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Steve Jobs wasn’t kidding when he said Apple was borrowing philosophies from the iPad to implant into the new MacBook Air. Like the iPad, Apple’s brand new MacBook Air is missing a software plug-in that shipped with previous Macs: Adobe Flash.
I noticed this upon booting up and attempting to watch a Hulu video for the first time on an 11-inch MacBook Air that Apple loaned to Wired.com on Wednesday. Instead of a video, the message “Missing Plug-in” popped up in an empty window.
The lack of Flash on the new MacBook Air is not a big deal, considering you can simply head to Adobe’s website, download the plug-in and install it on the computer within a few minutes — unlike the iPad or iPhone, which doesn’t support the plug-in at all. But the omission of Flash is both interesting and amusing.
Apple’s grudge against Flash is thoroughly explained in a web post written by Jobs in April. There, he explained that Flash wasn’t technically up to par to perform well on mobile devices such as the iPhone and iPad, and supporting Flash would stifle Apple’s ability to innovate. He added that Flash was the No. 1 reason that Macs crash, and Adobe still hasn’t made any major improvements.
“We also know first hand that Flash is the number one reason Macs crash,” Jobs wrote. “We have been working with Adobe to fix these problems, but they have persisted for several years now. We don’t want to reduce the reliability and security of our iPhones, iPods and iPads by adding Flash.”
However, Apple failed to completely block Flash from the iOS platform. In September, Apple revised its developer guidelines to allow third-party programming tools to be used to develop iOS apps. That effectively opened doors to Adobe’s Packager for iPhone, a tool in Creative Suite 5 that enables Flash to be easily converted into native iPhone app language. So Flash has made it to the iOS platform in a roundabout way.
Jobs can’t be happy about that: An iOS developer told Wired.com it was likely that the FTC forced Apple to allow third-party programming languages because the restriction reeked of anti-competition. The ineffective exclusion of Flash on the MacBook Air, and presumably on future Macs,  serves as a statement more than anything else: Apple really doesn’t want to endorse Flash anymore.
See Also:

Why Apple Won’t Allow Adobe Flash on iPhone
Apple Slaps Adobe’s Flash with iPad-Friendly HTML5 Showcase …
Apple Promotes ‘iPad-Ready’ Websites Ditching Flash
Google’s ‘Don’t Be Evil’ Mantra Is ‘Bullshit,’ Adobe Is Lazy …
Apple Video Shows iPad Flash Support, But Don’t Believe It …
Apple Eases App Development Rules, Adobe Surges

Photo: Brian X. Chen/Wired.com

Fuente: Gadget Lab