Comments on: Adobe to buy Macromedia for $3.4 billion
Document publishing giant looks to multimedia content as the next step in building its software empire.
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it and turn into more Adobe Bloatware, basically capable
software oversaturated with extraneous scope and features. I
suppose that this take-over is just business, but I have learned
that Adobe may know business, but for the small time user,
Adobe sure doesn't know software.
That's why I have trashed my Aodbe software as soon as I could
find a reasonable replacement.
Maybe for the pros, Adobe is a good thing. But not for me.
This will probably end up as when symantec acquired Powerquest (DriveImage becomes ghost, etc).
I would think this would mean the end of tools like fireworks and golive, and some others where there is obvious overlap.
R1
I jokingly wondered if this wasn't in the works when ColdFusion built PDF production into its serverware.
Great. Just great. :^(
Every acquisitor feels the need to put its footprints into packages it buys, even when these changes act to harm the product.
:(
become part of the Adobe Creative Suite. I can free up a lot of
hard drive space, with some luck.
it and turn into more Adobe Bloatware, basically capable
software oversaturated with extraneous scope and features. I
suppose that this take-over is just business, but I have learned
that Adobe may know business, but for the small time user,
Adobe sure doesn't know software.
That's why I have trashed my Aodbe software as soon as I could
find a reasonable replacement.
Maybe for the pros, Adobe is a good thing. But not for me.
This will probably end up as when symantec acquired Powerquest (DriveImage becomes ghost, etc).
I would think this would mean the end of tools like fireworks and golive, and some others where there is obvious overlap.
R1
I jokingly wondered if this wasn't in the works when ColdFusion built PDF production into its serverware.
Great. Just great. :^(
Every acquisitor feels the need to put its footprints into packages it buys, even when these changes act to harm the product.
:(
become part of the Adobe Creative Suite. I can free up a lot of
hard drive space, with some luck.
Adobe, tends to upset users and industry 'partners' not to mention buggy, fat, slow software.
Moby Dick has swallowed the Little Mermaid...
Though I mostly use notepad for coding, Dreamweaver has been a God-send when I've coded myself into a corner with some particularly tricky tables. My boss on the Mac, on the other hand, uses GoLive. Every time he gives me code, it's so riddled with crap that I basically have to throw it out and recode around his images.
And don't get me started on Acrobat. The most awful, horrible, buggy crappy piece of garbage on the face of the earth. I occasionally have to PDF a file, so I have to have the full version installed. No matter what I've tried, if I click on a PDF on a website, the entire version of Acrobat loads. If I click on a PDF on my desktop, only Acrobat Reader opens. But regardless, it locks up my 3GHz W2K machine with 512MB for a good 1-2 minutes while the program loads.
PDF is undoubtedly a great format. Adobe is undoubtedly a company who hires monkeys who would rather stick their fingers up their noses than create decent, compact and useful tools. (With the exception of Photoshop for the Mac -- which they bought from Aldus, right?)
I hate to say it, but it's the perfect opportunity for Microsoft to roll out a Flash-killer. I would have much rather seen Real buy Macromedia.
Adobe, tends to upset users and industry 'partners' not to mention buggy, fat, slow software.
Moby Dick has swallowed the Little Mermaid...
Though I mostly use notepad for coding, Dreamweaver has been a God-send when I've coded myself into a corner with some particularly tricky tables. My boss on the Mac, on the other hand, uses GoLive. Every time he gives me code, it's so riddled with crap that I basically have to throw it out and recode around his images.
And don't get me started on Acrobat. The most awful, horrible, buggy crappy piece of garbage on the face of the earth. I occasionally have to PDF a file, so I have to have the full version installed. No matter what I've tried, if I click on a PDF on a website, the entire version of Acrobat loads. If I click on a PDF on my desktop, only Acrobat Reader opens. But regardless, it locks up my 3GHz W2K machine with 512MB for a good 1-2 minutes while the program loads.
PDF is undoubtedly a great format. Adobe is undoubtedly a company who hires monkeys who would rather stick their fingers up their noses than create decent, compact and useful tools. (With the exception of Photoshop for the Mac -- which they bought from Aldus, right?)
I hate to say it, but it's the perfect opportunity for Microsoft to roll out a Flash-killer. I would have much rather seen Real buy Macromedia.
*sigh* How I long for a cheap and graceful competitor product (and no, Gimp doesn't cut it, Gimp is the equivilent of MSPAINT)...
*sigh* How I long for a cheap and graceful competitor product (and no, Gimp doesn't cut it, Gimp is the equivilent of MSPAINT)...
I would love to see integration of some of the best tools of each of these companies. I'd also love to see better Flash integration in Adobe After effects.
This could be a really great thing!
I've flogged Macromedia on this many times and actually received this message early this year:
Hello Bill,
Thank you for contacting Macromedia Customer Service.
I understand your concerns and apologize for the misunderstanding.
We do not allow upgrades from an educational version to another educational
version because it is already specially priced for students and faculties only;
however, we do allow an upgrade from an academic version to a full commercial
version of the product.
To process this, you may call Customer Service at 800-4707211 for assistance.
Please prepare your proof of purchase when you make the call. n
Thank you for your continued interest in our products.
If you have further concerns, feel free to write us back.
Regards,
Jorelyn Kasilag
Macromedia Customer Service
I would love to see integration of some of the best tools of each of these companies. I'd also love to see better Flash integration in Adobe After effects.
This could be a really great thing!
I've flogged Macromedia on this many times and actually received this message early this year:
Hello Bill,
Thank you for contacting Macromedia Customer Service.
I understand your concerns and apologize for the misunderstanding.
We do not allow upgrades from an educational version to another educational
version because it is already specially priced for students and faculties only;
however, we do allow an upgrade from an academic version to a full commercial
version of the product.
To process this, you may call Customer Service at 800-4707211 for assistance.
Please prepare your proof of purchase when you make the call. n
Thank you for your continued interest in our products.
If you have further concerns, feel free to write us back.
Regards,
Jorelyn Kasilag
Macromedia Customer Service
I've flogged Macromedia on this many times and actually received this message early this year:
Hello Bill,
Thank you for contacting Macromedia Customer Service.
I understand your concerns and apologize for the misunderstanding.
We do not allow upgrades from an educational version to another educational
version because it is already specially priced for students and faculties only;
however, we do allow an upgrade from an academic version to a full commercial
version of the product.
To process this, you may call Customer Service at 800-4707211 for assistance.
Please prepare your proof of purchase when you make the call. n
Thank you for your continued interest in our products.
If you have further concerns, feel free to write us back.
Regards,
Jorelyn Kasilag
Macromedia Customer Service
It's a poor policy.
Maybe Adobe will try cramming Macromedia Products into the next version of the suite, then only charge fifteen hundred bones/copy for it? Want a volume discount? Better buy 1000 copies....
Adobe has priced itself out of the small business market...did it a long time ago. Now comes the job of bumping up proces on the old Macromedia products.
I've flogged Macromedia on this many times and actually received this message early this year:
Hello Bill,
Thank you for contacting Macromedia Customer Service.
I understand your concerns and apologize for the misunderstanding.
We do not allow upgrades from an educational version to another educational
version because it is already specially priced for students and faculties only;
however, we do allow an upgrade from an academic version to a full commercial
version of the product.
To process this, you may call Customer Service at 800-4707211 for assistance.
Please prepare your proof of purchase when you make the call. n
Thank you for your continued interest in our products.
If you have further concerns, feel free to write us back.
Regards,
Jorelyn Kasilag
Macromedia Customer Service
It's a poor policy.
Maybe Adobe will try cramming Macromedia Products into the next version of the suite, then only charge fifteen hundred bones/copy for it? Want a volume discount? Better buy 1000 copies....
Adobe has priced itself out of the small business market...did it a long time ago. Now comes the job of bumping up proces on the old Macromedia products.
Over the last couple of years, Macromedia has moved much of the development of its desktop products (e.g. Fireworks, Freehand, etc) to India. Companies offshore older, non-strategic software, not products they think are important. Meanwhile, important, more revenue strategic development was kept in the US, namely Flash and newer Flash-related products like Breeze and the Flash player. With the move into reoccurring, subscription-based services like Breeze, it was clear that the future wasn't at the Desktop for Macromedia.
Given the possible DOJ objections and overlap in their respective product lines, here's what's probably going to happen:
Fireworks = Dead (sad!)
Freehand = Dead (already on life support)
Photoshop = Active (duh!)
Illustrator = Active (duh!)
GoLive = Dead (only bought by Adobe to address the Dreamweaver issue)
Dreamweaver = Active (yea! long live Dreamweaver!)
LiveMotion (already dead)
Flash = Active
Director = on life support already (no new investment)
All server-based products from Macromedia (e.g. ColdFusion, Flex, Flash Comm. Server, etc.) will probably live as a portal into more Enterprise accounts. (Adobe is just figuring out the Enterprise from its Acrobat experiences, but it's still a little wobbly there.)
This acquisition comes down to two things: Flash and Dreamweaver.
On the Flash side, it's the dominance of the Flash player on the desktop, the defacto standard for vector-based animation and the rich Flash authoring tools for animators. Plus, with the Flash-player already installed on 98% of all desktops, all the new Flash-based products (e.g Breeze, FlashPaper, etc.) that provide an Enterprise a Rich Internet Applications platform for Adobe to extend it's Acrobat product line.
For Dreamweaver, it finally gets to the integration with Photoshop and Illustrator that many designers have been hoping for. While Fireworks has been great for many (including myself), Photoshop and Illustrator are the standard tools designers are trained with in schools and beyond in the print arena. Dreamweaver is light-years ahead of GoLive and the preferred choice for web design. Moving those skills to the Web via ImageReady solved part of the issues, but integration with Dreamweaver is next to non-existent. Maybe now Dreamweaver can get the integration with the rest of the Adobe family it deserves.
Many on this discussion board have complained about Adobe and it's quality in recent years. Many of these points are true and Adobe should take extreme measures to ensure that it keeps the loyal Macromedia users in the fold. All too many mergers have been for not when the acquiring company steamrolls over the installed base of the acquired company.
This could be a good merger at the end of the day. Adobe's challenge is to integrate a cohesive product strategy, make the hard choices to kill off overlapping product lines and to build upon the success that Macromedia has made with Flash.
I agree with pretty much everything you've said. My hope is that Adobe will roll with Fireworks though. Even die hard Photoshop users I know can appreciate the value of decent vector based editing tools. The problem with Fireworks was that everything created in it had the same look. Photoshop and ImageReady's layer effects have a much better level of customizability. Imagine an ImageReady/Illustrator hybrid aimed directly at the web market. I like using Illustrator for vector editing, but Fireworks has tools for tweaking images on a pixel level that Illustrator lacks.
Anyway, great points!
Over the last couple of years, Macromedia has moved much of the development of its desktop products (e.g. Fireworks, Freehand, etc) to India. Companies offshore older, non-strategic software, not products they think are important. Meanwhile, important, more revenue strategic development was kept in the US, namely Flash and newer Flash-related products like Breeze and the Flash player. With the move into reoccurring, subscription-based services like Breeze, it was clear that the future wasn't at the Desktop for Macromedia.
Given the possible DOJ objections and overlap in their respective product lines, here's what's probably going to happen:
Fireworks = Dead (sad!)
Freehand = Dead (already on life support)
Photoshop = Active (duh!)
Illustrator = Active (duh!)
GoLive = Dead (only bought by Adobe to address the Dreamweaver issue)
Dreamweaver = Active (yea! long live Dreamweaver!)
LiveMotion (already dead)
Flash = Active
Director = on life support already (no new investment)
All server-based products from Macromedia (e.g. ColdFusion, Flex, Flash Comm. Server, etc.) will probably live as a portal into more Enterprise accounts. (Adobe is just figuring out the Enterprise from its Acrobat experiences, but it's still a little wobbly there.)
This acquisition comes down to two things: Flash and Dreamweaver.
On the Flash side, it's the dominance of the Flash player on the desktop, the defacto standard for vector-based animation and the rich Flash authoring tools for animators. Plus, with the Flash-player already installed on 98% of all desktops, all the new Flash-based products (e.g Breeze, FlashPaper, etc.) that provide an Enterprise a Rich Internet Applications platform for Adobe to extend it's Acrobat product line.
For Dreamweaver, it finally gets to the integration with Photoshop and Illustrator that many designers have been hoping for. While Fireworks has been great for many (including myself), Photoshop and Illustrator are the standard tools designers are trained with in schools and beyond in the print arena. Dreamweaver is light-years ahead of GoLive and the preferred choice for web design. Moving those skills to the Web via ImageReady solved part of the issues, but integration with Dreamweaver is next to non-existent. Maybe now Dreamweaver can get the integration with the rest of the Adobe family it deserves.
Many on this discussion board have complained about Adobe and it's quality in recent years. Many of these points are true and Adobe should take extreme measures to ensure that it keeps the loyal Macromedia users in the fold. All too many mergers have been for not when the acquiring company steamrolls over the installed base of the acquired company.
This could be a good merger at the end of the day. Adobe's challenge is to integrate a cohesive product strategy, make the hard choices to kill off overlapping product lines and to build upon the success that Macromedia has made with Flash.
I agree with pretty much everything you've said. My hope is that Adobe will roll with Fireworks though. Even die hard Photoshop users I know can appreciate the value of decent vector based editing tools. The problem with Fireworks was that everything created in it had the same look. Photoshop and ImageReady's layer effects have a much better level of customizability. Imagine an ImageReady/Illustrator hybrid aimed directly at the web market. I like using Illustrator for vector editing, but Fireworks has tools for tweaking images on a pixel level that Illustrator lacks.
Anyway, great points!
and I currently buy both Adobe Creative Suite and Macromedia
Studio, but using only half the apps in each. Photoshop and
Dreaweaver are my primary applications, with Flash, Illustrator,
and InDesign following a close second. I'm imagining a Best-of-
Both-Worlds package that has these great apps and finally
makes the redundant apps GoLive, Fireworks, and Freehand go
away forever (especially GoLive!).
My only fear is that Adobe will do to Dreamweaver what they did
to GoLive which is 1) ruin a good product 2) abandon PHP
support, 3) add so much overhead to a website's architecture
that it makes it all but unusable. I hope they'll be smart enough
to abandon GoLive in favor of Dreamweaver and leave the best
web dev app on the market today alone.
-Steve Stringer
Dallas, TX
http://www.stringersites.com
and I currently buy both Adobe Creative Suite and Macromedia
Studio, but using only half the apps in each. Photoshop and
Dreaweaver are my primary applications, with Flash, Illustrator,
and InDesign following a close second. I'm imagining a Best-of-
Both-Worlds package that has these great apps and finally
makes the redundant apps GoLive, Fireworks, and Freehand go
away forever (especially GoLive!).
My only fear is that Adobe will do to Dreamweaver what they did
to GoLive which is 1) ruin a good product 2) abandon PHP
support, 3) add so much overhead to a website's architecture
that it makes it all but unusable. I hope they'll be smart enough
to abandon GoLive in favor of Dreamweaver and leave the best
web dev app on the market today alone.
-Steve Stringer
Dallas, TX
http://www.stringersites.com
I really hope that Adobe doesn't bring Macromedia into the fold and just owns it. I hope that worst all they do is make Macromedia products more compatible with the output formats of Adobe products or something like that. I also hope that if they drop anything it's imageready and golive.
I suppose only time will tell.
- This is going to hurt.
- by System Tyrant April 18, 2005 10:01 AM PDT
- I like Adobe and I like Macromedia, but this just sucks. I have this bad feeling like everyone else that Adobe is basically going to kill the good things that Macromedia has made. I hope I am wrong.
- Like this Reply to this comment
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Showing 1 of 4 pages (148 Comments)I really hope that Adobe doesn't bring Macromedia into the fold and just owns it. I hope that worst all they do is make Macromedia products more compatible with the output formats of Adobe products or something like that. I also hope that if they drop anything it's imageready and golive.
I suppose only time will tell.