Adobe fights back with Flash 11

Long gone are the days when Adobe Systems could take its Flash Player's position on the Web for granted.

But Adobe, to counter a strong combination of opposition and alternatives to the browser plug-in, plans to ship Flash Player 11 in two weeks. The debut at its Max developer conference early next month is geared to send a message to programmers: Flash is still relevant, and Adobe is still investing in it.

Flash 11's highlight, an interface called Molehill for hardware-accelerated 3D and 2D graphics, won't change the minds of those who would like to see Flash fade from the Web, nor will it reverse Apple and Microsoft's Flash opposition. But it is a powerful new feature for games, and games are one of the Flash strongholds Adobe is seeking to defend.

"WIth direct access to the GPU [graphics processing unit], you'll see a thousand times faster rendering over prior versions of Flash," said Danny Winokur, Adobe's platform general manager. With the ability to animate millions of objects at a screen refresh rate of 50 frames per second, people can expect "console-quality games" such as those on an Xbox or PS3, but in a Web browser.