Lauren Weinstein, Steve Jobs Posts Unconvincing Manifesto Against Adobe Flash:
Adobe was willing to do essentially all of the development work for Flash support, and Apple needed basically only to have permitted it onto the associated platforms. If users didn't want to use Flash (say, because they wanted a better touch interface or longer battery life -- two issues Steve discussed) nobody would put a gun to users' heads forcing them to use Flash anyway. An option to disable Flash could have been easily made available.
Yeah, USER CHOICE!
Clearly, the real problem that Steve Jobs has with Flash is that someone other than Apple has control over it. And the guiding principle of the iPhone/iPod/iPad ecosystem is Apple Controls All.
Sorry Steve. Nice try. Well written. But it just doesn't fly.
The silly rhetoric we keep hearing about Apple leaving the past behind (by, say, restoring books to 19th Century levels of uncopyability?) comes from Jobs himself. The fish rots from the head.
Update: Just received a complaint that this is a defense of Flash. There are probably as many gripes about Adobe on this blog (and its predecessor) as there are jabs at Apple. Suggesting that Sauron should give Saruman's followers a break is not the same as saying you love Saruman.