Apple developing a Flash alternative

The heated battle between Apple and Adobe Systems over Flash may get a bit more interesting, as reports of a Flash alternative being developed by Apple begin to surface.

The technology, called Gianduia, was introduced by Apple last summer at its World of WebObjects Developer Conference, according to an AppleInsider report. Gianduia is described as being "a client-side, standards-based framework for rich Internet apps."

Apple has apparently been using Gianduia in several of its retail support applications, including services such as the One to One program, the iPhone reservation system, and the Concierge program for Genius Bar and Personal Shoppingreservations.

The use of a standards-based technology makes sense for Apple, considering its position on Flash. Apple has made it very clear that it opted to support HTML5, JavaScript, and CSS instead of Flash.

Apple hasn't supported Flash in any of its mobile devices, from the latest iPad, going back to the original iPhone. In fact, in an open letter about the technology, CEO Steve Jobs called Flash "a closed system" and said "we strongly believe that all standards pertaining to the Web should be open."

When it announced Creative Suite 5, Adobe said Flash would allow its developers to export projects as apps for use on the iPhone, iPod, and iPad. However, a change to its iPhone Developer Licensing Agreement banned developers from using technologies other than Apple's to develop applications.

"We know from painful experience that letting a third-party layer of software come between the platform and the developer ultimately results in substandard apps, and hinders the enhancement and progress of the platform," said Jobs in his letter.

Adobe subsequently said it would abandon future development of the technology.

However, Adobe wasn't finished with the issue. The company reportedly complained to U.S. authorities about Apple's behavior, which may lead to an antitrust investigation by the Federal Trade Commission or the Department of Justice.

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Firefox 4 release plan: the need for speed

Mozilla hopes to release Firefox 4 in October or November, a new version that has speed among its top goals.

"Performance is a huge, huge, huge thing for us," said Mike Beltzner, vice president of engineering for Firefox, in a Webcast on Tuesday about plans for the browser. "We created the performance story, and we've got to keep at it."

Among other features planned for Firefox 4--and Mozilla emphatically cautions that plans can change--are support for high-speed graphics and text through Direct2D on Windows; a tidier user interface with more prominent and poweful tabs; support for several newer Web technologies; 64-bit versions; and compatibility with multitouch interfaces.

Performance means any number of things in a browser. Among them: the time it takes to launch the program or to load a Web page, the responsiveness of the user interface to commands such as opening new tabs, and the speed with which Web-based JavaScript programs execute. Firefox programmers also will work on more perceptual speed improvements, he said, such as changing the order that Web page elements appear on the screen and the appearance of the page-loading progress bar.

Mozilla's Firefox 4 design shows tabs above the address bar and a home-page button replaced by a home tab.

(Credit: Mozilla)

Speed is one item on a long list of changes Mozilla has in mind for its five-year-old open-source Firefox browser. Improving Firefox is arguably a greater challenge now, though, for several reasons.

First, there's new energy in competitors including Microsoft's Internet Explorer 9 and Chrome from Web powerhouse Google. Second, making abrupt changes is harder without ruffling feathers among its large user base--Firefox accounts for roughly a quarter of the browser usage worldwide. Third, Firefox is expanding from PCs to mobile phones and tablets with very different hardware requirements. Last, a long list of new technologies are profoundly transforming browsers into a foundation for Web applications, but many of those advancements are far from settled down.

Beltzner recognizes the challenges.

"We are in it to win it," Beltzner said. "It's no longer the case where it's all easy wins. There's hard work to be done here. We have to make sure we're the ones leading the charge in keeping the Web open for users."

ozilla established a Firefox 3.6, 3.7, and 4.0 release plan in 2009, but the organization warned early this year that the browser schedule was changing. Tuesday's Webcast offered a new schedule with no Firefox 3.7.

Why the road map change? One key feature of 3.7 called out-of-process plug-ins, which moves plug-ins such as Adobe Systems' Flash Player to their own separate memory area for better stability, was advanced to Firefox 3.6.4, code-named Lorentz and in beta testing right now. Meanwhile, Mozilla concluded it needed more time for a planned user-interface overhaul and liberated by a "rebooted" plan for a new extensions foundation called Jetpack.

So what's the schedule? If al goes well, this:

"I think we need to get to a first beta by the end of June," before the Mozilla Summit in early July, he said. Releasing that version "puts us in a position where we can ship [the final version] somewhere in October or November."

Is it possible? Firefox 3.6 had been due in that time frame in 2009 and slipped into early 2010. "This is an aggressive schedule to be sure. We have to focus the efforts of projects already under way so it can come together to be a really great Firefox 4," Beltzner said. And programmers will have to prove the merit of any new projects very soon if they want them included.

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Sprint hangs up on Google's Nexus One

Only one U.S. carrier plans to offer Google's Nexus One to its customers this year now that Sprint has confirmed plans to take a pass.

When it launched the Nexus One in January, Google said support from other carriers would arrive, but following the news that Verizon has changed its mind, Sprint told GizmodoMonday that it has also reassessed its plans. Only loyal friend T-Mobile--the original Android launch partner--is supporting the phone with a two-year plan.

Google sells the Nexus One at its own Web site, and that's the exclusive distribution channel for the phone in the U.S. The idea for that site was to offer potential customers a lineup of Nexus phones with wireless plans from several carriers, breaking the chain of exclusive deals for cool phones enjoyed by many a carrier.

However, only T-Mobile fully supports the program with subsidized pricing attached to a two-year contract. Unlocked Nexus Ones that work on T-Mobile and AT&T's networks are available, but despite the fact that the long-term math on an unlocked phone can work out to their advantage, consumers still get sticker shock at unsubsidized pricing.

Sprint, like Verizon, is opting to direct its customers toward a different Android phone, in Sprint's case the HTC Evo 4G phone. A Sprint representative confirmed the decision to drop plans for the Nexus One but declined to comment on what caused those plans to unravel.

While Android momentum shows no signs of slowing down, the Nexus One--a phone designed to change the way carriers do business--is clearly not very popular with carriers.

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