Apple's move goes some way to patch up rift

Apple may have gone some way to patch up its fractious relationship with Adobe Systems this week but there is still much to be done to heal a major Silicon Valley rift.

The former allies have been battling on numerous fronts but Apple on Thursday said it would ease certain restrictions on the use of Adobe software. Prodded by an antitrust investigation and developer complaints, Apple said it would let Adobe's tools be used to develop software for the iPhone and iPad. Adobe and independent programmers were relieved by the decision, which lets programmers employ the computer code of their choosing before converting them to run on the iPhone. That means that gaming and video applications using Flash can be downloaded for use on Apple's mobile devices. What it does not mean is that those devices can view full Flash videos from the web, a large bone of contention between the two groups.