Apple CEO Steve Jobs made waves recently when he released an open letter explaining why the iPhone and iPad don’t support Adobe Flash. In short, he argued that Flash was a closed platform that had security issues and wasn’t properly suited to the mobile medium.
While there was an initial response by Adobe, today the company’s two founders issued an open letter of their own. The central argument of the letter was summed up in its title: Our thoughts on open markets.
The genius of the Internet is its almost infinite openness to innovation. New hardware. New software. New applications. New ideas. They all get their chance, reads the letter. 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.
If the web fragments into closed systems, if companies put content and applications behind walls, some indeed may thrive but their success will come at the expense of the very creativity and innovation that has made the Internet a revolutionary force, the letter continues. We believe that consumers should be able to freely access their favorite content and applications, regardless of what computer they have, what browser they like, or what device suits their needs. No company no matter how big or how creative should dictate what you can create, how you create it, or what you can experience on the web.
Speaking specifically about Flash, the letter notes that anyone can make their own Flash player and that they remain a market leader because of the constant creativity and technical innovation of our employees.
We believe that 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. In the end, we believe the question is really this: Who controls the World Wide Web And we believe the answer is: nobody and everybody, but certainly not a single company, concluded the letter.
Source: Adobe.com
