selven - Slashdot User

Submission + - Adobe: Flash will survive HTML5 (informationweek.com)

Submitted by selven on Wednesday July 01, 2009 @09:19PM

selven writes: At Google's developer conference last month, VP of engineering Vic Gundotra declared that "the Web has won" and suggested that emerging open Web standards such as HTML 5 have become the preferred platform to create Web applications, even graphically rich ones. Adobe begs to differ. Its Flash platform remains the de facto standard for rich Internet applications, and the company would be happy for that situation to continue. To make sure that happens, some from Adobe are expressing doubts about HTML 5.

During a recent investor conference call, Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen dismissed HTML 5 as being unable to deliver a consistent user experience across different Web browsers and predicted that a decade will pass before the specification gets standardized. "The fragmentation of browsers makes Flash even more important rather than less important," he said. Adobe has to put on a brave face in public, but the company appears to be increasingly worried about the future of Flash. Perhaps with good reason: Google's demonstration at its developer conference of a YouTube prototype built with HTML 5 rather than Flash offers a warning of what could come.

Submission + - Madoff Sentenced to 150 Years (reuters.com)

Submitted by selven on Monday June 29, 2009 @06:09PM

selven writes: Bernard Madoff's victims gasped and cheered when he was sentenced to 150 years in prison, but they walked away knowing little more about how he carried out the biggest robbery in Wall Street history. In one of the most dramatic courtroom conclusions to a corporate fraud case, the 71-year-old swindler was unemotional as he was berated by distraught investors during the 90-minute proceeding.

Many former clients had hoped he would shed more light on his crime and explain why he victimized so many for so long. But he did not. Madoff called his crime "an error of judgment" and his "failure," reiterating previous statements that he alone was responsible for the $65 billion investment fraud. His victims said they did not hear much new from Madoff in his five-minute statement. They also said they did not believe anything he said. As he handed down the maximum penalty allowed, U.S. District Judge Denny Chin indicated that he did not think Madoff had been fully candid or cooperative with authorities still investigating the fraud and what happened to investors' billions.

"I simply do not get the sense that Mr. Madoff has done all that he could or told all that he knows," Chin said.

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