Wired is suggesting that Adobe Systems may launch a competitor to Microsoft Office. Not only would this not be surprising (though I see little evidence in the article pointing to the presumption), but if anyone were to do it well, it would be Adobe.
The only thing better would be if Adobe, Apple, and OpenOffice could get together. Open source plus two of the most innovative makers of software in the industry...I'm salivating. (In fact, don't you think that it makes a lot of sense for Apple to acquire Adobe, given the similar corporate mentalities/competencies? Me, too.)
From the article:
... Read moreI was just geeking out (to the maximum extent that I am technically capable, which means, not much) on Adobe's Apollo site at the suggestion of a friend. Wow. This completely breaks the paradigm of how we (or, at least, I) think about computing.
We talk a lot about mixed source. You know, open-source and proprietary software, living in perfect harmony. But that is nowhere near as interesting as true mixed source: desktop code intermingled with "cloud" code. What happens when the line between my desktop and the Internet blur to the extent that I neither know nor care where one ends and the other begins?
Microsoft has a desktop fetish that inhibits its ability to think cogently online. Google has the opposite problem. Adobe, however, seems to be striking the balance just right, what with its symbiotic balance between Web technologies (Macromedia) and desktop technologies (Adobe).
While I eagerly, hungrily anticipate The Big Blur, I can't help but worry about open source's lack of preparation. Our licensing debates will soon smack of silly sciolism as the Web moves offline and the desktop moves online. What relevance do 99 percent of our licenses have to this blurred world? Not very much.
... Read moreSAN FRANCISCO--When Sun announced its new JavaFX scripting language Tuesday at the JavaOne trade show here, it looked to some like the company was trying to re-create what's already being done more widely with Adobe Systems' Flash and that Microsoft hopes to accomplish with its Silverlight software.
But JavaFX, which is geared to make it easier to build flashy Web sites and Java desktop applications but which isn't yet released as a final product, stands out from those competitors, Sun Chief Executive Jonathan Schwartz argued at a news conference.
Java is already used on the servers that power many Internet sites and on the devices people use to tap into those systems, and businesses need that connection, Schwartz said.
"We're focused on connecting business systems with people," Schwartz said. "If you're a bank, you want to reach customers on set-top boxes, car navigation systems, mobile phones. You want to reach them with your business systems to update them with their savings (account details) or credit card bill. What's happening on the Internet today is all these systems are being connected to one another."
Rich Green, Sun's executive vice president for software, said he believes the battle has just begun. "We're just seeing early build-out phases...It's just the beginning, and we have a great shot."
JavaFX programs run using standard Java software, but it employs a scripting language to try to make writing Java applications easier, Green said.
"We heard from a lot of people that (they) can do anything with Java. It just takes such a long time--it requires professional coding techniques and a very deep understanding," Green said.
Added Schwartz, "JavaFX Script is going to bring Java to creative professionals--to orders of magnitude more contributors. It's no longer the domain of object-oriented programmers."
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