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According to Apple, Adobe’s software is outdated, it is a security risk and Steve Jobs said that they crash the computer. There is some truth to that – Adobe’s PDF and Photoshop takes up so much resources when starting up that practically everything else has to shut down. It basically freezes your computer or worse crashes it. Further, Adobe’s PDF is major target for malware and Adobe does a great job of routinely plugging those holes. However, every time a hole is plugged the patches get bigger. Eventually Adobe software on your computer become a big application and takes up more space on your hard drive. Now that the Adobe application is bigger it takes up even more resources during start up (bigger applications don’t always take up more resources).
However, others say that the war is not over any of this. The war dates back to 1996 when Adobe dropped support to Mac products. At that time Steve Jobs needed Adobe’s support because he was trying to woo the artist and designer community. However, Adobe decided to support only Microsoft. This is what Adobe CEO said:
Creative professionals will “be able to edit their video in Premiere, edit their images in Photoshop and be able to create DVDs in a very creative way”, Chizen said. But they may not be able to do that on a Mac with an Adobe product. Making a Mac DVD product is “something we’re still evaluating”, Chizen said.
In 2004 Adobe published a report that showed certain Adobe applications running faster on Windows PCs than on Macs. It was not until 2005 that Adobe ported Photoshop to OS X. Until then Adobe focused solely on Windows. Adobe did not support Flash on Macs either, but when Apple turned around and bought a Macromedia offshoot, repackaged it as Final Cut and cut Adobe out of a lucrative revenue stream, Adobe came running.
It was not until 2006 when Apple was a hit that Adobe decided to start supporting it. By then it was too late. In fact some say “Adobe thought that it had the dominant hand and displayed its arrogance in public“. A blogger writes:
Sorry, Adobe, you screwed yourselfl. You made a business decision in 1996 to screw Apple when it needed you most to gain credibility for its fledgling OS with the creative crowd. Somehow, Apple making a business decision to protect its customers from your shitty product is the most egregious ethical concern of our time.
How about Adobe start fixing their relationship with the Apple community one step at a time: fix Flash for the desktop and then we can chat about the iPhone, iPad and i….
Adobe made a wrong bet in 1996 and is suffering the consequences in 2010 and has no one to blame except themselves. It’s Adobe’s turn to show that it matters to Apple and the tech industry. I don’t remember Apple or Steve Jobs whining in 1996-2006 about Adobe not contributing to the Apple ecosystem.
Innovate or die, bitches.
Tags: Adobe, Apple
Thank you! The PDF is a hideously complicated and mostly unnecessary kludge. Maybe it can just go away??
Comment by Susan Kuchinskas — April 13, 2010 @ 7:52 PM
Acrobat Reader under Windows always starts things running in the background, insinuates itself into the system boot process, puts hooks all over the place, asks you to update and/or upgrade it… basically it behaves a lot like malware. Hate it. I use alternative PDF products that let me tell them when to run.
Photoshop, on the other hand, works the way you expect it, so I have no malice towards it. It takes a lot of resources because it's doing a lot of work.
Comment by thundt — April 13, 2010 @ 8:15 PM
Ouch, but Adobe products aren't exactly intuitive. I believe there is a space and place for both Apple and Adobe to thrive in the world of applications, but I would really like my flash stuff to work on all the "i…" stuff. End-users are suffering, and this impacts both personal and professional, enterprise-class decisions for web design. I want to bet on both, but Apple seems to be holding all the cards now. AND it would be nice if Adobe fixed the horrendous security and coding issues soon. Make it work mega companies!
Comment by Tina — April 13, 2010 @ 8:19 PM
Daya like a cowboy – kicks Adobe in the nuts – Well, lesson learnt here- don't bet against steve jobs
Comment by eddy — April 13, 2010 @ 8:32 PM
Oh yeah, Daya. Tell it like it is. I still rue the day Adobe purchased Macromedia. The innovation ends and the kluge-patching begins.
Comment by Molly — April 13, 2010 @ 9:13 PM
Finally, someone tells it like it is. I hate Adobe!
Comment by Robert — April 13, 2010 @ 9:21 PM
This article doesn't make sense. This is not a vindictive thing, people. If adobe has value to add, then apple should support flash and other adobe products. Why does it matter that adobe made a decision back in 1996 that, in hindsight, was wrong?
The arguments in this article should have centered around the emergence of good, standards-based alternatives that have reduced / eliminated the need for apple to support adobe's products.
Comment by NMNMNMNM — April 13, 2010 @ 9:22 PM
Let's start the "say no to PDF" club. That is a terrible application. I dislike Adobe and it has nothing to do with the relationship with Apple.
Flash has made a mess to website design too.
Comment by LouAnne — April 13, 2010 @ 9:27 PM
PDF is indeep heavy (for what it does) but it does bring uniformaity to digital documents. Adobe should open it up as open source technology and let it improve.
What are other alternates for PDF documents (where you dont have to buy a piece of software to view a file)?
Comment by Sarbjeet Johal — April 13, 2010 @ 10:07 PM
Its a biased openion from someone who does not like Adobe and loves Apple. Apple is NO open platform either. in fact they are most "closed" company even in this age!
Comment by Sarbjeet Johal — April 13, 2010 @ 10:09 PM
You're right. The reason Apple rejects Flash isn't because of any past battles. Flash may be ubiquitous, but it is not stable and there is no reason Apple should support it. Simply because many people want it doesn't mean Apple is obligated to provide it. Clearly, the lack of Flash has not slowed down the growth of the iPhone, and it certainly won't stop people from buying iPads. It's a matter of time & resources. Flash would have taken too much of both for Apple to include it… so, it punted.
Comment by MsTiki — April 13, 2010 @ 10:37 PM
Google docs.
Comment by Kara — April 13, 2010 @ 10:57 PM
oh get out. I disagree, I'm with Adobe. I'm happy they are screwing over Apple. I'm not making this stand point either from being a Windows "fan boy".
Comment by Ben Copeland — April 14, 2010 @ 3:18 PM
PDF is not the issue of the war. iPhone handles PDFs as does Apple's built-in OS and software (like Preview).
The technology Jobs was referring to was Flash, not PDF.
Comment by D B — April 15, 2010 @ 5:19 PM
All you Itards don't realize you are being hustled by Steve Jobs. He is making you go to the app store so he can squeeze every last penny out of you. As soon as flash is accepted those apps you love will be in the browser and I'll be there two years later saying I told you so. For the moment steve jobs should milk all you idiots for all you are worth because his wave is coming to an end very soon!!!!
Comment by Web Evangelist — April 15, 2010 @ 10:40 PM