Just Like the iPad, Your Windows 8 Tablet Won’t Support Flash

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Windows-8-UI-Metro

For a number of reasons, mainly its long list of stability issues and its unquenchable thirst for any power your system may have, Apple will ensure we never see Adobe Flash on the iPad. And while the company has been criticized by competition for this decision in the past, it’s not the only one turning its back on the aging technology: Microsoft has also announced that Flash player will not feature in Internet Explorer 10 for Windows 8 tablets.

In a post on its Building Windows 8 blog, Microsoft’s Dean Hachamovithch, Internet Explorer team leader, has confirmed that the “Metro” version of Internet Explorer 10 will not support Flash or other plugins, and will instead turn to HTML5 — just like iOS devices.

The advantage of quashing these plugins in the Metro version of EI, Hachamovithch says, are improved battery life, enhanced security and privacy, and more:

Running Metro style IE plug-in free improves battery life as well as security, reliability, and privacy for consumers. Plug-ins were important early on in the web’s history. But the web has come a long way since then with HTML5. Providing compatibility with legacy plug-in technologies would detract from, rather than improve, the consumer experience of browsing in the Metro style UI.

Steve Jobs cited similar reasons for Apple’s decision to keep iOS devices free from Flash player.

The desktop version of IE 10 will continue to support Flash and other plugins, but the Metro version — the one that will run on your tablet, or your laptop if you prefer the new interface to the old — won’t. But trust us, future Windows 8 tablet users, this makes for a far greater browsing experience.

[via iPodNN]

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