Adobe's CEO: Jobs' Flash letter is a 'smokescreen' for 'cumbersome' restrictions (update: video)
By Nilay Patel 
posted April 29th 2010 4:11PM
posted April 29th 2010 4:11PM
There's no official transcript yet, but the Wall Street Journal just live-blogged an interview with Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen, in which he responded to the Steve Jobs "Thoughts on Flash" letter posted this morning. Substantively, Narayen didn't offer much we haven't heard Adobe say before, but his frustration with Apple is palpable even in summary form: he called Jobs' points a "smokescreen," said Flash is an "open specification," and further said Apple's restrictions are "cumbersome" to developers and have "nothing to do with technology." What's more, he also said Jobs' claims about Flash affecting battery life are "patently false," and suggested that any Flash-related crashes on OS X have more to do with Apple's operating system than Adobe's software.Perhaps most importantly, Narayen reiterated that Adobe is fundamentally about making it easier for devs to write multiplatform tools -- a stance Jobs specifically took issue with in his letter, saying multiplatform tools lead to bad user experiences. Apple and Adobe and the rest of us can argue about battery life and performance all night, but that's clearly the central philosophical difference between these two companies, and we doubt it's ever going to change. That is, unless Adobe absolutely kills it with Flash 10.1 on Android 2.2 -- and given our experiences with Flash on smartphones and netbooks thus far, we'll be honest when we say that's going to be a major challenge. We'll link over to the full transcript when it goes up, but for now, hit the source link for the liveblog.
Update: We've now embedded video of the interview for you after the break. Much better than a transcript, don't you think?
@Patriot Actually Adobe pulled Premier from the Mac platform, Apple responded with Final Cut which killed Premier, dead, dead, dead.
Utter annihilation.
Would Photoshop etc suffer the same fate?
Why didn't he ask him why it took 10 years to go native with OSX and his apps if he reckons he is truly mulit-platform? He has a lot of balls to sit there and blame Apple for their operating system crashes when Apple was been waiting and waiting for them to go native with CS. I can now understand why Steve is really pissed at them holding us all back.
I like Adobe's creative products, but I gotta agree with Mr. Jobs on this one. I want developers making iPad apps with the latest and greatest tools made specifically for that platform.
NOT tools meant for damn PCs and TVs (did he seriously say TVs?), and a whole slew of other devices that aren't even the same form factor. That's just a f__in' no brainer people.
For the record, Photoshop is the cornerstone of my digital art and well being. I truly love it. So this isn't a one sided fanboy comment. I'm a fanboy of both companies. Apple's argument clearly makes sense here though.
Plus, with so many iProducts out there, you'd be a business idiot to put flash on a website now!!!
So many missed opportunities to communicate would make me loose sleep. No way I'd justify that loss. When you add up iPods, iPhones, and iPads (with the fact that Flash bugs out Macs to begin with) that's a HUGE loss of communication and visibility!!!
wow, I am so tired of hearing about Adobe vs. Apple. I simply don't care about flash. I am happy with my iPhone 3gs, MacBook, and Barnes and Noble nook e-reader.
I love using my Mac computer, but....
As a web designer and photographer, I have come to rely on Adobe products for both of those jobs. They are the defacto standard for publishing and have been unchallenged for more than a decade. Most professionals who are in my position would reluctantly choose Adobe and switch to a PC rather than use whatever software Apple comes out in response if Adobe suddenly pulled Apple support.
With Adobe Premier and Final Cut Pro, that was a different story because I don't think Premier was ever made to run on Macs so longtime Mac users never became reliant on it. Even before that, Avid was much more popular than Premier prior to Final Cut Pro's arrival.
Photoshop is a different story entirely, even if a viable alternative by Apple came out today, I don't know many professionals that would quickly switch and reinvest in Apple. The heavy investment in Photoshop plugins, actions, and familiarity by many pro's would make switching to another editor unrealistic.
Just look at how many Mac users choose Lightroom (which is much slower and buggier on Macs than on PC's) over Aperture, a native Apple software that does the same thing and runs way better.
In regards to Flash and HTML5. Right now, HTML5 using Canvas, various javascript libraries, and CSS3 can't do what flash does in rich and engaging multimedia experiences. Browsers can't even agree on which video codec to support and W3C rules aren't followed the same way by major browsers. I hope the next major update to HTML, CSS, and modern browsers solves these issues and the web finally becomes more standardized.
Flash, although it has performance issues on Macs, just doesn't have these issues. Sites look and work the same and it's relatively easy to deliver an engaging web experience in comparison to HTML5. The flash plugin, love it or hate, has such a high level of market acceptance that designers/developers need only have to worry about browsers or users who intentionally block it's content, which is a very tiny amount of users.
If Adobe improves Flash on Macs and mobile devices users in general will love it and want it just like they always have. Apple is wagering that Flash can't do this within the 5 years or so it will take to see improvements in HTML5. Unlike Apple, Adobe can control the outcome of this situation and I think in the end they will deliver a product that works and Apple will at least allow Flash in it's browsers within a year.
Have nothing to do with technology? Is this guy fucking cereal?
@DomIAm
LOL
@HighestDouche2 ...just because you are homeschooled doesn't mean you make any sence. So logic escapes in your posts to the point that Flash running Quake years before HTML was able to got twisted and you somehow try to claim a point on that...shure, shure. Then you go on to spew some gibberish about closed proprietary middleware...ok man, see now, Flash interacts with middleware layers in common client/server communication just like any other scripting/coding does...Flash isn't middleware. There is a difference between "being" and "using", people that don't know that are "ignorant" of it, just like you little Timmy. Middleware in the strict sence is something like Corba, but don't fill your little head with these new big concepts. It will hurt you. You may end up forgetting something important with all that information up there in that tiny backwards head of yours. Hey, hey breathe out...in...ou..in...don't forget.
Also don't let it cut in on your Me time while browsing the web and posting those sorts of absurdities, you simply don't know better do you, the thing is little Timmy, you just repeat false info and people don't take the time to set you straight. That's where the trolling is hurting you. It creates this field of repulsion and no one cares. But I believe in equal opportunity, even for mindless little trolls like you. I understand that your not the sharpest pencil so you just can't help it. But come on little Timmy, at least try to come up with something...that reads remotely convincing.
Also, actionscript Flash isn't closed, you can code, compile and run it online for free, Adobe released it through project Tamarin and people developed implementations of it online. Yes little Timmy, these are good news, you will not have to ask your cash-strapped family for money to use it. Unlike anything you see in your precious dumbed down app store, you can develop with it for free. Well...not you...you...you really don't have any clue how to go about doing that or what it is all about, you're clueless...but you know...people that function can. You can repeat it is closed as many times as you want, but still people know better. Here, take a look at all those funny colors. http://wonderfl.net/
Remember, HTML5 defines a new embed tag that will be used for your mental nemesis...Flash. Several browsers are now implementing it. I know that's enough to get your blood boiling...but hey...Apple agreed on that tag so they could drag quicktime inside that awesome new HTML5. We all know how open quicktime was...was as in no one uses that crap anymore because flash video replaced it "de facto"
I love how there's this cryptic Pokemon match going on in the comments today. That's awesome! My son would love this. To bad Bulbasaur can't run Adobe.
At the end it's us the consumers who suffer from all this fighting. Tell the big companies who the real boss is. Join this movement:
http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/?sk=2361831622
@peopleschoice sorry wrong link. Try this one:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=123020374379075
I'm shocked at the content here. For such an intelligent group, you're missing the reason that there will be no Flash on i(Pad|Phone): Hulu uses Flash. For example: Hulu charges $0 for "The Office"; iTunes charges $2-3 per episode for their non-open, H.264 versions of "The Office". Apple, a computer company, waited on the iPad, a computer, for business reasons: to build up enough iTunes subscription content and prove that people will pay for otherwise free content if it's delivered automatically to their player of choice like a DVR. Apple is about making money, not technical standards. Unfortunately, they've had to aggressively challenge Adobe's reputation to maintain there hedge. To the commenters who think Apple might buy Adobe, why would they? They can buy Hulu for a lot less. At $3 an episode, it doesn't take long for the content to become more profitable than the devices. Furthermore, if Flash made it to an idevice, Adobe Air would follow, creating an alternative source of .99 fart apps. Congratulations, you just bought a shiny iTunes portal.
You know, at the end of the day, I think many of you folks on here have no clue about open standards and creation workflows and all that sort of stuff.
Nobody is saying that Flash is absolutely perfect. I doubt that even Mr. Narayen himself would say that Flash is without flaws. However, hardware acceleration will solve many of Flash's issues, and continued development for multiple hardware and OS platforms will positively contribute to codebase improvement. Moreover, Flash is out there (for better or worse) and all that's happening is Mr. Jobs and Apple are basically telling their customers what experiences they will have and which ones they won't. How is *that* not dictatorial?
If Adobe ever wanted to make Apple sweat, all they'd have to do is hint that the could threaten to stop developing software for the Mac. To be fair, at this point Apple needs Adobe a helluva lot more than Adobe needs Apple. Besides, Adobe has been right there with Apple along, through thick and thin and good times and bad. This is how Steve thinks he can treat his company's #1 developer?
I hate to say it, but Apple's behavior and Steve's attitude of late are really making me want to seriously re-evaluate my own attitude and loyalty. Steve ought not to forget the Mac has long since stopped being the only viable platform for doing print/web/multimedia content authoring on. Perhaps it's time we the community showed that to him.
iTunes and Quicktime hogs my system, and I'm currently running Windows7 on an iMac.
If anything, opening Quicktime than using Flash is what contributes to my system wanting to commit suicide.