DailyTech - Microsoft Licenses Adobe Flash, Reader for Mobile Devices

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Gadgets Microsoft Licenses Adobe Flash, Reader for Mobile Devices
Purav Sanghani - March 18, 2008 8:57 AM

11 comment(s) - last by nitrous9200.. on Mar 18 at 4:11 PM

Official Adobe Flash and PDF support coming to a Windows Mobile device near you

Windows Mobile users will likely be glad to hear that Microsoft yesterday licensed Adobe's Flash product as well as Adobe's Reader LE software for mobile applications.

The Adobe Flash Lite 2.1 viewer is already available for download through Adobe's download portal for Symbian and Windows Mobile 5 devices including Smartphones, however, the buck stops there. Flash applications designed for the specific mobile devices can be run using the Flash Lite 2.1 viewer, but website developers do not have the ability to design Flash animations for viewing through the mobile version of Internet Explorer.

Microsoft decided to license Adobe's Flash Lite 3.x browser plug-in for Internet Explorer Mobile which will allow users of Windows Mobile devices to view mobile websites with Flash animations.

This comes as a surprise to some as Microsoft has been slowly pushing its own vector animation framework, named Silverlight, to compete with Adobe's Flash offering. However, it looks like it is in Microsoft's best interest to cater to all crowds to avoid those anti-trust suits.

Microsoft also licensed Adobe Reader LE which allows viewing of PDF files on mobile devices. Adobe Reader LE will allow users of mobile devices to view PDF files from websites and emails with better support through the browser and operating system than other third-party applications floating around.

According to Adobe's press release, Microsoft sold over 11 million Windows Mobile licenses in the 2007 fiscal year and expects to sell over 20 million in 2008. The move to include Flash and Adobe PDF support on future Windows Mobile devices will not only benefit Microsoft, but also Adobe in the long run.

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Will it be faster...

By jskirwin on 3/18/2008 9:27:45 AM , Rating: 5

quote:
Microsoft also licensed Adobe Reader LE which allows viewing of PDF files on mobile devices.

Will it be faster than Reader for the desktop which seems to take forever to load? I'm not a utilities junky, but I use Foxit to avoid waiting for the program to load and the annoying "An Update is Available" popup.

RE: Will it be faster...

By FITCamaro on 3/18/2008 9:41:06 AM , Rating: 4

Seriously. Reader used to be a nice, relatively fast, light application. Now its freakin huge and takes forever to load.

And people say only Microsoft's apps are bloated.

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RE: Will it be faster...

By mmntech on 3/18/2008 10:00:15 AM , Rating: 2

Not to start an Mac vs Windows debate but Preview on OS X is a much nicer PDF program. Nice, light, and fast. Even allows you to split and merge PDF files. Acrobat Reader is so bloated but really, it doesn't do all that much beyond the basics. Adobe wants you to pay $400 for the Pro version to do more complex stuff. Too expensive IMO if you're not making forms and that. I decided to give Sumatra PDF a try on my Windows machine since I use open source whenever I can.

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RE: Will it be faster...

By Chadder007 on 3/18/2008 10:25:48 AM , Rating: 2

Wow Sumatra is pretty slim. Ive been using Foxit reader though.

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RE: Will it be faster...

By Vertigo101 on 3/18/2008 10:07:53 AM , Rating: 2

Why suffer? Foxit PDF Reader is 2mb, and lightning fast.

http://www.foxitsoftware.com/pdf/reader_2/down_rea...

One of the best apps I've seen in a while.

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RE: Will it be faster...

By therealnickdanger on 3/18/2008 1:45:36 PM , Rating: 2

Yeah, it really is amazing, I couldn't stand the thought of loading Adobe's bloatware on my new build, so I tried it and loved it.

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RE: Will it be faster...

By JoshuaBuss on 3/18/2008 3:58:10 PM , Rating: 2

since reader 8.0 i've found it to be pretty nice and lightweight actually..

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RE: Will it be faster...

By nitrous9200 on 3/18/2008 4:11:30 PM , Rating: 2

According to http://www.filehippo.com/download_adobe_acrobat_re...
Adobe Reader 6.0 - 8.72 MB. (Older versions were even smaller)
http://www.filehippo.com/download_adobe_acrobat_re...
Adobe Reader 8.1.2 - 22.37 MB.
And think about it, all it has to do is read PDF's...I like Foxit because it's less than 3MB and does much more.

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Go Go Flash Player

By sirius4k on 3/18/2008 9:31:20 AM , Rating: 2

I understand that Adobes Flash is still the main interactive multimedia player, but Microsoft should push more it's own Silverlight =P

RE: Go Go Flash Player

By JamRockaz on 3/18/2008 12:23:30 PM , Rating: 2

I think Microsoft will most definitely push silverlight but for now I think its in their best interest to focus on capturing as much of the market as possible. Symbian is the majority leader in the mobile OS industry and they have full flash support, it only makes sense to get flash support also for microsoft to be able to really compete (when I use the word "compete" here I mean to take over the industry).

Microsoft should throttle their adverts for silverlight until they gain enough support, content and market share (the bar shouldnt be set high for these). As soon as those mile stones are reached they should go full throttle, they should open the afterburners in adverts and the like so when it reaches the masses they have a lot of content and support to offer.

I for one, is waiting to see silverlight on the mobile.

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F*** YEAH!!

By therealnickdanger on 3/18/2008 9:14:13 AM , Rating: 2

Sorry, I just got really excited. My HTC Touch has been begging for this... Now if only PIE (Pocket Internet Explorer) worked as well as Opera Mini 4. :(

Where the F is Skyfire? I signed up for the beta months ago and still haven't been contacted...