In a double-barreled response to Apple CEO Steve Jobs’ objections to Flash, Adobe’s cofounders released a public letter rebuking the Cupertino, Calif. company for undermining the Web while releasing a new advertising campaign marked by a tough love message.
Adobe cofounders Chuck Geschke and John Warnock, in an open letter, charged no “single company” should control the Web.
“Apple, by taking the opposite approach, has taken a step that could undermine this next chapter of the web — the chapter in which mobile devices outnumber computers, any individual can be a publisher, and content is accessed anywhere and at any time,” the two wrote Thursday.
The creators of Adobe, while not specifically mentioning Apple, warned “closed systems” where applications were “behind walls” threatened to fragment the internet and stifle creativity.
“No company — no matter how big or how creative — should dictate what you can create, how you can create it, or what you can experience on the web,” Geschke and Warnock wrote.
Adobe also unveiled a new Web advertising campaign, including a large “We [Heart] Apple.” Consumers that click on the ads go to Adobe’s website which displays “We [Heart] Choice” along with links to the founders’ letter. The ads, along with online, will appear in Thursday’s Washington Post. The latter effort may be aimed at getting the attention of regulators.
In April, Apple CEO Steve Jobs released a public letter, charging the iPhone maker and Adobe had “grown apart” and that Adobe’s Flash was no longer necessary for online consumers to enjoy video or companies present advertising. In related news, CBS will announce plans to adopt HTML5, a Flash-alternative embraced by Jobs, for the network’s CBS.com portal.
[via AppleInsider and Adobe letter]
Ed Sutherland is a veteran technology journalist who first heard of Apple when they grew on trees, Yahoo was run out of a Stanford dorm and Google was an unknown upstart. Since then, Sutherland has covered the whole technology landscape, concentrating on tracking the trends and figuring out the finances of large (and small) technology companies.
