Microsoft vs. Adobe
14 04 2007Just read an interesting post by JD where he talks about how little Microsoft staff have commented on Apollo compared to the rest of the blogosphere — Scott Barnes, seems to be one of the few that is open to some debate on the topic and, although his position is pretty clear, he does at least come up with some valid arguments (as opposed to Parvez Ansari’s recent post which caused a bit of a stir 
)
Is this corporate strategy? Possibly. It’d be painful to see staff blogs censored or dictated to by its employer but guess its fast becoming a fact of life we’ll have to deal with (and more importantly be aware of). Should your opinions be heat welded to the companies latest marketing campaign, let me vote NO. Those “views are my own and not those of my employer” notices on blogs are not just there as decoration or to create a public diversion.
Could it just be the case of Microsoft not being very excited about the latest Adobe offerings? Possibly. Can’t say I’ve seen a huge amount of WPF posts on Adobe staff blogs either (though probably a lot more than we’ve seen the other way round). The time of honest discussion and friendly competition between Microsoft and Adobe seems to have come to a close.
I’d like to call for some open debate and not have the current antagonism escalate — innovation happens through competition and closing your eyes to what is happening outside your own small world does not help anyone. Lee Brimelow recently had a useful blog entry clearing up some confusion around the latest Microsoft and Adobe technologies coming out.
Its not a win or lose situation here, there is no reason to think Microsoft won’t be successful if Adobe’s Apollo initiative takes off or that Apollo will fail if WPF gets widely adopted. In the end, is this all about perception of who dominates the niche of the web/desktop crossover?
On another somewhat unrelated note, reading through the comments on John’s post made me think about the need to have some insight in commenter reputation. This might be an interesting area for OpenID initiatives to get involved with.
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I don’t think it’s corporate strategy. AFAIK there is no strict blogging policy @ MS. In fact there are a lot of excellent corporate bloggers. MS really embraced the social community ..
No idea why they don’t comment. FYI: there is the MS MIX conference in just a few weeks (http://www.visitmix.com). Maybe afterwards there will be a decent reply
In the meantime I’ll check with some MS bloggers
For the record:
1/ I don’t hate Adobe and lets be clear about this
My position is simply that I think the whole focus for Adobe is wrong, it’s more focused on Enterprise and not on Creative which ticks me off and that’s why i buck the concept as of late and is one of many reasons I switched to Microsoft (that and WPF excites me the most).
2/ Microsoft have a blogging policy, don’t retract posts. In my second week i had legal / pr on the phone for pulling down a post as the moment I did it, it sent all the wrong signals “MS are censoring the new guy”. In Microsoft your views are your own, you’re encouraged to keep on message but in the end its up to you as an individual and this means you take full responsibility should you screw up.
3/ Apollo is buzz - it’s got potential to do a lot, but it’s simply just Buzz now. Great that Adobe community are the most excited but nothings being done with it that warrants much more than a “that’s cool” look. Wait for version 1.0 before we take it that seriously but at the moment - yet another browser (despite the features on the table, it’s being used as yet another browser).
4/ Mix is going to be huge, i’ll be in vegas so if you’re here look me up and I’ll show you behind the curtain stuff
I’m serious folks, Microsoft as we all once knew it is much different now and being new guy expecting the worst, i’m shocked by what happens behind the scenes *despite what certain Adobe staffers would have all think*.
–
Scott Barnes
Developer Evangelist
Microsoft.
Scott, I’m sorry but your mantra of “yet another browser” doesn’t cut it for me anymore. This is simply a tactic you’re using to hijack the Apollo discussion. You’ve admitted in person to me and a local Adobe employee that you know well that it’s not a browser, and that you’re enjoying stirring things up. After all you’ve admitted yourself: “I’d find the most vocal person who hates us, and pick a fight” (http://tinyurl.com/3yaaaa). It would appear that Apollo is that person.
heheh. Andrew you need to get a new hobby and less focus on what I say and do. I mean, if you and Matt Voerman@Adobe want to have chats about what I do and Say that’s your thing but now to bring these acquisations to someone elses blog and than project me as being this Evil Adobe Apollo hater guy cool, if that gets you the votes you need to finally get into Adobe, i’m all for it as mate, you’ve been fishing for that job for years (ever since I’ve known you anyway).
We last spoke at WebDU and it was small talk, “Hows work at Webqem treating you these days” that sort of thing. Apollo never came up but that’s he said, they said stuff.
Conversation with Adobe EmployeeX (wonder whom that could be)? It was last week at a roadshow I was presenting at, and it was mostly him whining about Adobe’s going to crush Microsoft so I said in a sarcastic tone “what with YAB technology?”
Nice try on linking something out of context and different to the current present situation as the two have nothing to with one another
but hey, it gives you points for the job interview right? so go with it if you need to (just let me know ahead of time so i can play that role for you if you need it).
Scott.