MacNN has an article up about the software they think the big merge is going to leave behind. Based on a report from NPD Techworld, they say:
2004 U.S. professional graphics and Web market share figures show Photoshop, Illustrator, Dreamweaver, and Flash as leaders in their respective markets, so it comes as no surprise that the four applications are expected to survive the merger, while Fireworks, Freehand, and GoLive will be eliminated.
I definitely agree with this accessment given the widespread feelings about the less liked application in the group. The article has stats on the programs’ market share and some interesting comentary on the report. The only thing i find odd is the reccomendation to Adobe to try to sell the Fireworks and Freehand programs. Fireworks may be able to find a buyer, but I can’t see Freehand finding one considering the lack of improvement the program has been given just from Macromedia in the past few years. My gut feeling says that even if Freehand and Fireworks could be sold the lack of use and market share will most likely kill the programs in a short period of time. Fireworks will only survive as a more professional alternative to Photoshop Elements and only because it has extra tools. I personally do not use Fireworks as an alternative to Photoshop but as an extension of Flash to do easy png manipulation, but I can see this being taken over by Photoshop. The missing links in all this are price and activation. Photoshop is just too expensive to be added to the Studio suite of apps and Adobe does not have a very good student pricing system set up. Product activation is completely different for Macromedia apps than for Adobe apps. One is the extremely easy fill out OPTIONAL registration form plus serial number on install(Macromedia); the other is a new complicated activation via web that requires Adobe’s direct permission to re-install much less to flip computers(Adobe). Which would you prefer?
I’m sure all already know this but, it was announced today that Adobe is going to aquire Macromedia for 3.4 billion dollars in stock. This is a huge deal as to most used web design and animation products are put out by either of these companies. Plus the fact that the default standard for easy animation is Flash and the most open standard for document creation is the PDF. This can only be good for the world, but bad for the small developer. It is already impossible for a student to afford photoshop, does this acquisition mean the cost of macromedia studio is going to skyrocket?! Hopefully Adobe keeps the macromedia product costs down and developes a better pricing system as the over 1000 it costs to buy any of their products right now is just way to much!
