Adobe to Acquire Macromedia

 
Jul 01, 2005
by Judith Dinowitz

This Monday, April 18, we all woke up to some stunning news. Adobe announced an agreement to buy Macromedia in an all-stock transaction valued at approximately $3.4 billion. According to the official Macromedia press release, the two companies are looking to create "a more powerful set of solutions for creating, managing and delivering compelling content and experiences." The companies want to grow into new markets, particularly in the mobile and enterprise arenas. The acquisition is expected to close by about Fall 2005. The merged company will be called Adobe Systems.

What does all of this mean to ColdFusion programmers? In the short run, nothing at all. ColdFusion will remain ColdFusion, with Tim Buntel and the rest of the development team at the wheel, with Ben Forta evangelizing it and the community behind it.

In the long run, it's a safe bet to say that ColdFusion will probably not be cut, as per some of the dire predictions stated on the CF-Talk and CF-Community lists. Why? Quite simply, Adobe has no equivalent product. Also, Ben Forta stated at the recent Powered by Detroit conference that sales of ColdFusion Enterprise have been growing. If ColdFusion is doing well in the marketplace, why would Adobe want to kill it?

The reaction on the House of Fusion lists is a combination of informed discussion and fear of what Adobe's ownership will do for the future of ColdFusion. This fear of Adobe's intentions is a natural reaction. What ColdFusion developers should remember is that we've been through this once before when Macromedia bought Allaire. We had the same fears and confusion when that merger was announced, and it did take a few years for Macromedia to find its way with ColdFusion. With the release of ColdFusion MX 7, Macromedia has taken ColdFusion to a new level, so in the long run, the Macromedia/Allaire merger was good for ColdFusion. This new merger may be just as good.

My answer to some of the fear and dread I've seen on the mailing lists can be summed up in six simple words: "It is too early to tell." Right now the best thing you can do is sit, wait and see. Don't jump on the "speculation" bandwagon. Give Adobe a chance.

Now that I've said my piece, let me give you the myriad points of view that I've seen out there on the web.

Straight News Articles

Macromedia's press release will give you further details of the agreement and the company line from Macromedia and Adobe. Of the other news articles, I was particularly impressed by InternetNews.com, which elicited commentary by such people as Paul Colton of Xamlon, which has developed an XAML editor. (XAML is Microsoft's version of XML for Longhorn.) Publish.com's wry opinion piece, "How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Adobe-Macromedia Merger," was a gem. Another interesting Publish.com piece quoted Corel's CEO on the effects of this merger on the marketplace and opportunities it opens up for his company.

Adobe to Acquire Macromedia (Macromedia Press Release, April 18, 2005)

Adobe, Macromedia Deeper than PDF/Flash (InternetNews.com, April 19, 2005)

How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Adobe-Macromedia Merger (Publish.com, April 18, 2005)

Analysts: Merger Works for Adobe, But Customers May Suffer (Publish.com, April 18, 2005)

Corel CEO Sees Opportunities in Adobe-Macromedia Merger (Publish.com, April 18, 2005)

Adobe to Acquire Macromedia (Mercury News, April 19, 2005)

Update: Adobe to buy Macromedia for $3.4 billion (Infoworld, April 18, 2005)

Adobe's Buy Out Of Macromedia May Redefine Design Industry (CXOToday.com, April 18, 2005)

What Adobe buying Macromedia *could* mean for VoIP (Russell Shaw, ZDNet Blogs, April 18, 2005)

Community Sites

CF-Talk, CF-Community and Slashdot give the community reaction (and the merger from the perspective of the developer). You'll find a combination of reasoned analysis, speculation on what will happen to what products once the companies combine, and fear and concern for the future of [name your favorite product here].

CF-Talk Threads on Adobe/Macromedia Merger

CF-Community Threads on Adobe/Macromedia Merger

Adobe Buys Macromedia for $3.4B (Slashdot, April 18, 2005)

Wall Street's Reaction

The stock analysts feel that this deal is logical and a great gain for both companies, enabling them to compete on a stronger footing with Microsoft.

Adobe takes on software giants (Thedeal.com, April 19, 2005)

NewsMaker Q and A: Macromedia and Adobe: Finally One (BusinessWeek Online, April 19, 2005)

Market Pulse: Adobe Systems upped at Deutsche Bank on Macromedia deal (MarketWatch, April 19, 2005)

Photoshop and Flash: Potent Combo (BusinessWeek Online, April 19, 2005)

Blogs

Where many of the news articles spoke of the raw facts of the merger, the blogs tend to either be very positive and very negative and dealt more with speculation. I particularly liked Matt Woodward's entry on the future of RIAs, Spike's comments on April 18th comparing this merger to the last and ArcIMS's wish list for Adobe. On the other hand, The Register says that this is the worst thing that could happen to the online tool market. Thad McIlroy of the Gilbane Report Blog says that "graphic designers and webmasters should be greeting this with the same enthusiasm that Buckingham Palace received the news of Prince Charles and Camilla."

I respectfully disagree, Mr. McIlroy, though your comparison is quite dramatic.

Identity Theft (Pete Freitag, April 19, 2005)

My Take on the Merger (Spike Fu, April 18, 2005)

Why I don't have Macrodobephobia (Joe Rinehart, April 19, 2005)

Adobe and Macromedia (Raymond Camden, April 19, 2005)

Adobe, Macromedia, and the Future of RIAs (Matt Woodward, April 19, 2005)

FLEX's Demise in Adobe Systems. (Scott Barnes, April 19, 2005)

The Day After the Storm (Pete Freitag, April 19, 2005)

Bray on Future (John Dowdell, April 19, 2005)

Surely you're joking Mr Bray (Spike Fu, April 19, 2005)

ColdFusion for Macintosh, Flex for the People (ArcIMS and ColdFusion Users, April 20, 2005)

Adobe and Macromedia: Bad News for Online Tools (The Register, April 19, 2005)

Adobe & Macromedia (Thad McIlroy, Gilbane Report Blog, April 19, 2005)

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