin Titus
http://www.TheDigitalHorse.com
Dressage Tests Online, with free classifieds, forums, and calendars.
Riding is simple... it's just not easy
-Anonymous

[TheWebDoctor(tm)]

seizure states:

In my opinion flash is way to powerful for microsoft to completley diminish it's use. Unless of course they buy out Macromedia. Flash is way to useful though, from online apps, to animations to design it handles all these with an easy to use user freindly enviroment. To take flash out of the picture is completley stupid. It can't happen...I use this as the main interface on my website, and I can't see how a new browser and 500 million dollairs is gonna put flash in the dumpster...

It's always interesting to me that there are people out there that think Flash is the best thing since peanut butter.

Flash is not and never will be an application that should be used as a full web site application or even a web site. Of course, the graphic designers will say differently and they will continue to say differently.

The disadvantages of Flash outweigh the perceived advantages.

Pros:
1. It fits within the window it is designed for.
2. It allows for interesting effects.
3. It allows for live video/audio feeds.
4. It is easy to use - now that's questionable.

Cons:
1. It is only accessible to the blind through MSAA and Windows-Eyes.
2. It removes the content from the page where it belongs and puts it into a graphic presentation.
3. It is not search engine friendly.
4. It provides no advantages that can not already be built into a page.
5. It requires PHP, ASP, JSP, or some other server side language to generate dynamic information.
6. Flash navigation is not accessible to search engines and therefore does not allow for pages to be indexed in the search engines.
7. Too many tricks required to have a flash site indexed in the search engines.


Flash is best used for image presentation. Image presentation is not true search able content.

Don't get me wrong. I use Flash on my radio site for live feeds. My visitors are able to see me and hear me. That's something that wasn't really useful before Flash Communications Server. But, I won't use it on a site as the entire site. My client's businesses are far too important to destroy with Flash.

Use it for minor presentations on a site - not the entire site.

I am glad that Microsoft now has to revamp its poor browser. Perhaps it will provide a more usable browser without all the non-standards compliant garbage.

They did it on the Macintosh platform, why can't they do it on the Windows platform?

[jaxne]

I agree with Que. There are alternatives to using Active X, and I'm sure Macromedia is working this out their own alternative as I type this. The majority of browsers out there have Flash installed in one version or another. Plus Flash banner Ads are typically simple animations with a click thru getURL button script attached. So unless you've got some crazy intricate Flash banner ad, deliver in v4 to be safe.

my 2¢

John Axne
http://www.creationagents.com/

[johnt]

MVP,

You are right that was a very uninformed opinion.

[johnm]

20+ years ago there was a battle of the GUI interface pitting Windows vs Macs. Today both have settled into thier niche and the playgound is (mostly) quiet. I have a feeling this too will pass and whatever duplicity will settle into some universal standard between the 2.