What a whopper! At US$3.4 billion, according to this Macromedia press release.
According to the Seattle Times, Adobe is positioning itself for battle with Microsoft.
From my end user point of view, it’s a mixed bag. A merger is good because now we don’t have to decide which rival software package to get, like Illustrator or Freehand. The best features from both sides will probably be merged, and this is probably the end of silly lawsuits between the two companies. Macromedia users may now be able to fully utilise tabbed palettes again!!!
However less major competition in the graphics area could mean less incentive to improve existing software. Also, Macromedia’s software suite has had more bang for the buck – I could buy the full Studio for the price of Adobe Photoshop. What if Adobe raises the price of Macromedia software?
I do hope Adobe keeps Dreamweaver and Flash – those I feel are Macromedia’s strongest products. If they could combine the sheer power and depth of Photoshop with the user-friendliness of Fireworks, that would be great too. And imagine … Flash PDFs!
But if something happens and we end up using Microsoft Frontpage in the distant future, someone’s gonna HURT.
Comments
The prize of their software products are not go to go down. Adobe just killed off another competitor. I use Dreamweaver. It is the de facto standard. I wonder whether Adobe will kill GoLive. I gusee Microsoft will try to get into the photoshop, animation business.