Adobeis celebrating its 25th anniversary in 2007 . Adobe administrator consider some time to reflect on its accomplishments , its human relationship with Apple and what rest ahead for a companionship that has done so much in the diligence .

A bit of history

Adobe was founded in 1982 by John Warnock and Chuck Geschke , and incorporated in 1983 . Named after Adobe Creek that ran behind Warnock ’s home in Los Altos , Calif. , Adobe has go on to hire almost 6,500 people and report revenues of $ 2.575 billion in 2006 .

The company has introduce several market changing engineering and products over the years including Postscript , PDF and , of course , its flagship Cartesian product , Photoshop . Adobe also controls other popular applications like Dreamweaver and Flash , through skill .

Adobe began buying companies in 1994 when it bought Aldus . Over the years they purchase several more company include Frame Technology ( 1995 ) , GoLive ( 1999 ) , Accelio ( 2002 ) and perhaps the biggest skill of all , Macromedia in 2005 .

The Apple relationship

Adobe and Apple have a very important strategical relationship . When you think of purpose , Adobe comes to mind and with that , you apparently think of Apple ’s Macintosh computers . That kinship has flourished for many years , but occasionally it appears the party may butt heads .

One such occasion was when Apple was rumored to be making a Photoshop killer . The industry worried that Adobe may abandon the Mac if Apple competed with it foreland - to - head on a pic software program .

As it turns out Apple introduced Aperture , which is more of a workflow tool that complements Photoshop . However , Adobe countered by offering its own workflow lotion before long after call Lightroom . The stage was fix for a showdown , but both companies select the contest in step , take a firm stand there was way for both in the grocery store .

“ We infer that in many fronts we will be partners and there are areas that we will compete with each other , ” said John Loiacono , Senior Vice President of Adobe ’s Creative Solutions Business Unit . “ When Apple announced Aperture , internally we scramble , but we did n’t whine or plain , we worked to get the product we had out the room access . ”

The end resultant , according to Loiacono , is that Adobe , “ just brought out a good product . ”

Aperture and Lightroom are n’t the only areas that the companies contend . Several years after go out the platform , Adobe announced in January 2007 that it would convey its high - goal video recording editing retinue back to the Mac . Premiere now contend with Apple ’s Final Cut Pro , but Adobe says that does not cause any problems between Apple and Adobe .

“ It ’s moderately straightforward from our perspective , ” said Loiacono . “ In the remnant , the Mac client benefits — that ’s upright for the Mac user base . ”

The biggest challenge for Adobe so far

When you think everything Adobe has done over the geezerhood , it seems difficult to pick out one outcome that challenged the ship’s company the most . From tack to PowerPC and then Intel - based Macs to innovating and integrate engineering science , Adobe has been through its share of hard chore . However , for Loiacono , the selection is clear .

“ The Macromedia desegregation has been the biggest thing for us , ” he say . “ Adobe had some unbelievable products and Macromedia had a lot of young energy — that fill in a lot of gap that Adobe had . ”

Loiacono explain that there were many things to reckon with the Macromedia leverage . They had to make up one’s mind which pieces would be integrated with Adobe applications , which program would remain as standalone product and how would it all be done without adversing strike the transport version of Creative Suite at the clock time .

“ In the end we did a pretty decent job of managing that whole unconscious process , ” said Loiacono .

Looking ahead

Adobe ’s workplace is far from over . While many improvements were just insert with Creative Suite 3 , Loiacono said there is still pot to come up .

Adobe is attend to the online world for many of its next lineament . Leveraging services , in both its consumer and pro level applications , is the next braggart challenge for the troupe .

“ I intend it will be a critical portion going forward , ” say Loiacono . “ It ’s not going to be a substitution for our applications , but I do see that new types of features will be augmentation services based online . ”

Loiacono points to applications likeKuler — a web - host coloration choosing software — as an example of how on-line services can help the design residential district . Adobe says users should n’t interest about the future of their favorite applications programme — in the fuss to make new innovative ways for mass to work out , they still remember where they came from .

“ Are we taking our eye off the ball ? Absolutely not , ” say Loiacono . “ You will see fascinating tools in all of the app and more integrating between Macromedia and Adobe in the future . We did a ton of material in CS3 , but that was just the first cold shoulder . ”