Off topic: where are we heading? Google and Adobe plans

 From what I have been listening in the web it seems clear
that Google 
on one side wants the regular PC to be just a thin client,
and that they 
will hold all the data.

Think of it for a minute:
They have already released gmail, google talk, IM atached to
gmail, 
calenedaring is clearly coming, now there is a write product
in the 
rummor mill, gdrive (disk drive on the web.

Google Write?:
http://gigaom.com/2006/03/08/google-writely-in-talks/
http://www.writely.com/

Also please note that they have many interesting people,
among them Andy 
Hertzfeld (no need to say who he is and his personal
interests), has 
hired also Ben Goodger (Firefox lead developer).

On the other hand they have been buying all this dark fiber.

But on the other end we have Adobe, a regular software
publishing 
enterprise that in an interview has said that they bought
Macromedia 
only for Flash, and the plan is to make an integration
between Flash and 
PDF to make a thin client (the interface, a rich experience)
for any app 
(more or less).

Read interesting article (may need free registration - worth
reading):
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/index.
cfm?fa=viewArticle&id=1399

Extract 1:
**********
KnowledgeWharton: Let's start with the basic question: What
was the 
primary motivation behind the acquisition of Macromedia?

Chizen: Flash.

KnowledgeWharton: That simple?

Chizen: The combination of [Acrobat's] PDF [file format]
and the Adobe 
Reader with Flash's SWF [file format] and the Flash Player
enables us to 
create an "engagement platform." Think of it as
a layer or a vehicle in 
which anybody can present information that could be engaged
with in an 
interactive, compelling, reliable, relatively secure way --
across all 
kinds of devices, all kinds of operating systems. If you
look at the 
success that Adobe has had with Adobe Reader and the
ubiquitous nature 
of that client combined with what Macromedia has done with
the Flash 
Player -- especially on non-PC devices -- that puts us in a
position 
that is probably better than anybody else's.

KnowledgeWharton: You have published a few things about
combining HTML, 
PDF and Flash's SWF format -- and you have mentioned this
Adobe 
engagement platform. But there's still a fair amount of
confusion about 
exactly what that is. Can you give any details about what it
will or 
will not do?

Chizen:  We won't do a browser. But we do think that there
are 
applications that need to run on the [user's desktop]
client [software] 
that need to work in both a connected and a non-connected
fashion, that 
require the richness of Flash, the reliability, the relative
security, 
the layout capabilities of PDF -- but also need to consume
HTML. Imagine 
a ubiquitous client that allows you to do all three of those
-- and then 
a series of programming tools, like [Adobe's] Flex, making
it easy for 
anyone to develop applications for this ubiquitous client.

KnowledgeWharton: So this would be a desktop runtime
environment?

Chizen: That's a good way of thinking about it, yes.

Extract 2:
**********
KnowledgeWharton: You mentioned the mobile space. This has
been a big 
focus for the former Macromedia. Adobe had moved into that
space with 
some PDF penetration. How do you see that space playing out,
in 
particular as contrasted with the engagement platform where
we are 
talking about a richer, fuller, larger desktop client?

Chizen: Just think of it as a "mini engagement
platform." You already 
have agreements with most of the mobile manufacturers with
Flash Lite. 
In some markets where you have fast, high speed bandwidth
from the 
carrier, like Japan -- where you have third generation
phones and even 
fourth generation phones -- they are actually including the
Adobe Reader 
because both the networks and the devices are capable of
that type of 
content.

What you will see us do is focus on taking what we are doing
with the 
engagement platform and shrinking it down. In reality, we
will start 
small and build it up. And you will see a mini engagement
platform on 
all of these clients.

Now, the speed of the network and the capability of the
device will 
determine how big that footprint can be. Clearly, today, on
most of the 
mobile phones it needs to be relatively small. But these
devices will 
become more and more powerful and you will see many,
especially in 
emerging markets, bypass the PC and go right to these
devices.

So our goal is to get our engagement platform, or the
"light" version of 
it, on these devices. You will see us add mobile
capabilities in our 
existing authoring products the way that Macromedia has done
with Flash 
authoring and its emulators. But you will also see us come
out with 
servers like FlashCast, where you can actually push data
right to these 
phones or consumer electronic devices.

Extract 3:
**********
The Future: Adobe Everywhere?

KnowledgeWharton: We started off talking about what your
priorities 
were for the next six months or so, and we have gone a
little further 
out now. Let's jump further ahead. Acrobat itself is about
twelve and a 
half years old. Netscape's IPO was just a little more than
10 years ago. 
Where do you think we will be 10 years from now? What will
the computing 
platform look like and how is Adobe positioned?

Chizen: If we execute appropriately we will be the
engagement platform, 
or the layer, on top of anything that has an LCD display,
any computing 
device -- everything from a refrigerator to an automobile to
a video 
game to a computer to a mobile phone.

Our software [will be] delivered as a service, either
charging the 
consumer directly, the network provider directly or using an
advertising 
model.

I believe Adobe's focus will continue to be on those
applications that 
help people and organizations in areas where the
presentation of the 
information makes a difference. We have always been about
helping people 
with their ideas, and sharing their ideas and information in
a visual, 
graphical, reliable way. That will be true 10 years from
now.

If I think about Adobe, we have revolutionized the world --
and when I 
say "Adobe" today, that's inclusive of
Macromedia. Just about everything 
you look at -- a label, a movie you go to, a video on the
web, a 
billboard, a sign when you get off the airplane -- was
probably touched 
by a piece of Adobe software.

By having that engagement platform we could do more of this
into the 
future. [We can] make our customers' lives easier and make
the user's 
experience that much more interesting. All of us are being
bombarded 
with information. I want a great experience, even if I am
filling out a 
boring mortgage application or a tax form. I want a great
experience. 
Ten years from now we will be providing that.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

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Off topic: where are we heading? Google and Adobe plans

Thread: Off topic: where are we heading? Google and Adobe plans