Adobe Buy Macromedia

18 Apr

Big news today – Adobe formally announce the purchase of Macromedia.

I have mixed feelings about this. Adobe were obviously being hurt by sales of Flash (Live Motion was a terrible product) and Dreamweaver but most of all Fireworks. I suspect that we’ll see the best bits of Fireworks and Freehand being assimilated into Photoshop and Illustrator respectively and the rest of each app quietly dumped. Go Live will probably resurface with an uncanny resemblance to Dreamweaver in a few months.

It’s Flash where the genuine interest lies. Far and away Macromedias most sucessful product – will Adobe be tempted to tinker with their new golden egg or be content to let it lie? And what about future development? Will Adobe be keeping the Actionscript team together? Most importantly of all – does this help or hinder competition and innovative software development?

3 Responses to “Adobe Buy Macromedia”

  1. Tom April 18, 2005 at 12:24 #

    I actually cant believe this has happened, seriously I’m in shock.

  2. Benjamin Jackson April 18, 2005 at 15:48 #

    This is CRAZY!!

    I dread to think what Adobe will do to some of our much loved Macromedia Apps.
    This could possibly be the greatest thing for the design community – if handled correctly. The concept of a software bundle (ie. StudioMX and Creative Suite) including Photoshop, Illustrator, Dreamweaver and Flash is pretty awesome however there are elements of Fireworks and Freehand that I will be very sorry to see disapear. We can only hope that Adobe create some great hybrids where the products compete.
    If I’m honest – I’m a Macromedia Man and this makes me nervous.

    I guess only time will tell.

  3. Indranil April 20, 2005 at 16:53 #

    This does not bode well for us Macromedia lovers 😦

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