Flash video upped the use of online video by about 10,000% (warning: made-up statistic) over the earlier days of Real and Windows Media. Awesome, powerful and popular product. Yes, sometimes over used for pointless glitz. BUT if some pointless web animation is using up CPU, you can close the page. You can even decide not to revisit the site. Adding video to HTML 5 is a swell idea, but it hasn't really been done yet. You can't blame Adobe for doing over the last few years what people say they're going to do any day now.

HOWEVER, Steve Jobs is using legal control of the platform to prevent you from having the option of visiting that site. Apple has also told iPhone developers which words are allowed to be in the dictionary, banned them for political cartoons, and banned 'sexual' apps that don't come from their major partners such as Playboy. They've assumed control of language, politics and sex. What's next?

The trend towards these mothership-tethered devices is an attempt to reestablish the AOL "walled garden" view of content. They can monitor and control everything about the device you 'license' from them but don't own. Mostly, this just results in comedy like this:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/18/technology/companies/18amazon.html