Macromedia acquired by Adobe?!

[Skyzyx]

Is it just me who's stomach wrenched up when I heard that Adobe was buying Macromedia? That will immediately dry up all of the major competition in the web/print/vector/motion graphics industry! Both are good companies, but I have my doubts about any good that may come from this merger.

Thoughts anyone?

[chilipie]

Bloody ****ing hell! :eek:

Hadn't heard about that... have you got any articles/links about the merge?

[evo]

ha! Doubts of any good? They will definately drop Freehand which is perfect. I hate it.

They are going to be superb, drop GoLive, and focus on Dreamweaver. Embedded flash in Adobe PDF? That is just superb.

I can't want to see the fruits of this merger. I couldn't have dreamed of something better.

Both technologies merged. It is superb, simply simply superb.

Bloomberg have an article on it.

[Grant Palin]

Darn you Skyzyx! I was going to post the exact same thing!

I found a link to the news on Adobe's site, but it doesn't work...It's probably gotten a good Slashdotting!

It will be interesting to see what happens as a result, insofar as maintaining or dropping existing software, or maybe even merging the two companies' similar programs (e.g. Dreamweaver & GoLive, Illustrator & FreeHand).

[evo]

http://www.adobe.com/aboutadobe/pressroom/pressreleases/200504/041805AdobeAcquiresMacromedia.html

[brothercake]

Well .. with Adobe's format-rendering technologies and Macromedia's authoring tools - we could be closer a version of Flash that uses XML vector formats and DOM, instead of a proprietary non-traversable binary format.

I'm all for that :thumbsup:

[JamieR]

I got a bit of a shock at first to be truthful....they have always been rivaling. leading companies when it comes to the web and print words. As Evo says, they might merge their stuff together, which i find brilliant. I use Golive, but use dreamweaver more. I always found GL a bit of a handful compared to Dreamweaver, so I can see it being dropped or merged into dreamweaver.

Jamie.

[dniwebdesign]

Just heard about it on the news... I am unsure of what will happen although I use the Macromedia Flash, Macromdia Dreamweaver, Adobe Acrobat, Adobe Premier, Adobe Audition and of course PhotoShop so it will be interesting and possibly scary of what might and most likely will happen.

[evo]

I wonder how licensing will change... they have to have thought about it a lot, seeing as it could cost corporates a significant amount/hours if they have to switch.

[Crake]

i mean,
why do they have to buy out macromedia?

can they not take competition?
or is it somthing else? :mad:

can some one shed some light over why they would do this?!?

[evo]

Technology and stock. Combining the two creates something quite more powerful.

[JamieR]

I wonder how licensing will change... they have to have thought about it a lot, seeing as it could cost corporates a significant amount/hours if they have to switch.

I'm personally hoping their stuff will get cheaper:p
___

LOL@ Steve - it's Adobe acquiring Macromedia, Photoshop it just one of it's products:D

[dniwebdesign]

I'm personally hoping their stuff will get cheaper:p
___

LOL@ Steve - it's Adobe acquiring Macromedia, Photoshop it just one of it's products:D
That would be the ideal outcome and would favor all of us... so I doubt it would happen. :rolleyes:

[evo]

It won't really. With competition, it was priced like how it is(was?). Without competition prices will probably just go higher.


They can charge whatever they like.

[Crake]

:p :eek: hehe

[Grant Palin]

It won't really. With competition, it was priced like how it is(was?). Without competition prices will probably just go higher.


They can charge whatever they like.

Sounds an awful lot like Microsoft, doesn't it?

[JamieR]

maybe they are becoming one of a kind:D - We might here of M$ taking over Adobe in a few years time:eek:

[wabirdman]

Article:

Adobe to acquire Macromedia

Adobe Systems has announced plans to buy rival software firm Macromedia for about $US3.4 billion, a move aiming to propel the group into digital markets that include mobile phones.
Under the terms of the deal, which has been approved by both boards of directors, Macromedia stockholders will receive 0.69 shares of Adobe common stock for every share of Macromedia common stock in a tax-free exchange.
Adobe, know for its Photoshop photo editing program and Acrobat document software, will expand its offerings with Macromedia, which develops design tools for building "rich media" or interactive applications.
The San Francisco-based Macromedia claims the top spot in the market for website design, with about one-third of the market, followed by Microsoft.
It also produces the Flash and Shockwave software used in many games and Internet applications.
Adobe said it is aiming at "an industry-defining technology platform" with the combination of its PDF (portable document format) software and Macromedia's flagship Flash multimedia platform.
"This combination is all about growth and it would certainly disappoint me if we can't grow faster than other software companies," Adobe chief executive Bruce Chizen said on a conference call with analysts and investors.
He will become chief executive officer of the combined group.
Adobe expects to see some cost savings as part of the deal, but Mr Chizen declined to offer any specifics.
With Macromedia, Adobe is reaching an estimated 3 million web developers and can expect the size of its current market of graphic artists and marketing executives to expand by 60 per cent, Fulcrum Global Partners analyst Jamie Friedman said.
"In the end, it's the same idea ... to get those products on a computer or a set-top box or a gaming console or a cell phone," he said.
"The companies have grown up together."
Bringing the two companies together was a desire to fuel expansion into new markets, rather than cost savings, Adobe president Shatanu Narayen said,
Combined, the merger partners hope to dominate the potentially hot market for providing multimedia software for cell phones and other mobile devices.
"For us the real reason to do the deal was strategic," Mr Narayen said.
Macromedia's Dreamweaver program is the leading software for website design, ahead of a rival offering from Microsoft, and its Flash animation software is a favourite of designers and other creative professionals.
Adobe shares fell 5.89 or nearly 10 per cent to 54.77 while Macromedia rose 3.27 or 9.8 per cent to 36.72 in closing trade.

[Grant Palin]

maybe they are becoming one of a kind:D - We might here of M$ taking over Adobe in a few years time:eek:

Oh god, what an ugly thought! :eek: :eek:

[mindlessLemming]

They are going to be superb, drop GoLive, and focus on Dreamweaver. Embedded flash in Adobe PDF? That is just superb.


I dissagree. Adobe are THE commercial backer of SVG. GoLive CS2 has just been released and uses the Opera8 rendering engine -- therefore making it the first SVG + CSS2 ( + XSLT?) capable WYSIWYG environment. I do agree that Dreamweaver is a far superior product, but GoLive is looking to the horizon while Dreamweaver is staring at the floor in front of it. Sure, kill GoLive, but don't let it's good features fall to the side.

The Adobe creative suite is now tailored towards SVG output from vectors. Adobe have far too much invested in SVG to start putting all their weight behind Flash. (although the $3.4billion investment in MM could change that!)

One MM product that might cause some confusion in the Adobe camp is FlashPaper. They'll either embrace it as the new way to deliver rich PDF-based experiences via the web or they'll gut it and leave the remains for the vultures...

[_Aerospace_Eng_]

Hmm I happen to like flash paper, this gives me the ability to display Word documents in all browsers rather than in microsoft word itself. There are quite a few program that macromedia has made that I like, one being Captivate. I like giving demonstrations some times and this is the program that I use. I am a big fan of Dreamweaver MX, I like the syntax highlighting, the built-in validator, and FTP, those are a plus. I understand that with this merger, MM Fireworks will probably be dropped but thats understandable to me, since it wouldn't make much sense to have two programs that do pretty much the same thing.

[Crake]

higher prices! there allrerady £**** wich is expensive enough dont say its gonna be £*********** no!!!! :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:

[whackaxe]

i don't know what to think about this merger.if you look at CS2 there have been some good upgrades made and the price has dropped. i doubt they would change marketing plan so soon. hopefully they'll make the right decisions and get rid of the inferior programs. what i'm wondering, is what will they do with fireworks? will they incorporate its functionality in PS or leave it seperate? for the time being i'm giving them the benefit of the doubt and wish them the best of luck

[evo]

I think they would drop fireworks. Photoshop is the superior version of it, there would be no reason to keep Fireworks whatsoever...

[tboss132]

Well guys, that's not all. Opera is next in line
http://www.opera.com/pressreleases/en/2005/04/04/

[Axile Media]

I was just getting ready to upgrade my very old software (Photoshop 5.5) to the Adobe CS suite. I would love any advice on weather to wait or go ahead and spend the money. I was also going to go ahead and buy MX studio. I would love to hear from anyone who has an oppion on the matter of weather or not it is going to cost more or less in the near furture.

[JamieR]

I was just getting ready to upgrade my very old software (Photoshop 5.5) to the Adobe CS suite. I would love any advice on weather to wait or go ahead and spend the money. I was also going to go ahead and buy MX studio. I would love to hear from anyone who has an oppion on the matter of weather or not it is going to cost more or less in the near furture.

I would personally get it now, as I can unfortunatly see the price of Adobe-Macromedia stuff to increase.

I think they would drop fireworks. Photoshop is the superior version of it, there would be no reason to keep Fireworks whatsoever...

Although I use photoshop a majority of the time, I still use fireworks for some of the more simple things of which I can't be bothered to do in Photoshop like saving screenies etc...

[evo]

They have ImageReady for that purpose. Fireworks no longer serves a purpose, it has nothing to offer apart from maybe better technology for some parts.

[JamieR]

better technology for some parts.

Well nothing which can't be incorporated into Photoshop I guess.