Personally I don't like how flash behaves on macs, and I think that's mostly due to Adobe being "lazy", as some put it.
At the same time, I don't like the over-controlling attitude Apple's being having in this whole ordeal.
I believe it is legitimate for Apple to control its eco-system, as one could argue it is legitimate for Adobe to be as lazy as they like.
One of them will win this case and the other will take its own responsibilities.
What strikes me, though, is the fear creative pros are displaying in a lot of posts in this and other forums, implying that even if Apple might be right, it shouldn't go at war with Adobe in such a blatant manner, as God knows what that might bring. Demise of CS on mac.
Well, the way I see it, Apple has been working on exactly this ever since Jobs got back to the Company.
It is true that creative pros were basically the only market keeping the boat afloat for a number of dark years in the 90s, but on the other hand, this market, compared to the overall pro and consumer potential market, was too niche of a segment to ensure survival in the long term.
If you factor in that the whole platform in such a small market was completely dependent on a few applications, namely Adobe's products, you could see that the first goal Steve had in mind was probably trying to get out of this corner and free Apple from the very market that had kept it alive, removing the dependency of the Mac platform to one or more software corporations.
That's basically where the strategy of the last decade comes from: iMacs, iBooks, iPods, Mac Minis, Apple TVs, iPhone, iPads, iTMS, iBooks, etc. It all comes down to getting out of the pro market and reach for the infinitely broader consumer market. That is also why this company is now called Apple Inc. and just posted its best ever non-holiday financial quarter.
All in all, I understand the perspective of creative pros (and if I were one I would probably be royally pissed if there was even a slight chance that I would sometime need to make a choice between Apple and Adobe).
Still, it seems a fact to me that Apple feels it no longer depends on creative pros (and I include audio and video pros as well - see development for Logic, Final Cut, etc.), and in a safe position to take a firm stand on what they assume is wiser for their business, even if this leads to an obvious confrontation with one of their main software maker.
I'm not happy this flash compiler issue is being dealt the way it is, and I would certainly not be happy if, in the worst case (and IMO literally impossible) scenario, Adobe kissed the mac platform goodbye.
At the same time, I can't help being very very very happy that Apple no longer depends on a single market segment or software vendor.
I.e., Apple can now say "**** off" to Adobe, if they like.
Whether that's right or wrong, I don't know and time will tell, but it is a luxury we mac user could have never dreamt of 15 years ago, and boy am I glad about that.
