Flash file Icon

Image via Wikipedia

Today, Google announced Swiffy. Swiffy is a Google Labs product that will convert Adobe Flash (.swf) files to HTML5. Over at the Official Google Blog, an excerpt from today’s announcement describes Swiffy:

Today we’re making the first version of Swiffy available on Google Labs. You can upload a SWF file, and Swiffy will produce an HTML5 version which will run in modern browsers with a high level of SVG support such as Chrome and Safari. It’s still an early version, so it won’t convert all Flash content, but it already works well on ads and animations.

A lot like Wallaby

In this case, Swiffy sounds a lot like Adobe Lab’s Wallaby, which also converts Flash to HTML5.  At Adobe’s site they describe the features of Wallaby this way:

“Wallaby” is the codename for an experimental technology that converts the artwork and animation contained in Adobe® Flash® Professional (FLA) files into HTML. This allows you to reuse and extend the reach of your content to devices that do not support the Flash runtimes. Once these files are converted to HTML, you can edit them with an HTML editing tool, such as Adobe Dreamweaver®, or by hand if desired. You can view the output in one of the supported browsers or on an iOS device.

Both of these tools note heavily their limitations.  It will be interesting to see how (and if) these tools develop over time for the more complex interactions that are defacto in elearning content now. It will also be interesting to see how Articulate files may translate.

Where we’re heading…

It seems like for mobile computing devices both Google and Adobe are heading toward a conversion process for Flash content.  While I’m not usually a futurist, I do believe the near term direction development for Adobe Flash on mobile devices is heading toward an on-the-fly conversion to HTML5. The websites may in fact use a script to detect the browser and operating system and them deploy the appropriate content type to the device. For example, a laptop/desktop would be detected and a .SWF would be displayed, while an HTML 5 version would be deployed to iPhones.

I believe it will be interesting to see where Google and Android heads toward.  I believe this conversion with Swiffy is actually in conflict with their marketing and promotion for playing Flash.  Why would they need a conversion tool if their operating system and browser (i.e., Android and Chrome) play Flash files.  Is Google attempting to appease iOS in some way?

What do you think? What do you think about the converters? What do you think about Google doing this?

Related articles from around the web: