40 replies to this topic

[DaveChild]

http://news.google.c...dobe macromedia

Now that I didn't see coming. I wonder what kind of impact this will have on web design!

[bwelford]

I think that's akin to Compaq acquiring Hewlett Packard (except in real life it was the reverse way round). Or perhaps Mamma.com acquiring Copernic: oops that one fell out of bed. Oh if only corporate managements would realize that growing bigger isn't the same thing as growing better.

[Tangaroa]

I wonder what kind of impact this will have on web design!

I guess only time will tell. Some apps will be merged into the Adobe range or disappear completely.

The main areas of overlap between the companies' products are in graphics, where Adobe's Photoshop and Illustrator are the market leaders ahead of Macromedia's competing Fireworks and Freehand.

So I guess Photoshop and Illustrator will stay and the development of the original Macromedia products will come to an end.

However, the situation with Flash could change: Adobe has invested heavily in SVG for Web graphics, and some Web developers see a combination of SVG and scripting as a standards-based alternative to Flash. Adobe has produced an SVG browser plug-in, and includes SVG authoring capabilities in GoLive

This could be a tricky one. However I don't know the numbers on the use of Flash and SVG...

Source: uk.builder.com

[wiser3]

I preorder my Adobe Creative Suite 2 on Friday. Then Monday i find that Adobe is buying Macromedia. Wow, i'm shocked.

Clearly it will take time for them to decide what products to drop and how to upgrade or integrate the remaining ones. The next creative suite upgrade could have a strange new look to it.

[Adrian]

Bah, beat me by a couple hours Dave, and I didnt see this thread.
Linked to a few articles in the Tech News Forum at http://www.cre8asite...showtopic=23734

[TheManBehindTheCurtain]

IMHO, very very bad news.

Macromedia is a smart, dynamic company brimming with people who understand their customers, understand the technology, and deliver top-notch products that really do what you need them to do. I buy their products because I truly like them. (Dreamweaver, Flash, Director back in the good old days.)

Adobe is a conservative, plodding company that too often puts company priorities above customer satisfaction. (Small example: an absolutely customer-hostile upgrade experience. And $150 for a .0x release of Photoshop.) I buy their products only because I have to have them. (Photoshop, Acrobat)

I fear for what this means for the Macromedia product line. A company like Adobe can suck all of the innovation out of a product line and drive out the vitality of its management.

Pardon me while I go lock myself in a closet and scream obscenities for a few minutes.

[Black_Phoenix]

Thanks for the heads up on that, I also am quite worried as to what Adobe will do regarding the Macromedia lines, I use Photoshop and illustrator rather than freehand, so thats not too bad, but I dont like golive and prefer to use dreamweaver. I cant see them withdrawing the range (i hope they dont anyway). With regards to flash I cant see they will get rid of it, at a guess they will just take on Macromedias existing programming people and continue to build new versions.

Macromedia is a smart, dynamic company brimming with people who understand their customers,

I fully agree with you regarding Macromedias support and customer services, being excellent. just hope that Adobe take on the existing Macromedia staff.

I cant see them making all the changes overnight, design firms I have worked for usually have versions of both brands products, so that will save some big design companies some money. I guess only time will tell

bp

[DaveChild]

Thinking about this through the day, I think it makes a lot of sense for Adobe. There's a lot of opportunity for integration - especially with Flash. I think they'll keep on Dreamweaver, though might look to a future version to combine that and GoLive into a new product.

I think freehand might be a lost cause though. Not that that bothers me - I still use Xara X

[AbleReach]

Hey, I still miss Allaire, uhhhh, and when Bradsoft owned Homesite...

I don't like conglomeration.


Elizabeth

[TheManBehindTheCurtain]

I'm not too worried, personally, about which product lines live or die because I think the "winners" are pretty clear. What very much worries me is the significant difference in the way the two companies relate to customers.

I see Macromedia as very customer-driven, energetic, innovative, and just plain enthusiastic in the way it develops and promotes and supports its products.

In Adobe I see a very profits-driven company, lethargic, conservative, and prone compromise on customer satisfaction when they know they're in a commanding enough position to do so.

In mergers, it's rare that two corporate cultures blend and emerge as a newer, stronger culture. Too often one culture eventually overwhelms and subsumes the other. I fear that a few years down the road we'll recognize that the values we loved in Macromedia have been extinguished by Adobe.

F.

[thirstymoose_2000]

Guess they got tired of suing each other

[TheManBehindTheCurtain]

[invader]

A move more motivated by fear than any other claimed BS.

[Claude_2]

It must be my luck, after we finished implementing Groove into the proccess I see an announcement that it was bought by microsoft; ok no problem I say, we'll find another solution, as mkrsoft will do one of those hybrid products that does it all but finally it does nothing.
Now, after using Macromedia's products I find that they'll pass on everything to Adobe - boom again because Adobe even if it doesn't kill Dreamweaver/Flash/Fireworks it will surely change something in them, and boy do I really want to wait until Dreamweaver starts as you have to wait until one of Adobe's products starts (after loading all those billion plugins and patents and so on...).

Anyway, what's the next thing; Microsoft buying Yahoo, Adobe aquiring Corel too and heading for what's left...this just makes me think of Digital River

[puntyup]

Well I only see this as bad news if the deal goes through.

Lack of competition is never a good thing in the market place.
Expect to see higher prices, less innovation and more bloat ware.

I have never been a fan of Adobe customer service, the only great product they have is Photoshop and that was developed by a couple of ILM wizbang graphic guys. Well their Fonts are great, but thats where they started-- they should be.

I am sure we will hear the corporate speak about how they will merge the products and take the best of both to create super duper new versions. But that seldom happens, say goodbye to Freehand, say goodbye to Fireworks. Expect to see photoshop lite or image ready as part of Dreamweaver.

But don't expect much innovation from Adobe - Look at Premiere they basically had the low-end desktop video market locked up, but they sat on their hands for years with BS upgrades. You could not even sync sound accurately in Premier at version 6. Apple comes along with FinalCut Pro and its all over.

Look at the program Pagemaker a great program that was originally made by Aldus and bought by Adobe, Pagemaker had a dominant position in the market. They did nothing with that product for years, even when they could have been on top of the desktop publishing market due to Quark's complete mismanagement. Years later they have done pretty well with InDesign, but only because Quark did everything wrong.

I just don't see them as being very good corporate parents to products they have bought in the past. I think this is more of a "eliminate the competition" move than it is some synergistic two products are better than one strategy.

Maybe we will get lucky and the FTC will give them a thumbs down.

[AbleReach]

Maybe we will get lucky and the FTC will give them a thumbs down.

On one hand, I have no doubt that Macrodobe? Adomedia? will spawn beautiful or at least interesting children. On the other, is there another major player in graphics programs? Does PSP get a boost from the merger?

Microsoft is competing for the web design seat.
Other than FP, Macromedia and maybe GoLive, what major branded players make web sites?

Thinking back, Ulead used to be bigger for graphics, didn't it? HotDog (www.sausage.com) used to be bigger, Coffee Cup is still hanging on, but neither (?) are setting the world on fire within their companies or with a cadre of users. I've been out of it for a while -- is there something new and powerful that happened when I was in my cave?

AFIK there are quality, active free/donationware or open source communities (1stpage, htmlkit, etc,) but not a lot between there and the powerhouse branded html applications.

I think the lack of a range of branded choices probably makes new online business owners more vulnerable to either the dreaded faceless online sitebuilder or shelling out bucks for something software that they don't really need while still developing content and identity. They'll look for trustworthy brands ($$$$) and may or may not get to networking with folks who have been around longer or get pointed towards something to do in between having a dream and being able to hire a pro. And, this is probably going to be an opportunity for FP. Just my HO.

The growing hole between open source communities and big bucks branded players worries me. Jeez - why? Opportunities for new designers and new businesses? Fancy that.


Elizabeth

[Tangaroa]

Guess they got tired of suing each other

If you can't beat them...buy them?
(The MS way...)

[ukdaz]

Bugger!

I just upgraded to Photoshop CS AND Dreamweaver MX 2004 last Friday.

Myabe could have made done with what I had but thought it best to upgrade - wish I had known this on Friday. Just hope I haven't wasted money!

Daz

[TheManBehindTheCurtain]

Last I read, the deal won't close till August or September, pending regulatory review and stockholder approval. It will take some months after that for business unit consolidation (read: layoffs) and pricing and licensing review, so I'd guess your investment is good till 2006 or therabouts.

But don't look for any deals. If anything, you might look to stock up on closeouts. With Fireworks dead, what is the new "fair" price of Photoshop without high-end competition beyond PaintShop Pro? With GoLive turned into GoDead, what's the asking price for "Adobe Dreamweaver"? Where's the competitive price pressure? No where.

As they say, bend over and grab your checkbook.

[DianeV]

Maybe so, and I think we have plenty of reason to be wary or nervous over huge changes to companies that provide the software we depend upon.

On the other hand, when I bought the upgrade to Adobe Creative Suite (the Photoshop upgrade plus whole versions of Illustrator and InDesign) for less than the cost of Illustrator, I was told by an Adobe phone rep that the reason they were offering the package was that they'd found that most of their customers had Photoshop, and they wanted to "give our customers a break".

The merger may give us something better; it may give us something worse. I do know that Photoshop CS/ImageReady enables saving layered files as Flash files, so that may be where Adobe is trying to go. However, this is speculation; the problem is that we don't know what will happen.

My thought is that, if I want any more Macromedia products now, it's time to buy them before the purchase/merger goes through; those products will at least last us some time.