Adobe CEO Talks About Apple, Microsoft, PDF, E-Books, DMCA/Elcomsoft More

by , 1:30 PM EDT, September 30th, 2003

C|Net has published a very interesting interview with Adobe CEO Bruce Chizen. The interview comes on the heels of Adobe's release of the Creative Suite yesterday that included upgrades to Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, and GoLive. Touching on such issues as competing with Microsoft, the fate of the e-book and why that format has so far failed to catch on, the interview specifically addresses Adobe's relationship with Apple. From C|Net:

There's been some back-and-forth between you and Apple Computer recently--what's the state of that relationship?
Our relationship with Apple is a great one. My relationship with Steve Jobs continues to be extremely strong--we communicate on a regular basis. Where we compete, we've agreed to compete. Where we partner, we partner aggressively.

Even though Apple's cut you out of some markets?
Even though it's cutting us out of some markets, yes. At the end of the day, we both have a vested interest in doing what's right for the creative professional customer. Our relationship with Apple is like a relationship in any marriage, good or bad. It's an important relationship for both of us to maintain and make stronger, knowing that there are differences.

And sometimes you both need your space?
That's correct.

Mr. Chizen was also asked about his company's role in DMCA-related Elcomsoft case that sparked the first wide-spread debate on free-speech (and other issues) regarding the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. From the interview:

Some of the broadest attention Adobe has gotten in recent years was surrounding the ElcomSoft case . Any regrets about how that was handled?
Looking back with 20/20, I wish that we could have had better communication with ElcomSoft, Dmitry Sklyarov and the EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation) before the whole thing went public. I'm sorry that we weren't able to do that, because I think we could have resolved a lot of the issues.

I think the bigger issue was it was an attack on Adobe, yet all we were trying to do was protect the intellectual property of our customers. We're not the ones who make the law. There are a lot of important people in the U.S. Congress and the Bush administration who are determining the laws of this country. Once they make a law, we're a corporate citizen; we have an obligation to follow that law. Whether one agrees or disagrees with the DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) is irrelevant at this point in time. It was brought to our attention that somebody was violating the laws of this country. We have an obligation then to notify the correct authorities about what's going on. That I don't regret.

There's a lot more on the subjects we mentioned above in the full interview, and we recommend it as a good read.

The Mac Observer Spin:

This short response from Mr. Chizen on his company's relationship with Apple is still longer than most of the comments we have heard from either company on the issue. Frankly, we like that response, too. The two companies have agreed to compete, and that hasn't hurt their ongoing partnerships. Sounds like good news to us.

We are less sanguine concerning the comments about Elcomsoft and the DMCA. Mr. Chizen's attempt to cast Adobe as the hapless victim of simply being good corporate citizens is disingenuous, at best. Adobe was not merely reporting a law-breaker to the local police force, but was instead attempting to use a law that threatens some of the Constitutional foundations of the United States to keep an easily broken technology from being publicly broken for use on the Linux platform.

He says that, "Whether one agrees or disagrees with the DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) is irrelevant," but we think that it is very relevant. Free speech is an issue that should always be fought for, even by good corporate citizens, especially when the law becomes the enemy of free speech.

Getting into this issue any further is really outside the scope of the Spin on this interview, and we would like to emphasize that the Apple-related portion we mentioned offers good insight on an issue important to the Mac platform.

C|Net Interview