Reactionary

One of the best things to happen to the software industry is over. Adobe bought out Macromedia. You may think I’d be happy about this as I love Adobe almost half as much as I love Apple. But I’m not. The fierce competition between the two the past few years to outdo each other has generated some of the best software on the market, especially as concerns the web, of course. Dreamweaver was a five star program an upgrade ago. Adobe answered it with GoLive and it was a fistfight to put out the best WYSIWYG editor out there. Macromedia won that round and then jumped into the ring as far as image editors are concerned. Adobe’s Photoshop will never have an equal, but Macromedia started releasing programs that forced Photoshop to learn to speak Web. Adobe started linking programs to work together like Macromedia’s suites. It was glorious to watch. Adobe slashed its prices thanks in part to Macromedia.

And now, that’s over. Competition breeds excellence. This deal makes me fear for image processing software. True, Adobe had Photoshop before there even was a Macromedia, but the flagship program has benefited immensely regardless.

I hope no one ever buys Apple… or that Apple never, ever becomes more popular than a small, enlightened population.

Posted on April 18th, 2005 under Tech •  Print •  Email • RSS 2.0 feed • Both comments and pings are currently closed