ECMA4 is dead. Long live Actionscript!
| If you’re reading this then you’re not using Microsoft Internet Explorer because this blog has been disabled for IE as a statement of protest. |
You should know right off that I’m about the least qualified person to speak about the intricacies of computer languages. But I’m going to go there anyway.
By now you’ve heard the news that ECMA 4.0 has died and been replaced by ECMA 3.1. A lot of people think it’s another power move by Microsoft and I certainly wouldn’t put it past them. Hell, it’s why they are who they are.
So here’s my two cents worth: Screw’em. I’m an Actionscript developer. I don’t use and don’t plan to use Javascript or C# or any other language for the client side. Why the hell would I? I don’t care one iota if Actionscript is standards compliant. Just make it the best frakking language it can be so that I can do my job better and faster.
John Grden pointed out that everyone seems to have it in for Adobe. So why not turn the tables. We all know that the Flash player is the most ubiquitous software EVER. Adobe, I say use it to your advantage. Wait until Flash player 11 and make sure that it and every other version of the Flash Player can’t possibly work in Internet Explorer. Lets see how long those IE numbers hold up when no one using IE can go to youTube. Yeah, they would sink like a rock.
I’m all for playing nice in the community. But when someone, Microsoft and Apple especially, do something underhanded to hurt Adobe I take it personally. I wish I had a wildly successful website just so that I could disable it in IE. Hummm, now that you mention it, maybe I can live with a 30% decrease in traffic on this blog.
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Josh Chernoff
