Adobe launched a new ad campaign today along with a response to Steve Jobs’ declaration that Flash will never be supported on iPhones, iPads, and iPods last week. (In fact, they’ve added a whole new Freedom of Choice section on Adobe.com.) There are a few amusing (and somewhat contradictory) statements in Adobe’s open letter (like this one: “If the web fragments into closed systems…their success will come at the expense of the very creativity and innovation that has made the Internet a revolutionary force.” Um, seriously Adobe? You just said that? After swallowing your smaller rival Macromedia to become a monopoly in web development and design software and — as a bonus — acquire the very technology we’re having this open/closed argument about, you’re talking about closed systems (hint: Flash is a closed system) coming at the expense of creativity and innovation? Really?), but you can read it for yourself on Adobe’s site.
What I find most interesting about this new love campaign isn’t even positioning Apple as the bad guy and Adobe as the ones really interested in freedom and openness (while authoring — and trying to save — a patently closed and proprietary system). (Also note: “open markets“, as described in their letter, is entirely different from “open standards” or “open source“.) I’m interested in the fact that all of this love is aimed not at consumers — who don’t give a crap what powers the stuff they do on the internet and who will, regardless of what comes of the Adobe vs. Apple feud, still buy iPads, iPods and iPhones — it’s aimed at developers. It’s aimed at designers. It’s a desperate we-just-made-massive-improvements-to-authoring-Flash-apps-with-CS5-and-we-don’t-want-to-lose-money plea to not abandon Adobe to open standards and HTML5 and everything else Steve was preaching about in his letter. Apple is not going to change their stance. Ever. This letter was designed to get the people who make Flash apps to not reconsider making those apps with Flash and using something else instead.
What’s also interesting is that, weren’t we just talking about a possible lawsuit against Apple? Now, “We love Apple”? Really? What was that thing that one guy who preached all about love said right before he was carted away…something like “Judas, must you betray me with a kiss?”
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