Nothing Personal

Cade Metz, reporting for The Register a year ago:

“The proliferation of Flash [on mobile] is actually happening,” David Wadhwani, executive and senior vice president for Adobe’s Creative and Interactive Solutions, told reporters on Thursday during a gathering at Adobe’s San Francisco offices. “Flash does not run in the browser on iOS devices yet, but we’re confident — given the momentum we’re seeing on other devices and the consumer interest — that we’re on the right track [in the rest of the market].”

That didn’t last long.

Steve Jobs’ rather personal attack on Flash only encouraged his competitors to embrace the technology — in a big way.

The thing is, it wasn’t personal. Read Jobs’s Thoughts on Flash again. His argument is rational, technical, and strategic — and holds up very well in hindsight. The ones who allowed personal feelings to enter the equation were those who mistook Apple’s stance toward Flash as a spiteful vendetta.

★ Wednesday, 8 February 2012