by , 5:10 PM EDT, April 17th, 2007

Adobe's CEO Bruce Chizen questioned Microsoft's commitment to keep its Flash competitor Silverlight cross-platform, according to Computerworld on Tuesday.

In a recent interview in Tokyo, Mr. Chizen cited Internet Explorer and the Windows Media Player as examples of software that Microsoft built for Mac OS X, then later abandoned.

Mr. Chizen was happy to suggest that Silverlight may suffer the same fate, Martyn Williams reported. "Even though they say Silverlight is going to be cross-platform, and maybe the first [version] will be, I'm not sure our customers or the people that are trying to deliver that content will have the degree of confidence that if they go with Microsoft, they'll be able to provide them with a complete cross-platform solution forever," Mr. Chizen said.

Flash has been in use for 10 years. However, the recent popularity, fueled by YouTube, has cast it into the forefront. As a result, Flash has found itself lacking some features, in terms of IP protection, that Microsoft may have been seeking to exploit with Silverlight. Mr. Chizen is confident that Flash can maintain its edge but is not over confident.

Microsoft is a $50 billion monopolist who's in the software business. I take them very seriously," he said.