From The Rooftops

Adobe v Apple (via Caesar)

I recently came across a blog post by Olivier Blanchard that combined two of my abiding passions: marketing/business and ancient Roman history. Blanchard drew 10 business/marketing/leadership/etc. insights out of the legendary personality of Roman General and Dictator Julius Caesar. As someone who also follows the tech world, I found a valuable tie-in to the recent goings-on in the Apple vs. Adobe saga and I shared a comment to that effect. This matter, however, has still got me thinking about the future of the web and how simple and shrewd Adobe’s response seems to be.

For those who need some background on the whole Apple vs. Adobe matter, you might want to go here. Back? Alright, good. Clever, eh? Adobe got tons of positive publicity for their response and we can see why: it’s simple, fun and speaks to much of the criticism that is increasingly being leveled at Apple for, among other things, their heavy-handed approach to controlling the app store and the way in which users (and developers) can engage content.

Here is the very clever (fake) response that was crafted by @issaco:

Adobe is in a weaker position: their product, Flash, is at the heart of this controversy and in the opinion of many people, it was/is always a little too buggy and resource-intensive. …but it is widely used and incredibly flexible—it served an important need to the internet at a certain time and place. I don’t think I’m going far out on a limb to say that Flash is in a tight spot with the popularity of iPads and iPhones making web designers think twice about resorting to Flash for their websites, not to mention the 400 pound (it’s not 800 pounds yet, but it’s growing) gorilla on the horizon: HTML5. Adobe has even gone so far as to acknowledge this business threat in recent SEC filings, as discussed by engadget.

Because of this, it’s wise for Adobe to take a conciliatory open market tone, since it gives them a position from which they can either graciously bow out if and when HTML5 renders it nearly obsolete, or a means to reassert themselves (however unlikely) after winning a fair fight against yet another contender.

Here is my comment:

A key point that I’ve always taken away from Caesar’s savvy political (PR) toolkit is: to play for keeps but, nonetheless, be gracious with your competitors.

Over the course of Caesar’s military career and political ascendancy he made a great effort to be (or at least appear) a magnanimous victor. Throughout his military conquests the leaders of the losing army (or even the Senate!) would often expect to receive very harsh treatment (death, torture, expulsion from Rome, etc.) and, with the exception of his triumphal celebration over his defeat of fellow Romans, Caesar usually responded with open arms and fraternal love. This beneficence was received by the public as being indicative of a strong leader who was generous to a fault. In those bloody times they ate it up…

Let’s apply this for a moment: Look at Adobe’s recent response to all of the vitriol it has been receiving from Steve Jobs and Apple. They got tons of positive press and, on a certain level, affection from the tech world for responding to Apple’s hostility with a more cooperative and open message. With public sentiment as on-edge about tech firms having a distinct shortage of old-fashioned probity (for instance: Facebook overstepping its boundaries, Google inadvertently(?!) retaining user information, Apple refusing to sell a disabled woman an iPad when she only had cash, etc.), this was a smart move on Adobe’s part, and a welcome departure.

Ultimately, Caesar’s shrewdness and ability to curry public favor in the face of hostile challenges was, I believe, one of the many lessons that he passed on to Octavian and allowed Augustus to steer Rome out of the civil wars and (for better or worse) onto the track of Imperial rule that would ultimately see it conquer much of the known world. While this one kerfluffle won’t be garnering any triumphal arches for Adobe, it is certainly a move to be studied and celebrated.

Alright, yes, I did just compare the tension between Adobe and Apple to the epic civil war that surrounded the demise of the Roman Republic … overdramatic? Certainly. A good excuse to pull out my pleasure reading in the name of “work”? Damn straight. I think there are some merits to this, though, if only to give me cause to share the back and forth and allow us to revel in a smart response on Adobe’s part and a brilliant (fake) rebuttal.

But you can see why this matters. In their open letter on the matter, Adobe’s co-founders, Chuck Geschke and John Warnock write:

Adobe’s business philosophy is based on a premise that, in an open market, the best products will win in the end — and the best way to compete is to create the best technology and innovate faster than your competitors.

Many generals (and business leaders) understand this fundamental dynamic: be the best and the fastest, or be done. With HTML5’s writing on the walls, this statement allows Adobe to subtly acknowledge that Flash mightn’t be the best product any more, but restating that the decision is for the market to make, not Steve Jobs. Just as Caesar often made broad gestures appealing to the will of the people, Adobe’s shrewd efforts have effectively tried to extract the (sizable) challenges facing Flash from the heavy-handed ‘technocratic’ knockout punch that Steve Jobs keeps trying to lay upon them. Though I don’t envy their position, they are wise to shift the field of battle such that the decision is placed back in front of a public who is feeling increasingly wary of their tech decisions being made for them. -Caleb

Why Simple Innovations Will (help) Change the World

I love mass transit and I love Google Maps. I love them both together. LOVE ‘EM. I love Google because they are all about beautiful information and lowered search costs. Google Maps promptly provides gobs of useful information, entertaining streetview images, great bus connection information and, now, it even has bike routing info! One major shortcoming for us mass transit advocates, however, is that Google Maps only knows when the buses are scheduled to arrive, not when they’ll actually arrive. While Trimet buses are pretty decent about on-time performance, these discrepancies are painfully apparent on cold, wet days such as Portland is known for. This is something I’ve often pondered: how can we make mass transit more appealing to more people? I think that reducing the wait time is a pretty good place to start, eh?

Waiting 10 extra minutes for a late bus is not terribly appealing but, as a pro-mass transit car owner, I’d really prefer to not drive to work when the bus can do it for me. What if, instead of waiting for an extra 10 minutes for a late bus, I could know precisely when the bus was actually going to show up? Meet PDXBus. A free iPhone app that, working with the GPS-based location of buses that Trimet themselves use, can tell you just when that (possibly tardy) #72 bus will be gracing your presence in all of its carbon-efficient, crossword-friendly awesomeness.

It’s simple, yet ingenious; clean, yet robust. The best thing is that PDXBus doesn’t reinvent the wheel. The buses already have GPS tracking in them. My phone already has GPS in it. Trimet already knows—and, while it leaves something to be desired, does share—the specifics of when the buses will actually arrive. All that PDXBus does is connect things that already exist: pertinent Trimet information with my location in a manner that is streamlined and intuitive.

PDXBus allows me to know that, instead of spending 10 curbside minutes losing my non-driving eco-resolve, I can sit in my warm, cozy tea shop and amble out right when I need to be there. The full implications of this are not insignificant: by reducing the lag time for picking up a bus, it effectively shortens the time required to make a bus-based trip, thus stripping away some of its disadvantage in relation to driving a car. In other words, it lowers one of the most common barriers to mass transit participation.

True, PDXBus isn’t groundbreaking, but that’s one of the things I like best about it: it demonstrates to all of us that we can make real sustainability inroads today. And all without depending upon congress, eco-coercion or cold fusion. It’s a simple product that might have big implications and it’s precisely these sorts of small, modest and immediately achievable advances that we need to champion. There are, of course, some huge environmental and social problems that require game-changing and adaptive solutions. But some of those will require dozens of years and billions of dollars. PDXBus enables everyday people to streamline their lives and reduce their carbon footprint. Today. For free.

Bravo.

What other simple, useful and accessible solutions have you come across? I’d love to hear about it in the comments!

- Caleb

ps – PDXBus is on Twitter, too. And no, they’re not a client.