[MW Forums]

Adobe Systems Inc. earlier on Monday revealed its intent to purchase San Francisco-based software rival Macromedia for an estimated US$3.4 billion. Adobe said that together, the two companies will meet a wider set of customer needs and have a significantly greater opportunity to grow into new markets, particularly in the mobile and enterprise segments. more

[Daren_Mitchell]

Wow, perhaps this will mean Adobe can finally figure out how to have Illustrator do multiple pages like Freehand?
Woo Hoo!
Just kidding...
When I first read about this my thoughts were, "And then there was one..."
What a sad, sad day this is.

[Quoth_the_Raven]

Man, this really blows! I love Macromedia products and absolutely hate Adobe's offerings. And, you can have your Photoshop. It's is an overpriced POS as far as I'm concerned. I hope Apple takes this opportunity to deliver it's own industrial strength web design suite. And while they're at it, maybe they can produce a true Photoshop killer. They can do it. I know they can!

[Nobody]

This article should have been called "Adobe executive refuses to discuss Macromedia buyout!" There was NO news here. None.

[spdorsey]

Re:
"And, you can have your Photoshop. It's is an overpriced POS as far as I'm concerned."
Boy - there's a closed mind if I've ever seen one.
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[samrod]

No one seeems to question this most important issue.

[spdorsey]

It will be Adobe. There's too much equity in that brand to change it.
They will probably Keep Macromedia in some capacity as well.
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[JScott]

Is it a POS because you can't figure out how to use it?

[moose_n_squirrel]

People who don't use the high-end of Photoshop always think it's overpriced.
As for the new name, seems like after they bought all the other companies, the new name was always...........Adobe. /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

[pcharles]

RTFM!

[himbo]

In reply to:

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Wow, perhaps this will mean Adobe can finally figure out how to have Illustrator do multiple pages like Freehand?

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Can someone explain to me why some of the people here are so stuck on this? Why do you need multiple-page support in Illustrator?

[robertRoss]

In reply to:

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Can someone explain to me why some of the people here are so stuck on this? Why do you need multiple-page support in Illustrator?

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Possible reasons I can think of:
1. Used to working that way.
2. They like it.
3. Don't want to use multiple programs to do what one can do.
4. They prefer it.
I have about 10 minutes of Freehand experience but for those who love it, it could be sad times in the future and higher prices perhaps as well. For those who don't use it. No difference.

[Earthling7]

This sucks big time. I prefer the Adobe programs. I have used Photoshop since version 3 and GoLive since Adobe aquired it, but I always respected Macromedia. Dreamweaver is good and there is still no Flash killer (although Adobe did try).
What saddens me the most is the fact that competition is now dead in the creative market. Adobe is becoming a kind of Microsoft, it seems. They have aquired companies before, but never on this scale.
If Macromedia was up for grabs in the first place, Apple should have bought it.

[whitedog]

I think "QuoththeRaven" hates Photoshop because so many other people love it. Clearly he's of the self-obsessed opinion that if he has no use for something then it must, indeed, be useless; it's the rest of us, who think otherwise, who are deluded. What a narrow, self-constrained world he lives in.
More to the point, I doubt Adobe will change the Dreamweaver name - its worth too much as a brand - or do much to mess with the product for some time. They didnt change the name of GoLive when they bought it, they just abandoned their web design product that GoLive was beating. Now GoLive will quietly expire in turn. I expect Flash will survive as well - it's an industry standard. Other less successful Macromedia products, like FreeHand and FireWorks, may be in trouble - only time will tell. Meanwhile, other of Adobes less successful offerings, like LiveMotion (a Flash competitor) will probably disappear.
On the one hand, I regret the loss of competition that helps motivate developers to keep improving their products. On the other hand, there will be fewer programs for us to learn. And Photoshop has done well enough without any serious competition so perhaps the absence of rivals wont matter so much. Upgrading is its own reward - when the market has limited growth potential, the only people to exploit are current users. And most of them won't spend big bucks to upgrade without good reason. So if Adobe gets lazy and decides to rest on its laurels (as Quark has mostly done), people will rest on their pocketbooks.
Adobe is already copying the best Macromedia ideas - like the context sensitive Inspectors that will be showing up in the new CS versions. Now they wont have to worry about being sued for doing so.