苹果与Adobe关于软件间的争执

Let's get to the debate here. Is it really a case of not separating Apple from the software developers, doesn't want Adobe kind of stick in a wedge between here on the platforms?

Yeah, I mean, this has been a back and forth that's been playing out over the last month or so, like you said, with no sort of passing back and forth between these two companies, and bloggers are definitely jumping on this. I think from like a consumer perspective, this might sound like a bigger deal than it actually is. Apple's products haven't, Apple's iPhone in particular, and iPod, haven't carried Flash in the past, which, you know, maybe has been a problem for consumers. That iPad sort of escalated this feud, because it is much more of a Web browsing device. So, if you are using those devices, you might see, you know, some large holes where a Flash video or Flash animation might go, but there are a number of workarounds that Apple has sort of talked about, with another programming format called HTML5, that lets a bunch of web sites be viewed even if they are in Flash. Like our video on cnn.com, for instance, is Flash video, but it still will work on the iPad.

What is the response? I saw there was some bloggings on cnn.com today and a number of the other leading tech sites. Do consumers support Adobe with this big high-profile campaign?

They are really split on this. Like I've seen a lot of funny comments. Some people say, you know, they feel like their parents are fighting. Like they sort of want to side with both and they don't know who to come down with. There is a Facebook group called "We're with Adobe", sort of a playoff to “We're with”, you know, “Conan O'Brien”, that whole campaign. You know, with people sort of saying that Apple is trying to put, exert too much control over the future of the web, and the future of games on mobile devices, you know, among other things. So, you see a lot of comments in both directions. People who are flash developers, which is a lot of the tech community, you know, obviously have some interest in seeing Adobe's format preserved, because they work in that and that's how they earn their living.

Is this really about an open source versus a closed source platform, though, John?

You see those terms thrown around a lot. I think both companies are trying to position themselves as open. They've both been saying that in these statements. The truth is that both of them are closed to a degree. Apple wants to maintain a lot of control over the apps to go into its gadgets, because it wants some of them to work well, not use a lot of battery life. And so Steve Jobs in a note that he posted online said that, you know, those were the reasons that he is not letting flash onto these devices. He said that it just doesn't work well. So, but at the same time, Apple is also claiming to be more open, because they use this HTML5, which is an open software. Adobe, at the same time is, sort of, you know, trying to play both sides here too a little bit.