In November 2000, I posted my opinion on Soulfux.com about Jakob Nielsen's post Flash: 99% Bad.

"Jakob Nielsen? What is the dude really about? "Flash:99% bad".
I think he makes some relevant points sometimes, and I do respect some of his views, however he churns out some of the most self derived bullshit regarding the web and usability. The Internet is not just about information and plain text, but a medium of information exchange in the technologies that are available for content within the deliverable boundaries. Simply, I don't watch television to read subtitles. I watch for the stimulating experience. Stimulation is key when interaction is for the most part what the Internet is about. Jakob Nielsen has no soul, or he is just making up his shit to be different and get some press in his campaign to be noticed, just marketing, all about the money, this world sucks. No truth, no values and no principles."

In April 2002 I again posted,
"Also I am overjoyed someone in the Industry (Internet), Nathan Segal finally decided to refute Jakob Nielsen's Bull Shit (as we all know it is just a way for Jakob to make money by being untruthful to the uniformed prospective clients out there that he may end up consulting)."

In June 3, 2002 Jakob Nielsen updated the article to basically say Flash is 100% Good because he partnered with Macromedia and got some money from them.

"On June 3, 2002, we announced a strategic partnership between Macromedia and Nielsen Norman Group to improve Flash usability: we will develop the usability guidelines for Internet-based applications in Flash MX."

There were never any usability issues with Macromedia Flash at all. It was all about the designer not the product. He outright blasted the Macromedia Flash Software. A website I designed was awarded Macromedia Site Of The Day way back in 1999. There were hundreds of so many great Flash websites back then that it seemed almost like Jakob Nielson had a hidden agenda in ignoring this and posting his crap.

In 2005 Jakob Nielsen posted the Top Ten Web Design Mistakes of 2005. Where number 3 was Macromedia Flash.

"I view it as a personal failure that Flash collected the bronze medal for annoyance. It's been three years since I launched a major effort to remedy Flash problems and published the guidelines for using Flash appropriately. When I spoke at the main Flash developer conference, almost everybody agreed that past excesses should be abandoned and that Flash's future was in providing useful user interfaces. "

My actual point in re-hashing this post is to comment on how quickly opinions can change with the passing of time when there is money involved and one gets a piece of the action. Sometimes there are many inaccuracies in the information that we view daily. The same way in which most commentaries are now criticizing the Google/YouTube merge.

There is a saying, "throw stone in a hog pen, who get lick a di one weh bawl out"

I won't go into much more of what I think was the agenda of Jakob Nielsen at the time of his first utterly miscalculated and inane article, but will add that I hope he made some money.

I am not the only one who thinks he is full of crap - Jakob Has It Wrong.