Flashback: Adobe CEO Says Apple Complaints A 'Smoke Screen'

unloaded on Adobe an open letter has returned the fire The Wall Street Journal

Narayen said Apple's complaints about Flash were a "smoke screen" to hide Apple's own agenda of keeping firm control over software development for its devices.

"It's clear that it has nothing to do with technology," Narayen told the Journal.

Jobs listed several technical reasons for Apple's decision not to support Adobe's Flash platform on Apple's iPhone, iPod and iPad devices, among them security concerns, performance compared to other video standards and the beating Jobs claimed Flash puts on device battery life.

But Jobs kicked off his "Thoughts on Flash" missive with a broadside on Adobe for building Flash as proprietary software in what Apple believes should be an open Web. Yet even as he lambasted Adobe, Jobs had to admit that Apple itself is not opposed to proprietary software in and of itself.

"Apple has many proprietary products too. Though the operating system for the iPhone, iPod and iPad is proprietary, we strongly believe that all standards pertaining to the Web should be open. Rather than use Flash, Apple has adopted HTML5, CSS and JavaScript -- all open standards," Jobs wrote this week.

Spats between technology companies are nothing new and foolish consistency has been established as the sort of hobgoblin we should all avoid. Nor is Apple required to make devices that run another company's software. But when it comes to open standards, Jobs appears to be pretty brazen about wanting to have his cake and eat it too.