Comments on: Adobe: The Good, The Bad, and the Both - The Q&A http://redmonk.com/sogrady/2007/10/09/adobe-the-good-the-bad-and-the-both-the-qa/ because technology is just another ecosystem Thu, 20 Nov 2008 10:17:35 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.3 By: Mike Dolan http://redmonk.com/sogrady/2007/10/09/adobe-the-good-the-bad-and-the-both-the-qa/#comment-179366 Mike Dolan Thu, 11 Oct 2007 17:38:53 +0000 http://redmonk.com/sogrady/2007/10/09/adobe-the-good-the-bad-and-the-both-the-qa/#comment-179366 Do companies like Adobe need an OS strategy? Is it to their competitive advantage for one OS to "win"? Would Adobe be in a position to leverage, spark, or direct users to an alternative platform on their own? How would that protect or help them expand their business. Key strategic questions that I think Adobe should seriously consider. I think more ISVs should be asking these questions. Perhaps the answer is the Mac and not Linux, ok, fine, but opening up a bit could change the landscape. Microsoft is clearly using this against them - a "we support Linux" for a couple products strategy is not a strategy. I like what Adobe's doing, there has been progress, but I'd prefer to see more leadership and 'wood behind the arrow' to steal a line from McNealy ;-) Do companies like Adobe need an OS strategy? Is it to their competitive advantage for one OS to “win”? Would Adobe be in a position to leverage, spark, or direct users to an alternative platform on their own? How would that protect or help them expand their business.

Key strategic questions that I think Adobe should seriously consider. I think more ISVs should be asking these questions. Perhaps the answer is the Mac and not Linux, ok, fine, but opening up a bit could change the landscape. Microsoft is clearly using this against them - a “we support Linux” for a couple products strategy is not a strategy.

I like what Adobe’s doing, there has been progress, but I’d prefer to see more leadership and ‘wood behind the arrow’ to steal a line from McNealy ;-)

]]> By: People Over Process » links for 2007-10-11 http://redmonk.com/sogrady/2007/10/09/adobe-the-good-the-bad-and-the-both-the-qa/#comment-179194 People Over Process » links for 2007-10-11 Thu, 11 Oct 2007 07:19:23 +0000 http://redmonk.com/sogrady/2007/10/09/adobe-the-good-the-bad-and-the-both-the-qa/#comment-179194 [...] Adobe: The Good, The Bad, and the Both - The Q&A Steve’s nice update on Adobe’s RIA-land. Adobe really need to nail Linux to get that last % of platform coverage. (tags: redmonk adobemax adobe flash air flex ria linux) [...] [...] Adobe: The Good, The Bad, and the Both - The Q&A Steve’s nice update on Adobe’s RIA-land. Adobe really need to nail Linux to get that last % of platform coverage. (tags: redmonk adobemax adobe flash air flex ria linux) [...]

]]> By: stelar http://redmonk.com/sogrady/2007/10/09/adobe-the-good-the-bad-and-the-both-the-qa/#comment-179011 stelar Wed, 10 Oct 2007 20:45:42 +0000 http://redmonk.com/sogrady/2007/10/09/adobe-the-good-the-bad-and-the-both-the-qa/#comment-179011 I believe the future is with open source and JavaScript based applications. Google Gears is a good example since I think it is the only one that is fully open source. A completely new open source player to watch for is JNEXT (http://jnext.org) though still early to tell where its headed. I believe the future is with open source and JavaScript based applications. Google Gears is a good example since I think it is the only one that is fully open source. A completely new open source player to watch for is JNEXT (http://jnext.org) though still early to tell where its headed.

]]> By: Bryan Cantrill http://redmonk.com/sogrady/2007/10/09/adobe-the-good-the-bad-and-the-both-the-qa/#comment-179001 Bryan Cantrill Wed, 10 Oct 2007 20:06:17 +0000 http://redmonk.com/sogrady/2007/10/09/adobe-the-good-the-bad-and-the-both-the-qa/#comment-179001 Interesting, as always -- and thanks for the tip of the hat to DTrace and SpiderMonkey (a combination we informally dubbed "HelperMonkey"). Adobe's big mistake (in my opinion) was not open sourcing enough of their technology soon enough; had they done this several years ago instead of several months ago (and assisted on ports to "alternative" platforms like Linux and Solaris), they might have stood a chance of being what AJAX has become. As it stands, with every new line of JavaScript being written, AJAX is becoming more and more entrenched -- and the cross-browser issues are fading very quickly. (And while I don't think it was deliberate in this regard, the standardness of IE7 is a serious blow to any non-AJAX platform; if a web application is willing to not support IE6, cross-browser compatibility is really pretty straightforward.) Certainly, I think that Adobe is wise to move to a heterogeneous worldview -- though I personally will have no interest in their technologies until they have JavaScript's ubiquity... Interesting, as always — and thanks for the tip of the hat to DTrace and SpiderMonkey (a combination we informally dubbed “HelperMonkey”). Adobe’s big mistake (in my opinion) was not open sourcing enough of their technology soon enough; had they done this several years ago instead of several months ago (and assisted on ports to “alternative” platforms like Linux and Solaris), they might have stood a chance of being what AJAX has become. As it stands, with every new line of JavaScript being written, AJAX is becoming more and more entrenched — and the cross-browser issues are fading very quickly. (And while I don’t think it was deliberate in this regard, the standardness of IE7 is a serious blow to any non-AJAX platform; if a web application is willing to not support IE6, cross-browser compatibility is really pretty straightforward.) Certainly, I think that Adobe is wise to move to a heterogeneous worldview — though I personally will have no interest in their technologies until they have JavaScript’s ubiquity…

]]> By: sogrady http://redmonk.com/sogrady/2007/10/09/adobe-the-good-the-bad-and-the-both-the-qa/#comment-178918 sogrady Wed, 10 Oct 2007 14:39:25 +0000 http://redmonk.com/sogrady/2007/10/09/adobe-the-good-the-bad-and-the-both-the-qa/#comment-178918 Ian: yes indeed. Workday, for example, has built a traditional Java back end and the database, IIRC, is MySQL in that case. so it was Flex writing to MySQL via Java and so on. Adobe also has their own transactional capabilities with the LiveCycle set of products. Ian: yes indeed. Workday, for example, has built a traditional Java back end and the database, IIRC, is MySQL in that case. so it was Flex writing to MySQL via Java and so on. Adobe also has their own transactional capabilities with the LiveCycle set of products.

]]> By: Ian Skerrett http://redmonk.com/sogrady/2007/10/09/adobe-the-good-the-bad-and-the-both-the-qa/#comment-178897 Ian Skerrett Wed, 10 Oct 2007 12:48:39 +0000 http://redmonk.com/sogrady/2007/10/09/adobe-the-good-the-bad-and-the-both-the-qa/#comment-178897 Stephen, As always an interesting perspective. The one thing I am uncertain about is how Adobe fits into the back-end transactional systems. It seems they are focused on the UI, which is important, but are people also using Flex to write database transactions? Stephen,

As always an interesting perspective. The one thing I am uncertain about is how Adobe fits into the back-end transactional systems. It seems they are focused on the UI, which is important, but are people also using Flex to write database transactions?

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