With the recent Apple and Abode spat, over the effectiveness of Abode Flash, bringing HTML5 into limelight, Microsoft Monday said that its decision to support HTML5 and H. 264 video format essentially based on the fact the format is more certain from the legal as well as technology perspective.

The HTML 5 issue has been making headlines of late after the Apple CEO Steve Jobs said that the Apple devices – like the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad - will feature HTML5 support rather than Flash.

While Jobs cited Flash’s instability and antiquity as the reasons behind the Apple decision, Abode countered the claims saying that Flash was not unstable. In retaliation to the Apple move, Abode announced its decision of stalling the development of iPhone Flash, and focusing on the Android and other platforms.

Meanwhile, Dean Hachamovitch - the general manager of Microsoft’s Internet Explorer – who had written in a last-week blog post that HTML5 is the future of the Web that Internet Explorer 9 (IE9) will support H. 264 video only; Monday said that the the IE9 will “of course … continue to support Flash and other plug-ins.”

Hachamovitch said: “We're committed to plug-in support because developer choice and opportunity in authoring web pages are very important.”