Perspective: Is Adobe breathing down Microsoft's neck?

perspective Remember the initial hoo-ha that greeted Netscape in the mid-'90s? The idea being that a new computing platform--in this case the Web browser--would obviate the need to use Microsoft Windows anymore.

That fired imaginations. Instead of writing applications chained to a proprietary operating system, developers would build programs that ran on top of the Internet browser.

Microsoft was dead in the water. Or so a lot of smart people wanted to believe.

Even Netscape's co-founder, Marc Andreessen, got caught up in the hype, famously dismissing Windows as a "poorly debugged set of device drivers." A lot of people felt the same way. If the industry was about to embrace Web-centric computing, Microsoft would be in danger of losing its hegemony over desktop computing.

Of course, if I had a nickel for every time some smarty-pants claimed to have found a surefire Microsoft killer, I wouldn't have to meet deadlines for a living. The optimistic scenario obviously didn't work out the way Andreessen and his fellow travelers hoped it would. But the final coda had yet to be engraved on this story.

Microsoft is getting used to living--and competing for your loyalty--in a brave new world.

Now comes the announcement of a new product from Adobe Systems that intrigues me--as much for what it suggests about Adobe's ambitions as for what it might presage about the future.

I'm simplifying, but Adobe Integrated Runtime, or AIR, lets you build applications that are kind of the best of both worlds. That is, they'll run in a Web browser or as a standard client app on your desktop (and, presumably, OS-agnostic, too).

There's a lot of activity in this field--including the rise of browser-based Office competitors. This cross-platform development approach has been attempted before. Sun is still trying with Java on desktop. The company announced Java FX at JavaOne this year.

Of course, there are some potential limitations. People can do a lot with scripting languages. (That's where Ajax comes in. You can write an AIR application with an Ajax toolkit.) Adobe's doing Photoshop Express with scripting, but some apps still will require the native OS. But to the degree that any of this is successful, it means the further marginalization of Windows (someday, maybe).

We can quibble over who's got the better technology, but there's a bigger picture to consider. With all the recent advances in Web development the last couple of years, this is emerging as a golden era for users. We're up for grabs and now we've got options--lots of them.

When former Sun CEO Scott McNealy and Oracle CEO Larry Ellison were barnstorming around the country during the bubble trying to sell the world on the network computer, it was--as McNealy was wont to say on other occasions--all hat and no cattle. (Sorry Scott, but I couldn't resist.) The big reason the network computer approach failed to work was the "cloud" factor. Critics like Microsoft would (rightly) note that it was impossible to work on your spreadsheet or word processing documents unless you were first connected to the Internet. If you needed 24-7 access to your stuff, you had to pay The Man.

But a product like AIR, which is still in beta, allows people to do their work offline. They can drag and drop graphics or text between Web and desktop applications without first needing to be online. One potential negative: AIR is another proprietary plug-in and people may not want to write to it because it's Adobe's technology and consumers may get sick of downloading yet one more download.

In public, Adobe's observing diplomatic protocol. Instead of waving a red flag in front of Microsoft, Adobe execs dismiss any suggestion that they're spoiling for a fight with Microsoft (or the Java development community, for that matter.) Speaking earlier in the week with my CNET News.com colleague Martin LaMonica, Adobe's chief software architect Kevin Lynch offered this gem of an understatement: "Microsoft is trying to bring the .Net community to the Web. We are really focused on bringing the larger Web community to the desktop. It's two different approaches. It's not a head-on thing--it's just two groups of developers," Lynch said. "Our bet is on the Web."

I'm not sure that's going to mollify the folks in Redmond. But Microsoft is getting used to living--and competing for your loyalty--in a brave new world.

Biography
Charles Cooper is CNET News.com's executive editor of commentary.

More Perspectives

[NickH]

Interesting times indeed.

Various thoughts around this:

1) I think the marginalization of the OS is inevitable, becuase of a combination of many things.

2) Do end-users make (development) platforms successful, or are do they become sucessful because *developers* build apps that end-users want?

3) Does anyone actually think that HTML + JavaScript is actually a GOOD way to build software? Or to they use its becuase that's the tool at hand. Put another way, why would I choose to build a desktop app in HTML, when I could use a far simpler and more powerful toolset?

4) If there was a universal approach to building apps, that really was the best of everything, developers would use it.

5) This comment [i]Microsoft is trying to bring the .Net community to the Web[/i], I dont understand. Its estimated that 80% of .Net development is ASP.NET. The .Net community ALWAYS WAS on the web.

6) What really needs to happen, is a far better model for web based applications. So we have Flash, and we have Silverlight. It will be interesting to see which capture developer mindset. The .Net development community is huge compared the Flash, but Silverlight mainly is a version of WPF which (although excellent) is rather new (< 1 year), and I suspect many ASP.NET developers have never looked at it.

7) In respect to cross-platform support, anyone building in .Net knows that *at the moment*, 90% of desktops and large chuck of servers can run that code. I think this must surely change, and if Microsoft want to keep .Net relevant, it will need to expand its reach. Maybe they know this; silverlight has better cross-platform support, which is a start.

[dmcclenon]

Ironic...

I found it very amusing to see this article, and then view the "Top Stories" and adds on the same page - all for Microsoft related products. It made me laugh out loud...

[WJeansonne]

More like the other way around...

Microsoft is breathing down Adobe's neck with its powerful new line of Expression Web and Silverlight products. That's what causing Adobe to scramble to the Web. Once Microsoft enters the a specific arena, try raising capital or your stock price after that.

[bob1960]

Somethings in the air....

When I read this article, two things came to mind...

The first, was that I hope the kids in college today are ready for a large shift in technology during their careers. I started out learning Fortran and Assembly Language, then PL/1, then Pascal, then C, then Forth and Ada, then VB, then C++, then Java, then .NET, and now Ruby.... ad nasium. I have crossed so many platforms, languages, and concepts that I truly believe in Future Shock.

The other thing was that there may be the analogy to people moving their money from under their mattress to a bank with the move from desktop to Internet based data collection. Because that is the real issue, IMHO. Wether the app runs on the desktop or from a browser (or ilk) the basic user probably won't care if the connection is always there. Where the data is stored and how safe it is, and how easy it can be accessed will probably drive the whole design concept of the future. Personally, I am still old school enough to want the money stashed under my mattress where I can control it better. (data kept on my personal PC rather than out on the public network)

Now give me complete access to my data on any device I may happen to want to use at any moment(PC, iMAC, iPhone, cell phone, PSP, etc...) and then maybe I will feel more comfortable putting my data at more risk of exposure to the bad guys that live on the web. At least on my personal PC I can still unplug it from the world and keep backups in my saftey deposit box (under my mattress)

[august29of73]

Uhm ... you Gorgot Google!

Google Apps with Google Gears allows users to have full Office Apps both on and offline.

[vshearer]

Most tech journalists..

break me up with thier sooooo obvious angst over the world running on Microsoft. I suppose it comes from growing up on "Linux Rulz" or a Mac. I have been hearing the end of Microsoft is near for so long. The real problem is most of you are stuck in 1995 and have no idea of what the current Microsoft platform actually consists of. By the way, I had to use IE to make this post, Firefox had a problem with the Talkback page...

[AlexanderNY]

Microsoft position is strong in both OS and Web:IE is as popular as Windows

The article I am commenting contains one good observation that Web Browser could serve as a ?virtual OS? platform for the Internet-based applications, though it?s relevant to mention that any ?rumors of near end of OS are wildly exaggerated?. OS and Browsers will co-exist for pretty long time, as airplane and autos, for example.

Another important thing to mention: Microsoft Internet Explorer is almost as popular as its Windows OS with User base somehow estimated in the range of 80?90% (exact numbers are pretty hard to find). Having this, Microsoft positions itself pretty strong in ?both worlds?: OS and Internet.

There is another consideration to take into account: as modern computing is predominantly Data-Centric, then the biggest players in the software universe would be Databases. Databases can do the lion share of job on their own with just little help from OS (serving peripherals) and Web Browsers (mostly GUI). And in this area Microsoft has the strong word to say: Microsoft SQL Server is one of the most popular Databases existing now.

The only area where competition is really tough is Rich Interactive Media, or to put it simple: online Audio/Video/Animation. As of now this area is dominated by Flash?-based applications, but situation could change dramatically with the proliferation of Microsoft Silverlight? and AJAX extension to ASP.NET.

[MyRightEye]

How is this any different from the promises of Java!

How is this any different from the promises of Java!

[lance_]

been there done that

This is not Adobe's first attempt. SVG plugin failed so they bought macromedia to gain flash. Air is just the new version of flash. If you don't believe adobe talks about flex in the video on photoshop express. Oh and flex is just flash in a mark up language. If you think MS is behind the ball you have another thing coming. MS is on its second generation of tool development for xaml. Vista UI is xaml based and Silverlight (also xaml based & clr) runs on the OS and in the browser. MS believes that the best approach is through the developers. MS has great dev tools and free training. Adobe is the one who should be worried.

[onlyauser]

It's not your Father Adobe anymore...

Sure Adobe has had some tech attempt failures just as Microsoft and most software companies. The risk of failure is the result of effort nad the same can be said for success.

IMHO Adobe has made the brilliant decisions of all software companies. They aquired Macromedia. Adobe now owns PDF and everything Flash and the transistion has even produced better products IMHO. I use Adobe products everyday (since Adobe came to life) and no other software has ever came close to match the consitence of quality and elegance that is the Adobe Experience. Adobe software not only works it works great.

Adobe is going to succeed in this new effort without any doubt no other company has the needed, developed and mature products Adobe is using in thier new masterpiece.

IMHO in this particular and specific instance I think Adobe is head and shoulds above the Goliath Microsoft. The bigest difference between Adobe and Microsoft is Adobe smokes Microsoft in the quality department. As far as quality of product these two companies are at opposite ends of the software spectrum.

Adobe wins checkmate (time will tell)

[AlexanderNY]

Movie Theatres didn?t replace home TV; why would Internet outplace PC?

Privacy and security is two fundamental things. It?s hard to imagine that in some near future any remotely-stored resources, accessed via Internet will provide the same level of privacy/security as it is achievable on home PC storage. Internet and Email communication are two major contributors to the data security concern, either on a big Corporate level or a personal User level. Having this one can conclude that Internet computing will peacefully co-exist with PC computing for reasonably long period of time.

Dr. Alexander Bell, NY

[pctec100]

Microsoft's Answer, Silverlight?

I would not be surprised to see MS building a similar platform around Silverlight.

[rubenerd]

Just replacing Microsoft with Adobe.

As long as we depend on software APIs developed by commercial companies who keep the source hidden, we're not going to solve any problems. Sure it will hurt Microsoft, but as soon as we all triumphantly move over to Adobe, we've just replaced one business with another. If Adobe was given as much power as Microsoft, how do we know that they'll start acting differently?

It's like all the people who talk about Adobe/Macromedia Flash as the next big thing again in web development. Adobe refuses to support a wide array of operating systems including all the BSDs and AMD64bit versions of Linux. Heck they even skipped a version of Flash for Linux only a few years ago. If an API is open and standardised we don't have these problems.

I'd like to add that obviously noyt all commercial companies are evil and will create closed systems but to me this latest Adobe effort, Microsft's "me too" SilverLight and other things all have the same underlying problem.

Open standards must be used, not some proprietary system. It's the reason why the World Wide Web was successful over CompuServe and so forth.

This may be a "bonafide Microsoft killer", but it's not an answer to the fundamental underlying problem.

[Sumatra-Bosch]

Adobe Has Re-Invented Itself Before

Could have been road kill as a soft font developer. Says something about its institutional competence.

[bbauer0406]

what's really real...

Expecting that anyone will create a silver-bullet werewolve/vampire/Microsoft killer is silly. Non-computer geeks drive the Internet and computing; i.e., users.

Generally speaking, these folks have no interest in loading up Linux, troubleshooting driver issues, sniffing out security and malware problems. They just want their computer to work; which, arguably, Microsoft and the computer companies have done.

The thing is simply this. Your computer is like a car and its internal combustion engine. Microsoft is like gasoline; the fuel to make it work. Now, you may argue that gasoline/Microsoft contribute to global-warming and a poor computing environment. But until a "greener" fuel/operating system comes along, we're stuck with the Middle East situation and Seattle.