Don't You Hate It When a Competitor Doesn't Read the Script?

Back in late March, when I attended Adobe Analyst Days, Adobe was pitching Apollo (now called Adobe AIR) as the great new rich Internet application (RIA) environment. When a skeptical analyst asked about possible competition from Microsoft (there were rumors about Silverlight, but it hadn't been announced yet), Adobe's reply was, "It won't compete with whatever Microsoft comes out with, because it's cross platform. Unlike Microsoft, we aren't Windows-centric."

At this point, the folks at Adobe must be wondering why Microsoft isn't sticking to the script Adobe wrote. At this point, Silverlight runs on both Windows and Mac OS X, and apparently Microsoft is working with Novell to bring it to Linux. In my view, competitors who think future Microsoft will behave like past Microsoft are making a big mistake.

Comments

[Chris S]

If Adobe responding to a question from a skeptical analyst way back when AIR was was still Apollo about an unannounced platform (SL) constitutes "writing a script" M$ should follow.....then you are sorely in need of a new script or the skeptical analyst is sorely in need of an updated question to be responded to so he is watching the right play reading from the correct script in the correct playhouse.

Comparing AIR to Silverlight, knowing what we do about both now, is like comparing Apples and Oranges and since many others before you have incorrectly done so before this article I believe Adobe would kindly point out that you might be better served to correctly compare it to Flashplayer otherwise they might assume you want to watch the wrong play.

[Guy Creese]

Chris S. is correct. Silverlight is actually more of a competitor to Flash than it is to Apollo--Silverlight binds to the browser, while Apollo is a runtime that runs outside of the browser. So while both are focused on delivering rich applications, Silverlight has a smaller universe to work in than Apollo.

That said, the point of my post still stands--that back in the spring Adobe was adamant that Microsoft was Windows-centric--and that Flash and Apollo, being cross-platform, had advantages that Microsoft technologies did not. With Microsoft branching out to other platforms, that advantage is going away.