What Adobe Should Do About HTML5: Lead

The introduction of Apple's new iPad has triggered much discussion in the blogosphere about the value of Flash as a standard for Web development in the future. Apple's decision not to allow Flash on its mobile hardware (the iPhone and iPad) in favor of promoting new open standards such as HTML5 and CSS3 to deliver dynamic graphical media (video, audio, animation, etc.) has been hotly debated by supporters and detractors of this decision. There is much to like about about HTML5 and its advantages over Flash, particularly for mobile applications, but that's not the point of this post. I'm confident the market will ultimately decide the outcome based on the real world merits of their different strengths. I'm more interested in the direction Adobe is heading with their tools based on these new developments.

Thus far Adobe seems to have reacted mostly in defense of their proprietary interests, without much indication of their intent to actually lead the advancement of new standards for the development community. Ironically, although Flash is a closed proprietary format, their responses cite "open access" as the prime rationale for Flash as a viable media option -- but with little mention of its inherent the liabilities. Another similar response offers some indication that Adobe does understand what open standards proponents want, but with only vague hints of whether Adobe is truly committed to leading the way in developing tools for these, or merely going through the motions while continuing to push Flash. This is important because new, better performing, and open standards such as HTML5/CSS3 are important to the evolution of Web development and Adobe SHOULD be in the game with best-of-class tools to support them.

Adobe says that it's in the "helping people communicate" business, wherever that may lead, but I find it curious that we haven't yet seen any evidence of their work to produce new open standards-based development tools independently of Flash. These tools are beginning to emerge, but not from Adobe. (Such as this, this, this, and this.) The HTML5 specification itself has been around since pre-2007 and includes capabilities for both video and vector graphics. As a graphics software leader, Adobe is naturally positioned to develop software for it. It's been obvious for quite some time to anyone who follows Web technology that HTML5 was coming and would be an important new standard for the Web. But all we've seen from Adobe so far is a vague commitment to develop new tools for open standards in the future, while simultaneously chiding Apple for trying to get there sooner without Flash. This is not a very forward-looking public position.

Something else bothers me: regardless of the reasons for poor Flash performance issues, particularly on Macs, this has been a problem for far too long. Flash-derived browser crashes, high processor cycles, and high power consumption have been the status quo on Macs literally for years. If Flash technology is that THAT hard to optimize, then it was ALWAYS going to be a problem for battery-powered mobile applications. And mobile applications were ALWAYS going to be the future. If Adobe has done their best to mitigate these problems until now -- and I have no reason to doubt they have -- then perhaps it's not the best solution for next generation mobile devices that will need even greater power efficiency. You can only flog a technology for so long before its limitations become too much of an obstacle.

Let's also not forget that Adobe didn't invent Flash, they bought it in 2005 from Macromedia for $3.4 BILLION. They were obviously optimistic about the future of Flash technology and wanted to capitalize on it. No harm in that. But like any investment, the market makes no long term guarantees. For financial reasons I'm sure Adobe would very much like to see Flash continue to dominate the market, but clearly the market is evolving. It's not personal, just the way it goes. It's only a problem if instead of continuing to innovate to meet future demand for better products, you get stuck trying to maximize an investment the market no longer believes in.

I'm a great fan of Adobe and have purchased and used their products for many years. The company has produced some truly innovative breakthrough technologies. Products such as Postscript, Illustrator, and Photoshop, among others, drastically improved the world of graphical computing. I absolutely want to see them continue to be successful. But the relevance of ANY technology product in the marketplace is a moving target. With the development of new Web standards that offer better performance and truly open access, the viability of Flash has peaked. Adobe should embrace the change and lead the way by producing great new tools for the next generation of Web development's best practices. But in any case, they need to lead, follow, or get out of the way. The advance of HTML5 as the dominant open standard is a certainty, and very many Web developers are already looking beyond Flash.

Personally, I'm excited about the possibilities that HTML5 open standards mean for Web communications. I anxiously await the availability of new tools that Adobe can provide to move us in that direction. I have no doubt that they will be rewarded financially for their innovation.