05.04.2010
Updated the Blog with a story on the Apple vs. Adobe situation. Check it out here.

01.01.2010
MacSavers celebrates it’s 18th year helping Macintosh users all over DFW and the surrounding areas.

06.02.2009
Updated the Blog with a story with various musings from the past three months. Check it out on our Blog Page.

03.10.2009
Updated the Blog with a story on how to survive the recession as a Mac user. Check it out on our Blog page.

05.04.2010
Apple and Adobe are no longer good friends. Seems Apple has a huge problem with Flash, Adobe's second favorite piece of software behind Photoshop. Steve Jobs would have you think that Flash is everything that's bad in the land of the world wide web.

There are issues with Flash, there is no doubt about that. It runs much better on a Windows machine than a Mac. It has security issues and holes that people can exploit, something Adobe has been pretty good at addressing as these come to light. It has been known to cause problems in browsers, many times giving Mac users the spinning beachball and thinking their browser is the problem when it's really Flash who's the culprit. With new technologies like HTML 5 and H.264, we will start seeing sites migrate to these technologies if Flash doesn't keep up.

What's missing with this picture though is how useful Flash has become to so many. While not perfect, it's the only platform out there where you can be pretty sure the user on the other end has the plugin to see the content. One of the few options out there versus Flash is Java and that's even worse, even Steve Jobs acknowledges that. It allows you to do things on a web page that nothing else out there can touch. It's also one of the few options out there if you want to take your project and move it beyond the web and make standalone applications from them. With the announcement of CS5, Adobe was going to take that further and allow Flash apps become iPhone compatible.

Well, Apple solved that problem. They don't want Flash and they made sure that any app not compiled from a pure coding language like C++ won't be allowed. This affects more than just Flash as there are other third party compilers that allow you to make iPhone apps without having to do C++ coding, but Adobe's Flash was square in the crosshairs of this decision, one that now has the government looking into an Antitrust investigation. Don't be fooled though, this is a decision based on economics, not altruism about having the best software on Apple's products.

What do I mean by this being an economic decision? Simple. Apple doesn't want the same application to be available on other platforms, especially the Android phones, and have it be exactly the same on all platforms. Steve Jobs wants the Apple iPhone and iPad to be unique and wants to exclude all other players. The problem with this decision though is also based in economics and social behavior of his customers.

Let me explain. First, economically, it's far better for a company to use one product to code from that will let it run on multiple platforms. If I create a program in Flash, I can create versions of it to run on the Mac, a Windows machine, a Linux machine, an iPhone (currently), and even an Android phone. In total, I can create a version to run on over 300 platforms. With Apple's decision on the new iPhone OS 4.0, which will restrict all programs not programmed in a C language, a company will have to make a decision: Do I continue to code in Flash, where I can take an app that I created for the web and can now make available on multiple platforms, or do I code from scratch just for the iPhone and iPad? It's not an easy decision since Apple has sold millions of iPhones and hundreds of thousands of iPads. The App Store has proven to be a profit center for many a company. Unfortunately, it's getting harder and harder to make a profit from the App Store and the latest decision has many worried that it will suffer in the long term.

Why would the hugely successful App Store suffer? This is where social behavior comes in. One thing that Apple's Steve Jobs fails to account for is how customers will react to his draconian proclamation for anything not labeled Apple. Customers want choices, not a closed system. People who own the iPad are already trying to find ways to unlock Flash on their units. While Flash might cause issues, it's still too widely used to be ignored. Unfortunately, King Jobs has decided that Flash will not poison his latest prince, so he decrees that Flash is evil and should be banished. His subjects cry out how much the love their benevelant ruler... oh, wait... no we don't. We live in a modern world with modern human wants and desires and we desire choice, not commandments from above.

This is Steve's biggest mistake. If he were to offer the option to view Flash on his products, many would choose to use it and there are plenty who would agree with Steve and choose not to view it. Without the option of a choice though, customers will be faced with having to look at other products to get access to Flash. Steve doesn't think this will happen, but it does open the door for competition, something that wasn't materializing until this recent decision. Now, Google is jumping in bed with Adobe whole hog, hoping to use this mistake by Steve to bolster is flagging Android product. The move appears to be working and Verizon is already seeing increases in sales of Android phones, not so much from just Flash but basically people telling Steve Jobs that they won't be dictated to.

What's my take on all this? Simple, Steve is wrong and it's going to cost him. The iPad is an amazing product and he's trying to kill it before it has a chance. As a consumer, I would like my choice it electronics to give me choices, not ultimatums. We are constantly praising Apple for doing just that, but now that Steve feels Apple can't fail, he decides to take one of the founding principles of it's success and give it a crippling blow.

I know Steve claims that coding in the approved languages guarantees a better experience for the user. There are better ways to promote that though without taking away people's choice. A simple campaign to show apps in the store that are 'Apple Plus' or somesuch where you would know that it was coded in a preferred language. Working with Adobe instead of creating an enemy of a longtime partner would be a far better PR move if nothing else. Promoting cleaner code and smoother programming to give users a better experience, this is what Steve should be focusing on.

Instead, he has his empire and he's demanding fealty. Many a king has lost his crown this way.

Kevin A. Black has been a user, consultant, and trainer for graphic software and hardware for over 16 years,
specializing in integration and troubleshooting for printers, ad agencies and designers on the Macintosh platform.

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