I hope they don't get rid of Dreamweaver MX.

Sheesh, first it was Corel taking over Jasc (Paint Shop Pro), now Adobe taking over Macromedia....what a world, what a world!

I am very saddened to hear this. I'm a very big fan of Fireworks and will be very very dissappointed if it goes down the tubes.

Any merging of/killing off product lines etc will be a long way away. Adobe have just released CS2 and it will take years to recoup an acceptable ROI. Macromedia has not been as active in updates, but things like Flash/Dreamweaver are the industry leaders so it's hard to see them being killed. Maybe in a year or two there might be something happen in the Freehand/Illustrator area, but many things that could change before then.

-It's not going to happen but what I would like to see is a series of 'suites' where you could pick and choose products from either family.

-Cautiously optomistic-

By acquiring rival software maker Macromedia Inc....Adobe Systems Inc. is positioning itself to do battle with Microsoft Corp.

Couldn't just ask for help eh? Fight fire with another monopoly?

Am I the only one who sees this as a good thing? This could lead to better intergration between Photoshop, Premiere, Audition, Acrobat, Flash, Dreamweaver and Breaze. Also, this could be just the push SVG needs to become widely used. ColdFusion could benifit as well. I do hope that Adobe dosn't suck in all of Macromedia into its self, but rather keeps it as a sister/child company.

Well, if it's just a name change, than I wouldn't care.

But I doubt it. I am very afraid. Adobe applications have always been very good as far as their graphics related software were concerned, but they also royaly sucked for any coding related program. And that's where Macromedia was strong. Amazing programs that made coding a breeze, either in Flash or Dreamweaver.

I really hope they don't turn Flash into a useless "cool point and click but extremely inefficient" program like Live Motion is.

If this ends up like HP&Compaq story it will be disastrous to whole IT industry.

Can Adobe compensate 3.4 billion dollars?

wait..... Discreet is calling itself Autodesk what!!!????

Paint Shop...
Marcomedia...
Discreet (3D Studio Max)...

2006 is going to be interesting..

I am very sceptical about any mergers, but I can see where this might actually help developers. I personally use Macromedia's StudioMX and Adobe's Creative Studio on a daily basis. Having an option to have Photoshop, Illustrator, Dreamweaver, and Flash all part of one package does sound somewhat intriguing; but I have always loved the support that Macromedia has had for their products.

So I think the verdict is... sceptically intrigued optimism. Let's just hope we don't have to call a new company AdoMedia, it just sounds wrong.

Yeah I hear, and to make it worse Gamespot is aquiring EBGames! dang....

Well, now we get to figure this out: will Corel aquire Adobe, or Adobe aquire Corel?
on another note...

Yeah I hear, and to make it worse Gamespot is aquiring EBGames! dang....

OMFG!!!!!

Nothing is changing with 3ds or the various other proggies, but discreet for the 3rd or so time is changing their name. And Corel isn't a major enough player in this game to ever think about aquiring Adobe, and I couldn't see Adobe caring to take in Corel either, but at this point, besides Adobe and Corel, there's not much left.

Yeah I hear, and to make it worse Gamespot is aquiring EBGames! dang....

I've always preferred EB over GameSpot.

as will i......as will i......

This is a good thing not bad. Imagine that possiblities of the products. i.e = illustrator cs2 paired with flash mx 2004pro. Excellent vector drawing ability from illust+amazing tweening. Double the design team = merging of ideas and concepts. Doubt worry, if anything flash mx can hold its own for the next 5years easy.