Adobe is eating Macromedia

So... Adobe is intending to "acquire" Macromedia, is it? Very interesting stuff. My thoughts are that Adobe is going to eat Macromedia, in much the same manner that a person might swallow a plate of salad: You get the benefit, but the original is digested, processed and, well, somewhat brown.

There will be some good things. The integration of Adobe .pdf files into Flash, Director, etc, would surely be a boon, and I can't think of any reason why Adobe would neglect to do this. Fingers crossed, eh? In fact, being able to create graphics in PhotoShop and immediately send them into your .fla file with a single click (maybe two) would be fantastic. Or, hell, perhaps PhotoShop will be able to make .fla files...? After all, the only major difference between the two lay in animation, and Flash's stronger emphasis on vector graphics.

It's impossible to tell what Adobe plans to do. Perhaps they will simply release a new line of products, using the featutes of Macromedia products, but with new names and new (or altered) interfaces. Or perhaps they will simply keep the name and the products intact, the only major difference being that Adobe get big wad of cash in the process. Who can say?

But there are some concerns.

For instance, I am given to understand that Dreamweaver has become almost redundant in the web development community. I am unsure as to whether Macromedia is developing a new version, however it's probably safe to say that, if Adobe are goint to eat Macromedia, then development of new products has been paused -- or even scrapped. Who can say? And since Adobe has GoLive, why would they want to push another, rival product? Maybe they'll take the best elements of Dreamweaver and throw them into GoLive, but my guess is that whatever web product they push will not resemble Dreamweaver which is -- to me -- a more desirable product. I did Juicy Mountain's web page in Dreamweaver, and damn glad I was for it. I usually dislike web authoring programs, but Dreamweaver is sort of close to great.

I don't know what to expect, but I'm going to put my money on Macromedia's products being stripped of all their goodness and thrown aside, so that Adobe get to do what they please under the Adobe banner while they dissolve and go brown...

... and start to stink ...