…and it still kinda creeps me out. I’m referring specifically to the Adobe-Macromedia merger. While both companies have a history of making excellent products, Adobe seems to have lost its way the last few years, and I’m worried it will drag the Macromedia product line down with it. I’m especially dismayed about the future of competing products: Freehand versus Illustrator, Fireworks versus ImageReady, Dreamweaver versus GoLive, Flash versus LiveMotion, FlashPaper versus Acrobat. Adobe’s programs (with a few exceptions) have become massive bloatware… try installing CreativeSuite 2 sometime — it takes up over 2GB of hard drive space!
Will Adobe force its interface standards onto Macromedia products? Personally, I prefer Macromedia’s “docked” interface style to Adobe’s tab system… it’s easier to manage and more efficient for my workflow. Will Adobe force the PDF format into all of the programs? (The answer is yes… they’re even planning on integrating PDFs with Breeze.)
So what’s my point? I’m concerned — like MANY others — about the future of both Adobe and Macromedia product lines because of how it will affect the work I do. Which brings me to a Bruce Chizen (Adobe head honcho) interview I just read. While he doesn’t address some of my concerns, he does give a pretty thorough overview of Adobe’s plans for the near future. This will potentially affect anyone who uses Office-style software, online services, and mobile devices, so I thought I’d post a link for you to read. Enjoy! 🙂
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/index.cfm?fa=viewArticle&id=1399
– philip