Would somebody put Adobe out of their misery?

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The whole Apple vs. Adobe soap opera continues. When will somebody cancel this show?

The latest installment comes from Adobe, who's now running full pages ads in the Wall Street Journal and posting open letters. The latest is entitled, "Our thoughts on open markets."

As the founders of Adobe, we believe open markets are in the best interest of developers, content owners, and consumers. Freedom of choice on the web has unleashed an explosion of content and transformed how we work, learn, communicate, and, ultimately, express ourselves.


Yeah right.

This is because (sniff) Apple won't support Flash on the iPod/iPad/iPhone. Oh boo hoo. Guess what: when I use the Lynx browser on the console of my Linux box I get no Flash support either.

More significantly, the Adobe EULA for Flash forbids anyone who has installed their Flash tools or plugin from working on Flash technologies. It is a closed, proprietary platform. Closed: not open.

As far as open markets, Apple's position on Flash is well-known, in large part thanks to Adobe's pissing and moaning and threats to sue. If Flash support is important, consumers have other devices they can choose from. No one is forcing them to buy iPads. I don't much care for the amount of control Apple places on its various devices, but by golly, that's their business. And no one is forcing anyone to buy Apple's stuff.

Notice that Adobe has chosen to air their differences in the Wall Street Journal, rather than some tech publication? That's because this isn't a technical issue: it's a financial issue -- for Adobe.

Adobe -- you want open? Open up Flash. More specifically, open source the Flash player. That way anyone can improve it, including Apple.

By the way, while you're at it, why don't you open source Photoshop?

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