The last few weeks have been tough weeks to be a Flash developer. And a Flash developer working in a shop that primarily builds software using Flash. That’s us, DesignAxiom.

The release of the iPad and the verbal assault mounted by Steve Jobs on Flash and Adobe are just the latest setbacks for Flash this year. iPad, the most talked about device on the planet since, well, iPhone, has been declared strictly off limits to Flash and Flash developers.

And other web developers are eager to pile on by suggesting any number of soon-to-be-amazing technologies that will “kill” Flash. Silverlight. HTML5. Flash blockers. Maybe McAfee will call it a virus soon and delete it from everyone’s computers. (Some of you just yelled “yessss!!”. Sigh.)

What do they mean by “kill” Flash anyway? And why? Good questions that need some answers.

These are the first few posts on the DesignAxiom RGB blog, and I had intended to launch the blog with things that were much more upbeat, newsy, and a little more promotional. Instead I’m leading with the announcement that the barbarians are at the gate.

That’s what it takes to wake the inner writer, I guess. Something close to a crisis.

I also thought that I could put down everything I wanted to say about this week’s events in one post, but that’s not going to happen. As I nursed my virtual wounds last night over a couple of manhattans and some red wine, I realized I have a lot to say about this subject. And I have to stand up to what I think is wrong, and what I think is bad for our industry, and bad for our customers. And the badness is, right now, coming primarily from Apple.

So to get the point across, I’m going to tell you a bit about by myself and about DesignAxiom, so that you know this isn’t just the screed of some frustrated script-kiddie who is worried about his job making rotating flaming logos.

And  I want to walk you through some of the history of interactive software and the web, from my point of view, so that you can see why I think Flash is as important as it is, and why this week’s events and the bad press directed at Flash by many not-quite-so-disinterested parties may be bad information and may be hurting our industry.

Now, none of this is going to change what Apple does. It seems likely to me that Apple is treading into territory that the U.S. Dept. of Justice will see as anti-competitive. And they may face lawsuits and judgements that force them to change. But that will take time.

No, I think the upside is that if people in the industry, and our customers, have better information, we can react appropriately to what is going on, and influence Apple and other players, including Adobe, to do the right thing.

So, stay tuned, the history lesson begins in a moment.

-Tom