Re: Adobe buys Macromedia? 2005-04-18 - By Bob Dawson
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This may be the most disturbing news I've heard in a long, long time.
This is a case of the whole becoming greater than the some of its
parts. Instead of two 800 pound gorilla's becoming one 1600 pound
gorilla, you have a case where two 800 pound gorilla's become one 3200
pound gorilla with a really bad attitude.
There were only two major players in the professional graphics world:
Adobe and Macromedia. All the other content creation programs such as
Canvas (an excellent program, btw) or Corel are, at best, wannabies;
they're simply footnotes. Between them, Adobe and Macromedia
controlled perhaps 95 percent of the market.
With the acquisition of Macromedia by Adobe there's now only one
player in the game. We now have a de-facto dictator in the
professional graphics world, and that's *NOT* a good thing. Once the
checks and balances of competition are removed, once the luxury of
choice disappears, the graphics world becomes a very scary place.
Now the only standards in the graphics world are those from Adobe, and
they can be changed on a whim. Judging from their history, Adobe will
not be a benevolent dictator. Without Macromedia to balance them, to
drive them through competition, Adobe is free to do whatever it
wants...or doesn't want.
Innovation is going to slow to a crawl, prices are going to rise
dramatically, and there's nothing you can do about it.
I suspect that, once the takeover's complete, Adobe will no longer
develop for the Mac platform. Bruce Chizen, head of Adobe, has stated
in the past that he would rather Adobe develop for only the dominant
platform (PeeCee/Windows). Adobe has already dropped Macintosh
development on several applications and, I believe, the rest will soon
follow.
I find it ironic that the dominant platform for content creation, the
platform that launched Adobe in the first place, may soon be excluded
from that very market.
I don't mean to sound like I'm preaching doom-and-gloom: it's just
that I have been an Adobe watcher for many years (yes, I do use their
products), and I know their style.
As a Macromedia FreeHand and DreamWeaver user I view this as a very
sad day for those of us who make our living as designers,
illustrators, web developers, etc. The only thing I can say to the
rest of you is be afraid; be very, very afraid, because the world
we've known is no more. The world without choice we are now entering
will be a very bleak place.
With trepidation,
Bob Dawson
--- In Carrara@(protected), Andrew Turner <turner410@(protected)> wrote:
> Oh also -
>
> "The other companies are now standing against one 1600 lbs gorilla
> instead of
> two 800 lbs gorillas. There position is not improving. As supporting
> evidence I have one word...Microsoft."
>
> And I have one word for you:
>
> Macintosh.
>
> :)
>
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