The Big Buyout!!!

[sonnymoon42]

So the big Adobe buyout of Macromedia has finally happened.

The biggest question in my mind is... will FreeHand be killed? Sold (how about to Quark)? Continue to limp along, forgotten and unloved? I happen to prefer FreeHand to Illustrator, although the interface has gotten increasingly byzantine with each subsequent release.

I also like Fireworks more than Photoshop for creating Web graphics, as it is specifically designed for that purpose.

I am a Dreamweaver user; I can't really make a comparison with GoLive, as I've never ventured into GoLive's murky waters. I presume Dreamweaver will stay put, and perhaps push GoLive out of the picture.

I guess I'll wait and see what happens before making my next round of software upgrades. Right now I have Adobe Creative Suite v1 (standard) and Macromedia Studio MX 2004 (which still included FreeHand, subsequently jettisoned in the latest version). I may just upgrade to CS2 (standard) and forget about the Macromedia side of the equation for the moment.

I'd be curious to hear what others think, and what their upcoming purchases might be. Anyone going for the big, fat MacrAdobe suites?

[AdobeAce]

Hi sonnymoon42,

I'm afraid Freehand will finally go away. There aren't too many artists using it out there. I can't see Adobe selling it, especially to Quark. (It's more likely that the New York Yankees would sell Derek Jeter's contract to the New York Mets.) You may see some of your favorite Freehand features show up in new versions of Illustrator. I'm sure that Adobe will go out of it's way to make Freehand users as comfortable as possible switching to Illustrator. Probably something similar to the Pagemaker Plug-In Pack that they came out with for Pagemaker users switching to InDesign CS.

As far a Mega-Suites, I really don't think that's going to happen right away either. Adobe will probably take it's time to see where all the pieces fall during this transitional period.

That's what they're doing with their training partners. The Adobe Certified Instructor programs and the Macromedia Training program will remain totally separate at least for the time being.

It's going to be interesting to see what happens over the next couple of years.

Ace

[The Repro Kid]

Hi sonnymoon42,

...As far a Mega-Suites, I really don't think that's going to happen right away either. Adobe will probably take it's time to see where all the pieces fall during this transitional period...

Ace

They're already out.

http://www.adobe.com/products/bundles/design_bundle.html
http://store.adobe.com/store/products/master.jhtml?id=catWebBundle

[AdobeAce]

Hi Repro,

That was a fast transition. Less than a day!

Flash is the one piece of the puzzle that I'm sure Adobe has no questions about. With Illustrator already set up to Export animation content directly into Flash, it's a natural fit. I know little about Flash, but I've created Flash animations using Blends in Illustration in minutes.

As to how the two companies and the rest their products will fit together, I think that's a far more complicated puzzle. Time will tell. At this rate, maybe we'll have to wait until tomorrow.

:D

Ace

[sonnymoon42]

I was surprised the Mega-Merge suites came out so quickly. Actually there are 2 -- one for print, one for Web. The Video suite is pending.

I know Flash is the main reason Adobe bought Macromedia. I've never used it, though -- I do some Web work, nothing requiring Flash. Mostly I do print design, so my main tools are page layout programs; InDesign, QuarkXPress, and even PageMaker (yuck!).

Adobe has a virtual monopoly on graphic production software, it would seem. QuarkXPress is still a contender, and they say they're trying to change their evil ways. I know there are a few alternatives, such as Corel products and Canvas (whoever is marketing that now). I tried the Corel suite when it was first released for the Mac, and Canvas, too, but neither gave me compelling reason to abandon the tried-and-true graphics packages. Hard to teach an old dog new tricks!

One other thing I'll comment on, just for the heck of it. I used to get Layers back when it was MacDesign. I liked it, except for all the "P.C. Weenie" jokes the editors would toss around. My only compaint now is that it's Adobe products ONLY. Why not include Quark, Corel et all? Make it more of a catch-all graphics pub?

So anyway I'm just rambling on here... ignore the crazy guy in the corner muttering to himself. He's harmless, folks, really!

[The Repro Kid]

Yes, the mega-suites were available as of Monday, Dec. 5th.

The whole pricing thing seems creatively arranged to force you to buy both bundles if you want what most people want/need: The Adobe Big Three plus Dreamweaver and Flash.

If adobe could combine Dreamweaver 8 and Flash Basic with CS standard, and up the price a couple hundred dollars, they'd have a great bundle.

But somehow I just don't see this reasonable offering happening.

With present pricing on both new and upgrade software, it would be cheaper to buy, and maintain upgrades for, Adobe CS Standard and Dreamweaver 8 and Flash Basic: About $1700 new and $750 for the upgrades, then with the bundles. To get Illus, Photoshop, ID, dreamweaver and flash, through their bundles is $3,500 new and 1,850 upgrades.

Unless you really wanted fireworks, acrobat pro, bridge, version cue, etc, etc, it just seems so costly the way it is presently structured. I don't think I spend that much annually on all my combined software.

Hopefully they'll think of a few more useful bundle configurations, but I'm not holding my breath.

If quark were to add site management to their web capabilities than I wouldn't need dreamweaver, but I don't think that will happen either.

[sonnymoon42]

You know, I never thought about Quark as a Web design program. I understand in theory you can do it, but figured the results would be, well, cheesy. Has anyone used it for that purpose?

Another program (Mac only, I think) I hear is good for Web layout is Softpress Freeway. It's won awards, gotten good reviews -- anyone here tried it?

[Chris Belena]

My biggest fear is the price increase! I love Adobe's products and their integration, although it could much tighter than it is even with CS2 bridging that gap.

I'd love to see FireWorks' "pop-up menu" feature added to Photoshop. I think that Photoshop-even with ImageReady-is still somewhat mediocre on the Web-creation side.

Most likely GoLive will disappear because it doesn't have the amount of users that Dreamweaver has - there will probably be an overhaul of the interface to be more coordinated with the rest of Adobe's products. I doubt that Adobe would switch all of their interfaces to be like Macromedia's.

However, everything that we discuss is going to be speculative - unless somewhere here (other than Scott Kelby and the crew) has an insider's track to Adobe.

As for Quark - I think that it's days are numbered. There are too many companies doing the switch to InDesign, which IMHO, is a more stable, usable, and superior product. I don't mind Adobe being the design monopoly that it is because I believe, like Apple Computers, they produce a superior-quality product. Just like Apple, however, I worry about pricing. But, you get what you pay for.

[The Repro Kid]

You know, I never thought about Quark as a Web design program. I understand in theory you can do it, but figured the results would be, well, cheesy. Has anyone used it for that purpose?

Another program (Mac only, I think) I hear is good for Web layout is Softpress Freeway. It's won awards, gotten good reviews -- anyone here tried it?

Howdy sonnymoon.

Weell, take a look at my site, done completely with quark...

http://www.dmendoza.net/production/index.htm

and judge the cheese for yourself. My design may be cheesy but quarks web abilities, IMHO, are not.

I can yank any resolution picture from anywhere on my hard drive, including PS layered files, and quark will handle all the ImageReady type optimization for me. It will export all the html files, and all the optimized photos, faster than ImageReady can save one single file. With hyperlinks, once you get the gist of it (hyperlinks recognize a page's name in the page palette) editing hyperlinks is way easier than in dreamweaver. You can append links from other files, just like with style sheets. I can create a great looking site in a miniscule fraction of the time that I can in dreamweaver, and they look way better because quark handles all the CSS scripts, something I still cannot do in dreamweaver.

So, since when is making my life four hundred percent easier, and making my web pages look like I'm a web pro, cheesy?

Bottom line: Try it, you'll like it!

I have an in-law, a young guy, who is a web pro. He recently got a print job, something he's not so hip at. He said he uses quark now. I told him I use quark to make my web pages. His eyes lit-up. "Man, we use it for web stuff at my new work too, isn't it great?!"

Imagine this comment coming from a real web pro. Someone who can write his own CSS scripts.

One thing quark does have trouble with. It can only handle one cascading menu per site. Add any more than one and they all break. But rollovers are pitifully easy.

Try it, you'll like it.

[sonnymoon42]

Repro,

Well, I tried to visit your site but the link is now broken. I'll take your word for it, though, that QuarkXPress works for building web pages.

[The Repro Kid]

that link is no longer any good. Try this one,

http://www.mendozaproductions.com/

it will work.