Adobe Systems Inc. ’s agreement to acquire Macromedia for approximately US$ 3.4 billion will give the party a formidable assembling of Web publishing and written document management software package — and will place it squarely in the path of tools rival Microsoft .
The spate splice Adobe ’s omnipresent PDF and Acrobat Reader software with Macromedia ’s Flash intersection for creating media cognitive content . Adobe will also have a sizable portfolio of desktop software popular with creative professionals — include Photoshop , Illustrator , and Macromedia ’s Freehand and Dreamweaver .
“ I see this as both troupe bulge up against Microsoft , ” said Steven Brazier , an psychoanalyst at Canalys .
The expanded Adobe could create a variety of rich sensitive and cyberspace practical program that use Flash , break into areas Microsoft has shown interest in , said Bola Rotibi , an psychoanalyst at Ovum . Although Flash is well have a go at it to Web surfers as a format for viewing brio , the technology is a powerful development platform , and Adobe said leveraging it will be a “ key part ” of its scheme for a combined company .
“ When you call back of where Microsoft is headed with the futurity of its Media Player and Media Center PCs , this go head - to - head , ” Rotibi said .
Adobe also gains Macromedia ’s base of ColdFusion vane developers . RedMonk psychoanalyst James Governor predicted that dynamical phase that tolerate users to make , change , and share information online will be one of the first product of the marriage . Graphics mechanisation is also in the cards . Both of these capabilities would fly in the face of Microsoft ’s plans .
“ Adobe ’s ambition in this learning depend like a fleck of a Longhorn - killer to me , ” Governor say .
Microsoft has been working on dynamical - form applied science and a art system called Avalon as part of its upcoming Longhorn OS . By moving into these areas , Adobe may be attempt to shorten the software behemoth off at the pass , analysts said .
Meanwhile , developer anxiously await decisions about what products will outlast the merger . Company executive declined to point out on production plans until after the deal ’s completion , but Adobe and Macromedia have several products that vie head - to - head — such as Dreamweaver and Adobe ’s GoLive , and Freehand and Illustrator .
During a league call with company executive , analysts repeatedly raised the question of a possible antimonopoly investigating , but executives dismissed the opening .
“ There ’s a lot of competitor . CorelDraw outsells both of us in Germany , and there are overt source products like Killustrator [ which deepen its name to Kontour in 2001 to avoid an Adobe lawsuit ] . We do n’t see it as an issue , ” Adobe CFO Murray Demo explain .
