Modern dinosaurs
DigitalDaily has a fascinating interview with Adobe’s co-founders. Go read the whole thing. I’m going to talk about two exchanges that I think are quite illuminating. Here’s the first:
John Paczkowski : Cross-platform mobile apps tend not to take advantage of native features unique to each device. What do you have to say about complaints that write-once-run-anywhere software results in subpar apps?
Chuck Geschke : Well, people don’t say that about Photoshop. They certainly don’t say it about Acrobat….I’m a little confused about what the real examples of that are. If there’s a problem with the performance of Flash as demonstrated on the iPhone, it’s because we haven’t been able to access the inner layers of hardware and software we need to to provide the kind of performance we can provide on other platforms. But that’s Apple’s choice, not ours. And now, of course, you can’t use it at all.
For years, Mac users have been yelling and screaming for Adobe to finally come out with products that respect the Mac user interface by using Cocoa, taking advantage of OS X-specific features, not overriding standard controls, and not resulting in UI nightmares. We want native OS X apps that use OS X’s features and look and feel right alongside other first-class Apple apps, not this cross-platform garbage that throws shit all over our disks, practically has a different user interface theme for every dialog box, and re-implements native controls in weird, incorrect ways. We hate it, and we hate them for making it.
I find it extremely telling that when confronted with these issues, Geschke doesn’t even think there’s a problem. No wonder it seems like our gripes are going ignored; they are! I mean, the guy thinks Mac users “certainly don’t say it about Acrobat”? Please. Don’t insult my intelligence.
Literally not comprehending how much your customers hate you and your products isn’t the greatest business strategy I’ve ever heard of.
Then there’s this:
John Paczkowski : Any thoughts on Steve Jobs’s claim that “Flash was created during the PC era–for PCs and mice”?
Chuck Geschke : What do you think an iPhone is? It’s a personal computer.
Wrong. It may be a computer, but it’s not a PC.
Steve Jobs isn’t saying that iPhones don’t have processors and memory and input devices and the like; what he’s saying is that the experience of handling a mobile device fundamentally differs from the experience of sitting down in front of a screen, and keyboard, and a mouse. If this clown can’t understand what Jobs is saying when he talks about the difference between conventional PCs and mobile devices, then I seriously worry about his company’s future. Cultures change. Markets change. If you don’t adapt to them, then you’re dead. End of story.