Who’s more important, Microsoft or Adobe?

Published 7/28/08

Filed under: Technology

Which company is more crucial to the Web we know today, Microsoft or Adobe?

Well, look at it this way: If Microsoft didn’t exist, all those folks with Web sites hosted on Windows server would have to migrate to Apache — which is where most of the Web is anyway. And we’d use Firefox instead of IE.

But if Adobe wasn’t here, there’s no Flash and no PDF.

Which do you encounter more often?

Just an early-morning thought. As you were.

The Fray

4 responses (add yours)

Slappy says:

I’m sure that Felicia Day would agree with me when I say that the answer to both your questions is most certainly Microsoft, eh?

July 28th, 2008 at 4:04 PM

Admiral says:

lol must be sleepy…

Shurley its Micro$oft… Without the OS you have nothing… And there are TOO MANY stoopid people in the world to spend the time to learn to operate Linux properly.. Or is this a bait question to pull out those who will say Adobe just because they use Apple’s OS?

July 28th, 2008 at 4:45 PM

Bob Francis says:

Well as a Linux user,and not to flame Microsoft, but Adobe would be missed the most.

While god only knows, I’d love if Flash had never been developed, it has and we have to live with it, and it’s become essential. PDF is the defacto transfer protocol without which life would be much more complicated.

Bob

July 29th, 2008 at 3:48 AM

gnomic says:

None of the above. Had Microsoft not emerged, other OSs like OS/2 or Linux would have emerged. Who knows, maybe MACs would rule the world. And there are plenty of alternatives to Adobe. Take M$ or Adobe away, and you simply have a new market leader. And that results in some different tradeoffs, but nothing earth-shattering. Other than strengths in usability (such as it is), there is nothing unique about these technologies.

July 29th, 2008 at 8:24 AM