Jon, I believe Adobe will consider extending the support and availability of the SVG viewer as a potential problem (even if minor) for Flash and Flex. Why would they maintain a free product which is perceived as a competitor to their paying product?
About the possibility to open source the viewer, you obviously know more than I do about this code. I was under the impression that the font rendering technology and the Bezier rendering was linked to other technologies used and sold by Adobe. If this is the case, is it reasonnable to think that Adobe will offer for free part of its intellectual property to help a competing technology? Marc --- In svg-developers@yahoogroups.com, "jon_ferraiolo" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Hi Marc, > I think you misunderstood me. I was replying to Margie about how > best to encourage Adobe to change their policy. I agree that Adobe > isn't likely to rethink their commitment to Flash/Flex, but they > might rethink some other things, such as making ASV available for > downloads after 1/1/08, supporting ASV beyond 1/1/07, and/or > donating the source code to open source. > > Jon > > --- In svg-developers@yahoogroups.com, "m_verstaen" <marc@> wrote: > > > > Jon, > > > > Do you seriously believe that Adobe will change its plans and > modify > > the course of Flash/Flex to please one or two companies with no > > impact on Adobe's business? > > > > Come on Jon, among all people you should know how Adobe misslead > > everybody in the SVG community during the past few years. Giving > > people hope that Adobe can still be helpful is only helping > killing > > SVG at this point. And I know this is not what you want. > > > > Marc > > > > --- In svg-developers@yahoogroups.com, Jon Ferraiolo <jferrai@> > > wrote: > > > > > > > > > Margie, > > > Thanks for the kind words. In terms of possible next steps, I > > suggest > > > finding a way to express your point of view (professionally, of > > course) > > > within a blog or a forum that Adobe would read. (I don't know > the > > degree to > > > which Adobe monitors this forum and I am not sure what other > > industry > > > forums they read these days.) An important thing would be to > give > > detailed > > > information about the business impact that you face. Adobe is > > likely to be > > > more receptive if a company speaks up and talks about any > specific > > > difficulties that they will face and what Adobe could do about > > relieving > > > those difficulties. Adobe is less likely to listen to people who > > simply get > > > up on their soapbox. (I already did that.) > > > > > > Jon > > > > > > Jon Ferraiolo <jferrai@> > > > Web Architect, Emerging Technologies > > > IBM, Menlo Park, CA > > > Mobile: +1-650-464-7817 > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > "Marjorie > > > > > > > Roswell" > > > > > <mroswell@ To > > > om> svg- > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > Sent > > by: cc > > > svg- > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > hoogroups.com > > Subject > > > Re: [svg-developers] > > Re: > > > Announcement: Adobe to > > Discontinue > > > 09/07/2006 05:03 Adobe SVG > > Viewer > > > > > AM > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Please respond > > to > > > svg- > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > > hoogroups.com > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Jon, > > > > > > That was beautifully written. Thank you for your work and > advocacy > > in the > > > SVG community. What's the next step for our community to take, > > regarding > > > items 3, 4, and 5? > > > > > > Margie > > > > > > > > > On 9/6/06, jon_ferraiolo <jferrai@> wrote: > > > > > > > > Hi Pat, > > > > Now that I am a member of the community and no longer an > > employee of > > > > Adobe, here is my reaction: > > > > > > > > (1) First off, I believe that Adobe deserves a great amount of > > > > appreciation for their contributions to SVG and the open > > standards > > > > world for their activities in previous years. Adobe provided a > > > > high-quality free implementation of an SVG viewer at large > > expense. > > > > (Pat, you know this perhaps better than anyone.) Adobe also has > > > > provided (and presumably will continue to provide) excellent > > support > > > > for SVG in some of its products, particularly Illustrator. > Adobe > > has > > > > also made large contributions within the standards community > on > > SVG. > > > > > > > > (2) It is understandable that at some point Adobe would > announce > > the > > > > end-of-life for Adobe SVG Viewer. Since the Macromedia > > acquisition (at > > > > least, perhaps even earlier), it is clear that Adobe doesn't > > consider > > > > the SVG viewer to be strategic. Also, browsers are adding SVG > > support > > > > natively. > > > > > > > > (3) HOWEVER, I believe that some of the details regarding this > > > > end-of-life announcement are unacceptable to the community and > > not in > > > > Adobe's own best interests. To me, it is OK to stop "support" > > > > (presumably developer support and security fixes) on Adobe SVG > > Viewer > > > > in the relative near-term, but instead of giving four months of > > > > advanced notice (i.e., 1/1/07), it should be something > measured > > in > > > > years, something in the range of 2-4 years. (Note: 5 years is > the > > > > usual amount for developer-oriented software.) > > > > > > > > (4) It reflects badly on Adobe that it did not donate the ASV > > source > > > > code (at least the higher-level logic that sits above the > > graphics > > > > rendering engine) to open soure. If Adobe isn't going to use > > ASV, then > > > > it should give it to the community so they can use it. Given > how > > Adobe > > > > promoted industry adoption of ASV in the early days and thereby > > > > convinced many developers to build mission-critical > applications > > using > > > > SVG, it is the least that Adobe could do. > > > > > > > > (5) But the worst part of this announcement is the removal of > ASV > > > > downloads as of 1/1/08, with no option for others to host a > > different > > > > ASV download site. As others have pointed out, this will be > > > > devastating to those poor souls who made a commitment to ASV > in > > the > > > > past and need their deployed SVG applications to continue > > working in > > > > IE, which today has something like 80% market share and is > > unlikely to > > > > support SVG natively before a couple of years go by. This > > particular > > > > decision reflects badly on Adobe as a business partner with > > > > developers. If nothing else, I appeal to Adobe to rethink this > > part of > > > > their decision. How much does it cost a company to maintain a > > single > > > > web page that is already working? If ASV quits working in some > > > > situations, such as ASV not running under Vista, then just add > > text to > > > > the download page alerting people that ASV has been EOL'd and > is > > known > > > > not to work with Vista. (But the better approach would be to > open > > > > source ASV so that the community can fix any such bugs.) > > > > > > > > Jon Ferraiolo > > > > IBM > > > > > > > > > Adobe has decided to discontinue support for Adobe SVG > Viewer. > > There > > > > > > > > > are a number of other third-party SVG viewer implementations > > in the > > > > > marketplace, including native support for SVG in many Web > > browsers. > > > > > The SVG language and its adoption in the marketplace have > both > > matured > > > > > to the point where it is no longer necessary for Adobe to > > provide an > > > > > SVG viewer. > > > > > > > > > > SVG is an established vector image format. Adobe currently > > supports > > > > > SVG in several of its authoring and server products, > including > > > > > Illustrator, InDesign, GoLive, Version Cue, Graphics Server, > > > > > FrameMaker, and FrameMaker Server. > > > > > > > > > > Adobe customer support for Adobe SVG Viewer will be > > discontinued on > > > > > January 1, 2007. > > > > > > > > > > For more information on this decision and answers to > questions > > about > > > > > the discontinuation of Adobe SVG Viewer, please see > > > > > > > > > http://www.adobe.com/svg > > > > > > > > Messages in this topic > > > > < > > > http://groups.yahoo.com/group/svg- > > > developers/message/56704;_ylc=X3oDMTM2cGwwcGptBF9TAzk3MzU5NzE0BGdycEl > > > kAzEyOTg0MjEEZ3Jwc3BJZAMxNjAxMDMwMzg5BG1zZ0lkAzU2NzIzBHNlYwNmdHIEc2xr > > A3Z0cGMEc3RpbWUDMTE1NzU4OTQ0MgR0cGNJZAM1NjcwNA-- > > > >( > > > > 12) Reply (via web post) > > > > < > > > http://groups.yahoo.com/group/svg- > > > developers/post;_ylc=X3oDMTJxMXB1ZjZzBF9TAzk3MzU5NzE0BGdycElkAzEyOTg0 > > > MjEEZ3Jwc3BJZAMxNjAxMDMwMzg5BG1zZ0lkAzU2NzIzBHNlYwNmdHIEc2xrA3JwbHkEc > > 3RpbWUDMTE1NzU4OTQ0Mg--?act=reply&messageNum=56723 > > > >| Start > > > > a new topic > > > > < > > > http://groups.yahoo.com/group/svg- > > > developers/post;_ylc=X3oDMTJlaGJqa3IwBF9TAzk3MzU5NzE0BGdycElkAzEyOTg0 > > > MjEEZ3Jwc3BJZAMxNjAxMDMwMzg5BHNlYwNmdHIEc2xrA250cGMEc3RpbWUDMTE1NzU4O > > TQ0Mg-- > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > ----- > > > To unsubscribe send a message to: > > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > -or- > > > visit http://groups.yahoo.com/group/svg-developers and > click "edit > > my > > > membership" > > > ---- > > > Yahoo! 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