Adobe

Adobe AIR is a platform that can be utilized to create rich desktop applications. Twhirl and AlertThingy are two recent examples of applications built on AIR.

freshAIRApps is a community resource that offers a directory of AIR applications, news, resources along with developer tutorials. Corvida posted a review of the service on Readwriteweb and noted, "FreshAIRApps is poised to be the premier directory for all your Adobe AIR needs by providing a haven for users and developers to mingle together."

Apparently Adobe is now going after anyone who uses the word "air" in a domain name that has content related to the Adobe AIR platform. freshAIRApps creator James Whittaker noted today:

I have recently been informed that Adobe systems believe that this website and it's domain name are in infringement of their trademarks. This is because I am using the word AIR in the domain name freshAIRapps.com. Adobe seem to think that they own the trademark of AIR and that I can't use it and should hand the domain over to them and stop the website. After reading through the list of Adobe trademarks they only reference Adobe AIR and not AIR. I have been in communication with members of the Adobe evangelist team who truly believe that I am helping the community and promoting the use of the AIR runtime and subsequent applications built on the platform. I started this site because I have a genuine interest in AIR and other Adobe technologies.

James concludes by saying that, "Adobe has let me and the community down by trying to block sites that appear to challenge their marketplace, even though none of the apps featured on this site are hosted by me." If James properly redirects the domain, the change should be semi-transparent.

We will try to get some comments from Adobe AIR evangelist Ryan Stewart today. Going forward, freshAIRApps will now be known as RefreshingApps.

Adobe is making a major announcement tonight -- the public beta launch of Acrobat.com. No longer does the Acrobat name only mean "related to PDF." The suite of hosted tools include a word processor, PDF converter, conferencing and file storage. From the looks of it, Acrobat.com could be a competitor to parts of office suites from Google/Zoho and could also compete with document sharing tools including Docstoc and Scribd. All of the services are hosted on Acrobat.com and use the SaaS model (software-as-a-service). It's clear that collaboration is now Adobe's focus and this makes sense as we all move to a more connected world.

The tools offered on Acrobat.com include:

Adobe Buzzword

A word processor that allows you to share documents, comment, review, and create printer-ready document output.

Adobe ConnectNow

A conferencing tool including video, audio, text chat and desktop sharing.

Other

There's storage in the cloud for your files along with online file sharing, PDF conversions and the ability to create embeddable documents directly from Acrobat.com. There's also an API for extending the services listed above.

Is Acrobat.com a game changer? Certainly could be if marketed correctly. Companies (and agencies) using the suite of tools that Adobe provides will see seamless integration with these new Acrobat.com tools and should be effective in providing access to clients, customers and team members.

For Docstoc and Scribd which live on sharing documents, Acrobat could make an impact. Both Docstoc and Scribd allow you to share most formats while Acrobat requires you to convert the files first. Will this help Docstoc and Scribd keep their edge? Only time will tell but if I was in their shoes, I would be ramping up innovation within their tools.

Adam Ostrow agrees on the potential document sharing woes.

In other Adobe news, they have released version 9 of Acrobat -- ranging in price from $299 to $699. Dana Wollman has more on the differences between the versions and pricing.

One of the things I find interesting is when we talk about the big Web companies, Adobe is usually not on the list. With today's Acrobat.com launch, we might just begin to group them with the top players in the Web space and specifically in the collaboration space.

Web strategy firm Howard Baines has just released to the public their FriendFeed API application named AlertThingy. It uses Adobe AIR to run as a desktop application and basically shows you whatever is in your friendfeed on your desktop. That's about it. I won't even ask how they will monetize it (see below) or how FriendFeed will monetize themselves because it's the same issue as Twitter has. It seems everyone loves FriendFeed these days.

This is a smart idea and more Web agencies should be creating simple Web apps built on other platforms to keep their agency top of mind. While the traditional Howard Baines client may not give a hoot about FriendFeed, it can be a great sales strategy. It can also help build very valuable inbound links like the one above. MORE »

Adobe is making two announcements this morning related to its Flash Lite software today. Flash Lite has passed the 500 million software installation mark. This means that Flash Lite is pre-installed on 500 million phones to-date. Flash Lite is a slimmed-down version of the full Adobe Flash that is included on nearly every computer today.

The other announcement is Microsoft is licensing the new Flash Lite 3.0 version for Internet Explorer on Windows Mobile. This could help Microsoft to gain mobile browser ground against the iPhone as the latter does not currently have Flash support.

I recently purchased a Windows Mobile phone and have found the default IE browser to be barely usable. The browser works great with Twitter, but for anything that uses JavaScript or any "new" technology, it is slow or non-responsive. On the other hand, I installed Opera Mobile and it's awesome. While you have to scroll left to right to view an entire page (or zoom out), sites and pages render perfectly. It's an excellent competitor to the iPhone's Safari browser. I was even able to write a full CN post using Opera Mobile which was amazing.

Today Adobe is announcing the official release of Adobe AIR and Flex 3. While these announcements are not really news in that the products have been in beta, and usable for a year, today seems a good point in time to mark the official end of the Windows era.

With AIR and Flex, What Adobe is doing is building a platform to replace all operating systems as a development target, and the implications of this are profound.

For most applications it does not make sense to write directly to the OS any more. This movement has been underway for years as application developers have been increasingly writing applications for web browsers instead of for specific PC operating systems. But web applications have had two problems. First they just looked crappy compared to desktop apps. And second, they did not have access to the file system and other local resources that a standard application has.

Adobe's Flex is a developer tool that is built on top of it's ubiquitous Flash Player. Flex makes building sophisticated web applications, also called Rich Internet Applications (RIAs), much easier than writing apps to the Windows API. Flex apps are slicker than standard Windows apps, and seamlessly integrate with the web. At the same time, HTML/Javascript apps are starting to look very good. While Flex is more powerful that HTML/Javascript, for many apps HTML/Javascript is quite good enough.

Adobe AIR is a tool that allows developers to build Flex applications or HTML/Javascript applications that work on the desktop but have access to the Internet and can synchronize between the web and the desktop when offline.

What is strategically significant about these tools is that they give millions of web developers the ability to do almost everything a hardcore Windows or Mac developer can do in a way that is totally cross platform (Windows/Mac/Linux and maybe mobile someday). A typical web developer today has no idea how to build desktop apps, so this technology is a game changer for that audience.

At the same time, if you are writing with Flex and AIR or HTML/Javascript and AIR you are not writing to Windows, or for that matter Mac OS X. The strategic import of this cannot be understated. Having MS-DOS and then Windows as the world's most important software development platform has been Microsoft's single most significant advantage in its history as a software company. That advantage is gone.

Adobe's strategy is a death stroke to Windows as a strategic monopolistic platform. And Adobe as a software company with revenues north of three billion dollars has the muscle, the development community, and the momentum to fight this battle. They will not be "Netscaped."

Windows will be a money maker for years to come as a tool that end users care about. And to be sure, there is still significant strategic value to the platform. But as a "must have" because people need to run Windows compatible apps, as of today we can say that rationale is officially dead.

RIP Windows 2008.

This article was authored by Hank Williams who is a New York-based entrepreneur who recently launched a new blog: Why Does Everything Suck? exploring the tech marketplace from 10,000 feet.

Before I provide the update, I'd like to personally thank John Nack over at Adobe (Nasdaq: ADBE) for helping to figure out what the situation is regarding the Omniture tracking code inside of Adobe CS3 products. He replied to my post (along with others) during the Christmas holiday while I am sure the company CEO was fishing or surfing or whatever. If CEO Shantanu Narayen, is reading this, you sir should give John a bonus of some sort. He went above and beyond the call of duty during a holiday break.

Check out my previous posts to get more detail on the issue - which basically boils down to Omniture tracking code being injected into CS3 applications and the worse part is that they tried to hide it by using a domain name that looks like an IP address. Yesterday we got reports that the Omniture opt-out doesn't work. I said all along that I can't understand how it could work anyway being browser-based with a cookie.

John has posted a FAQ on the issue along with a technical note about the configuration.

Here is a snippit from the FAQ:

Q.: Why does Adobe use a server whose name is so suspicious-looking?
A.: I'm afraid the answer is that we don’t really know. The fact is that this SWF tracking code already existed on the Macromedia side at the time the companies merged, and it was adopted without change by a number of products for CS3. The people who wrote the code originally did not document why they used that server name, and we can’t find anyone who remembers. I'm sorry we aren’t able to provide a more solid, definitive explanation.

Q.: Follow-on: Given that you can’t give a good reason why Adobe is using a server whose name is so suspicious, are you going to change the name?
A.: Absolutely. We are working with Omniture on this right now, and will make this change as soon as we can. (I don't know how long this will take, but will post here when I do.)

This is unacceptable for a publicly-traded company. Where's the documentation? And whomever was in charge of the team that made this decision, should be held responsible. I do appreciate that they are working towards changing the name - let's hope it happens quickly. I'd also like to see an update that offers me the ability to turn it off on install. That should be easy enough.

Yesterday we wrote about Adobe (Nasdaq: ADBE) and their potential spying on CS3 customers. The questions were based on screenshots showing a domain "2o7.net" which is owned by tracking firm Omniture. The screenshot (posted below again) shows what appears to be an internal IP address which it's not. Why would Adobe try to hide the tracking with a fake IP address?

John Nack, Adobe Photoshop product manager has provided a reply to the privacy concerns. He mentions that Adobe is closed this week and so his reply is the best he could find out while everyone else is away. We appreciate the effort John, thank you.

John notes that there are three places that Adobe CS3 reports data to Omniture:

• The welcome screens in some Adobe apps include a Flash SWF file that loads current news, special offers, etc. These requests hit Adobe.com servers and are logged, like regular browser-based traffic, by Omniture.
• Adobe Bridge embeds both the Opera browser and the Flash Player, both of which can be used to load Adobe-hosted content. These requests are also logged.
• Adobe apps can call various online resources (online help, user forums, etc.), and those requests are logged.

He concludes with, "Tracking user habits can be a good thing that benefits customers by helping software creators notice trends & improve their tools. When Adobe has pursued this kind of thing, it's always been on a strictly opt-in basis."

So John, let me throw it back over to - you note that I can opt-out of the tracking. Where in the installation process is the opt-out screen? Can you post a screenshot of the opt-out screen on installation? And why does Adobe try to hide the tracking by using a fake IP address? Don't say because that's how Omniture said to set it up. Thanks!

Dan over at UneasySilence has found some interesting screens inside of the Adobe CS3 applications. He notes, "When you launch a CS3 application the application pings out to what looks like an IP address - and internal IP address: 192.168.112.2O7."

Now any tech geek knows that looks like an internal address and that Adobe has always monitored who is using their software on the network to make sure everything is legit. In fact I remember back to working at an elementary school in Brooklyn in the early days and getting buzzed about reg issues on the network.

But if you look closely at the IP address above, the 2O7 part looks weird - turns out it's not the number two-hundred-seven but it's actually two-letter-O-seven and that domain is owned by Web analytics firm Omniture. It seems so spyware-ish to make it look to the ordinary geek that it's an internal address. In fact, many of the very evil phishing scams use these type of urls (bankofamerica.com vs. bank0famerica.com, etc.). I am not suggesting that Adobe is doing anything wrong, but it just seems out of character for the very much loved graphics manufacturer.

There is an opt-out on the Omniture site however I can't picture that it works within the CS3 application as all it does is place a cookie on my machine.

You know that most consumers will have no idea this tracking is going on behind the scenes and even if they do, it seems you need to go to the Omniture site to opt-out. So that means that the data will still be sent from the application.

So I ask, should Adobe (NASDAQ: ADBE) offer you the option to decline this tracking when you install CS3? Let's hope we hear from Adobe and their staff of Web evangelists on this matter soon.

Shame on Adobe, shame.

Mark sent me the following links earlier today. The quality of the flash video and the entire piece is just spectacular.

Take a break from whatever you are doing to check out these 2 Flash clips from Ikea.