Adobe's frustration with Apple arises from Apple's decision to change the language in its iPhone OS 4.0 SDK developer agreement to formally disallow applications on the iPhone created using any language other than Objective-C, C, C++, or JavaScript.
While the broad wording of the change has cast doubt on the future viability of a whole range of cross-platform developer tools for creating iPhone applications, Apple has made it clear that Adobe's Flash technology is the primary target of its new rules.
Last month, Apple CEO Steve Jobs published an open letter explaining his company's position. Beyond his dissatisfaction with the technical merits of Flash, he justified Apple's rules as necessary to avoid being at the mercy of another company.
"We know from painful experience that letting a third party layer of software come between the platform and the developer ultimately results in sub-standard apps and hinders the enhancement and progress of the platform," he said. "If developers grow dependent on third party development libraries and tools, they can only take advantage of platform enhancements if and when the third party chooses to adopt the new features."
The conflict between the two companies has stoked antagonism between both sides, with Apple partisans disparaging Adobe and vice versa.
The latest casualty is C4, the indie Mac developers conference, which organizer Jonathan Rentzsch canceled on Wednesday to protest Apple's rules.
Declaring his commitment to advances in programming languages and tools, Rentzsch announced he was discontinuing C4 as an expression of dissatisfaction with Apple's tool and programming limitations.
"With that background in place, I hope you can understand how Section 3.3.1 has broken my spirit," he said in a blog post. "Apple is crazy-innovative in terms of hardware and software design, but I can count the total number of software engineering advances they’ve made on one hand. Section 3.3.1 makes developers wholly reliant on Apple for software engineering innovation."
John Nack, principal product manager for Adobe Photoshop, has attempted to address the mudslinging by casting the debate as a matter of freedom of choice.
"You shouldn't care about this stuff because you love or hate Adobe," he said in a blog post about Adobe's ad campaign. "You should care because these issues affect your choices as a customer & a creative person."
Network automation is gaining momentum. Here's how you can drive this powerful technology to its full potential.
Subsea cable alternatives can provide a level of comfort for those concerned about disruptions. Realistically, they will continue to play a small, but critical role in the short term.
Maintaining existing network infrastructures often incurs huge technical debt before newer technologies are adopted over time.
