Late last week, the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) gave Adobe and Macromedia the go-ahead to merge. Stockholders of both corporations overwhelmingly approved the merger in August. A few European jurisdictions have yet to grant judicial clearance, but if they do (and it appears that they will), these two titans of the design world will join, probably this fall.
As I mentioned in this newsletter back in April, I have misgivings about the merger. As much as I admire the individuals I know at both companies, I fear that as one Mega Corporation, Adobe/Macromedia will lose sight of satisfying its customers and focus instead on growing even larger and more profitable — by any means possible.
One of the big unknowns is whether the combined companies will kill any existing software programs. An Adobe spokesperson told me in an email that "there are no conditions" to the DOJ clearance. In other words, the DOJ did not instruct Macromedia to sell FreeHand, for example, before the merger. That means Adobe/Macromedia can do whatever it wants with any of the applications, and it’s almost inevitable that some users will be unhappy. If you owned two competing programs, would you invest the money to develop and market both of them? Or would you look at the bottom line and send one to the software graveyard?
I can think of one possibly positive outcome from the merger. The newly combined company will be looking closely at potential changes in its software line-up. If we, the users of that software, make our priorities clear now, we may be able to influence the corporation’s future direction.
Share your requests with me, I’ll present them directly to high-ranking Adobe/Macromedia employees. You can give me the information in two ways: write me at ts****@*********ro.com, or post your requests by clicking the Vox Box tool to the left of this text.
This article was last modified on December 17, 2022
This article was first published on October 17, 2005
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