Snark on iPad "missing" Flash, from surprising source

Okay, the source isn't that surprising. Adobe's Flash Platform Blog calls Apple out for "continuing to impose restrictions that limit both content publishers and consumers." Then, with no sense of irony whatsoever, Adobe offers a screenshot of the technology that web usability guru Jakob Nielsen called 99% bad:

Although multimedia has its role on the Web, current Flash technology tends to discourage usability for three reasons: it makes bad design more likely, it breaks with the Web's fundamental interaction style, and it consumes resources that would be better spent enhancing a site's core value.

Adobe's screenshot showing a broken plugin icon where content should be proves Nielsen's—and Apple's—point. Having content locked up so it can only be "originated" by designers with Adobe's (expensive) tools, and only viewed by users with Adobe's player, is the very definition of a restriction that limits both publishers and consumers.

As a picture posted on Engadget shows (below), and many others have reported, there's something important missing from Apple's approach to connecting consumers to content.

iPad Flash Plugin Error

Yes, Adobe, your screenshot shows something missing, but it's not Apple's approach, it's yours, that is missing open creation and consumption.

Without Flash support, iPad/iPod Touch/iPhone users may be an interesting enough audience for publishers that they shift momentum back to web standards, so anyone from the New York Times to a child in Chile can freely publish their say.