If you're caught up in the Oracle OpenWorld and JavaOne hubbub, like I am, you may have missed Adobe's Max conference going on today as well. At that event, Adobe announced a few interesting things, including its acquisition of Phone Gap. But perhaps even more telling is what it didn't mention. In the big keynote at Max, Flash was nowhere to be found.

And this makes perfect sense. Phone Gap is an HTML 5 development platform that allows you to take a Web application and deploy it natively as a phone application. Thus, users can submit their Web applications to the iPhone and Android app stores. It even supports deployment to BlackBerry and Palm devices.

Considering how important HTML 5 is becoming, and just how thoroughly it makes Flash obsolete, it was a smart move for Adobe to get on the train, even if its just in the mobile market. It's time for Flash to go away, and it seems that Adobe knows this.

After all, Flash applications are not handicapped accessible, and they can really slog down a Website. Putting your data in a Flash interface is the software equivalent of putting a clerk in a gas station behind 3 feet of bullet proof glass with a sliding box for access to candy bars and payment. Plus, Apple's Steve Jobs threw down the gauntlet when he said there would be no Flash on the iPhone. Even though Apple eventually caved on some of its Flash-born demands, it was the first real sign of the end of the line for Flash.

May it rest in peace.

EDIT:

OK, I'm wrong about accessibility. Flash now works with screen readers. Please substitute an argument about security in its place. Please observe last 12 months of new exploits for reference.