homeaboutarchivenewslettermembership!
aboutarchivemembership!
aboutarchivemembers!

kottke.org posts about Adobe

Adobe acquires Typekit

posted by Jason Kottke   Oct 03, 2011

When I heard the news, my immediate reaction was not positive. There may have been an expletive uttered. I am happy for the crew at Typekit, several of whom are my friends, but Adobe products do not fill me with joy when I use them. No one I know is filled with joy when using Adobe products...mostly the opposite. Typekit is a great service; I hope Adobe keeps it that way.

Steve Jobs: Thoughts on Flash

posted by Jason Kottke   Apr 29, 2010

A letter from Steve Jobs about why they don't allow Flash on iPhones, iPods, and iPads. (Notice he specifically uses the harsher "allow" instead of the much softer "support".)

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. Apple's mobile devices all ship with high performance, low power implementations of these open standards. HTML5, the new web standard that has been adopted by Apple, Google and many others, lets web developers create advanced graphics, typography, animations and transitions without relying on third party browser plug-ins (like Flash). HTML5 is completely open and controlled by a standards committee, of which Apple is a member.

Jobs sort of circles around the main issue which is, from my own perspective as heavy web user and web developer: though Flash may have been necessary in the past to provide functionality in the browser that wasn't possible using JS, HTML, and CSS, that is no longer the case. Those open web technologies have matured (or will in the near future) and can do most or even all of what is possible with Flash. For 95% of all cases, Flash is, or will soon be, obsolete because there is a better way to do it that's more accessible, more open, and more "web-like".

How Adobe Photoshop was born.

posted by Jason Kottke   Jun 11, 2007

How Adobe Photoshop was born.

Adobe has released the beta version of

posted by Jason Kottke   Jan 09, 2006

Adobe has released the beta version of a program called Lightroom (OS X only), a competitor to Apple's Aperture. Both are pro-level apps for manipulating and organizing digital photos. Here's the story of Lightroom's development from one of its developers. (via df)

Adobe is planning on combining Flash Player

posted by Jason Kottke   Dec 06, 2005

Adobe is planning on combining Flash Player and Acrobat Reader? As Todd says, "I don't know about you, but I just got an acrid taste in my mouth".

Update: John Dowdell notes that Adobe has clarified their position re: the above combination: "we will continue delivering the Flash Player as a small, efficient runtime for content and applications on the web". (thx, neil)

Chris Anderson argues that media companies, unable

posted by Jason Kottke   Aug 24, 2005

Chris Anderson argues that media companies, unable to push the piracy rate to 0%, should live with the benefits of "just enough piracy". I've heard that in the (distant) past, Adobe turned a blind eye to piracy of Photoshop because it was getting their product out into the market. Tim O'Reilly's related essay entitled Piracy is Progressive Taxation, and Other Thoughts on the Evolution of Online Distribution is worth a read as well.

A timeline of splash screen graphics for

posted by Jason Kottke   Aug 16, 2005

A timeline of splash screen graphics for Adobe Photoshop. I didn't know that Photoshop was developed outside of Adobe and then licensed later. (thx mark)

GUI: a re-presentation of the Adobe Photoshop

posted by Jason Kottke   May 20, 2005

GUI: a re-presentation of the Adobe Photoshop interface within a 3-dimensional space.

John Gruber's plain English version of the

posted by Jason Kottke   Apr 21, 2005

John Gruber's plain English version of the Adobe/Macromedia Acquisition FAQ. "Please also note that PDF is an excellent format for sending out resumes."

Whoa! Adobe to buy Macromedia?!!?!?!

posted by Jason Kottke   Apr 18, 2005

Whoa! Adobe to buy Macromedia?!!?!?!. Wow! ??!!?!??!! I don't think there's enough room in my MT database for all the question marks and exclamation points I want to use here.