Microsoft does a backflip on Flash in Windows 8 and Windows RT.

I’m hearing that Microsoft have done a couple of backflips recently which to me is heartening. It does show their initial decisions were wrong or flawed, but no one is perfect. Microsoft decided to incorporate a version of Flash into Windows 8 and Windows RT. In Windows 8 Metro (now called Motion) Flash was restricted to only sites allowed by Microsoft, but at least if you went to Desktop mode there was no limitation. In Windows RT you could only visit sites allowed by Microsoft.

To me the power of using Windows is the relatively open nature, but more importantly you get to experience the internet unlike on iOS and Android devices which can’t display the many Flash based sites. That means often when using an iPhone or an Android tablet I have to resort to using my notebook to complete a task and that to me is annoying.

From the following article it appears that Microsoft may have realised the opportunity they have to differentiate their tablet products from Apple and Google products. That is Apple and Google products don’t give you full access to the internet and ultimately right now you have to often resort to using a desktop or notebook computer running Windows in my case, or perhaps a Mac for Apple users. That makes iOS and Android devices a companion device and not your primary device. Personally I want a device which can do all the things I need to do and tablets using iOS and Android can’t do that. Microsoft’s one opportunity is to do what they did up until Windows 7 and that is to provide access to the full internet. That to me is a winning strategy and should have been obvious to Microsoft.

Flash in Windows 8... Read More

According to the article in order to have access to all sites (unless on the blacklist), you’ll need to update Internet Explorer with the latest patches.

- Kelvin Eldridge
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