Steve Jobs publishes some ‘thoughts on Flash’… many, many thoughts on Flash — Engadget.

Here we go again…. So at first glance after reading Steve Jobs’ latest perspective on all things flash & web, I have to say I started to feel he was making some valid points. I’ve always agreed with the mouse verses touch issue, but disagreed on the video issue and haven’t seen enough true tests to truly understand the battery life issue. As far as the developing in flash for native iPhone, I disagree, but can see his point a little… REMINDER: I absolutely LOVE my iPhone!! and I absolutely HATE working on a mac on a day to day basis… Just sayin…

Then I let it all sink in… and PLEASE if you read this, read the comments following the press release… Here you’ll get a true cross sample of the overall opinions on this press release and suprisingly (or not) it’s largely negative… The problem is the backbone of his arguments are based on this idea of Apple as ‘open’ and non-proprietary and being so “new” and removed from what he calls the PC era… Crazy-talk…Apple was invented in the ‘PC era. The internet, computers, mobile devices, etc were all spawned in the past and the grow and change to suit the user needs and keep up with technological advances. To think Apple is any different is weird. But to then come off like the creator behind every technological advance in the modern era is preposterous…

It’s also funny his thoughts between what is open, closed, and what is the future (as if peering up from his crystal ball). HTML 5 looks like a great advancement but it is in no way close to being a “standard” yet. h.264 is great for video, but will also be great for some serious licensing $$$ in the next few years.. HTML wants to support ‘ogg’ video anyway, which is buggy and has no strict standards in how its created.

Then there’s the whole idea of choice. Sure Apple has made some great judgment calls on which way to go with products and technology that have revolutionized the industry… But it also has made some serious judgment issues and has its share of bombed project ideas… Jobs doesn’t even seem to notice that he’s effectively trying to take the ability to decide away… He can’t help but use language in the press release to re-enforce the “best ever” mentality at Apple.

Ultimately people will decide what technologies and devices stay or go. We didn’t want Bill Gates deciding everything for us 10 years ago… Do we really want Steve Jobs to do that now???