"Adobe’s Flash products are 100% proprietary. They are only available from Adobe, and Adobe has sole authority as to their future enhancement, pricing, etc. While Adobe’s Flash products are widely available, this does not mean they are open, since they are controlled entirely by Adobe and available only from Adobe. By almost any definition, Flash is a closed system."
Flash was a creative tool locked behind a paywall, like most creative apps. Apple products are entire ecosystems locked behind a pay wall, where publishing to that ecosystem is highly regulated and heavy with fees.
You're right, they aren't similar. If Adobe had its own ecosystem that forced developers to pay money per published flash app, per flash sale, then it would be a little more similar.
He sidesteps that by talking about the web. Pretty disingenuous since the lack of Flash in the browser was only one sticking point, not being able to use it in apps on the App Store was the other.
And the big issue is, it's not OUR closed system!