Adobe buys Macromedia
Just a quick post to comment on the acquisition of Macromedia by Adobe,
announced today.
Not too long ago (between 2000 and 2002) the companies seemed to be spending most of their time slapping lawsuits on each other. Back then, Adobe was seriously keen to attack Macromedia's growing market share in web authoring - and it looked as if it may have had a chance. But in the past couple of years Macromedia has emerged as a major powerhouse and technology innovator, and the usability of its tools has propelled it to a dominant position in the area of online content authoring. Dreamweaver, Flash, Flash Lite, Flex, Contribute... all these are indispensable parts of today's online content experience.
Of course Adobe is still king when it comes to high-end creative design tools, and also in its ownership of the technology which powers the now-ubiquitous PDF. The result is that many online creative professionals now see the two companies' suites as largely complementary, but market-leading in their own areas.
It's clear that the acquisition makes sense for Adobe, which still hankers after the kinds of capability that Macromedia demonstrates. But Macromedia is turning in excellent financial performances and its new products are proving very popular, particularly with enterprise customers - signs which show that it could have continued to grow well as an independent entity, I think. So the big question in my mind is - what's in it for Macromedia?
