Adobe accused of stalling HTML5 to aid Flash

Adobe over multiple days has been accused of and has denied deliberately blocking the W3C standards group's attempts to greenlight HTML5. After the software developer allegedly froze development by filing a formal but secret objection to the web standard, Adobe's Larry Masinter has denied the attempt pinned on himself and gone so far as to absolve the company from any deliberate plans to sabotage HTML5 in order to keep Flash relevant.

"Neither Adobe nor I oppose, are fighting, are trying to stop, slow down, hinder, oppose, or harm HTML5, Canvas 2D Graphics, Microdata, video in HTML, or any of the other significant features in HTML5," Masinter said. "Claims otherwise are false. Any other disclaimers needed?"

He elaborated by noting that his objections have so far only been to reorganize subgroups for more efficient development. Making the request was interpreted as an objection when it was simply intended as a procedural move, he said. He claimed no direct influence by any higher-level Adobe staffers on his work.

Standards writer Ian Hickson, who first brought the alleged obstruction to light, remained skeptical on Monday and suggested there should be no issue with moving ahead. "Since I was mistaken about the formal objection, should I prepare the drafts for FPWD publication now?" he said.

Suspicions about Adobe's motives have flared up ever since the launch of the iPad, when a demo by Apple's Steve Jobs clearly showed Flash missing. The Flash creator has attacked the iPad for missing much of the video web, but Jobs is believed to have blamed Flash for most problems on the web as its demanding performance and instability were deemed unacceptable for an iPhone- or iPad-native Safari plugin. He and a growing number of supporters have instead maintained that HTML5 is the future as it bypasses plugins entirely and generates a considerably lighter workload for a phone or tablet.

By Electronista Staff