TMO Reports - NAB Attendees React to Adobe's Purchase of Macromedia

by , 3:50 PM EDT, April 21st, 2005

LAS VEGAS -- Adobe may have announced on Monday a US$3.4 billion stock-based deal to purchase Macromedia, but you wouldn't have known just by looking at the companies' respective booths during the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) trade show, where it was business as usual. Demos and educational sessions were still held and company employees declined to speak on the subject.

Out on the show floor, however, NAB attendees who use Adobe and/or Macromedia software expressed hope that the merger of the two companies will be beneficial to their personal workflows. Mark Rohmann, who works for the post-production facility Black Tusk Video, told The Mac Observer that "it would be nice to incorporate Flash into some of the things we do, and maybe that will cross over into some of the Adobe products."

Justin Tvedten, who works for Hanke Media in Arkansas, added: "Adobe doesn't have a Director-like product, so I can see where they want that application too. I have to use different plug-ins to bring Photoshop files into Director, so it would be a good thing if I could do that directly."

Karen Neal, who uses Adobe Premiere, Photoshop and Illustrator during her work for the First Baptist Church in Stockton, Calif., echoed the hope that Adobe will incorporate Flash in its products, saying: "I want to eventually get into Flash creation." Her personal reaction to the sale was that "it will be good. I don't know that I would say it will hurt innovation."

The lack of future competition between the two companies, and the possible impact that will have on innovation, was also an important topic of discussion. Mr. Rohmann, who agreed that the sale won't hurt the development of new products, noted: "Hopefully with their collective backgrounds, we'll have even better tools."

However, Mr. Tvedten expressed concern that "there's the everything-in-one-company aspect of it, which probably keeps Adobe honest, having a separate company out there. I prefer Dreamweaver over GoLive, so it might concern me that they'll kill Dreamweaver and now our only option is GoLive. But there are things in GoLive that I wish Dreamweaver had, so if they integrate the two programs, then that will be a good thing."

In the end, Mr. Tvedten said that he will take a "wait and see" approach to the merger. A long-time user of Adobe's graphics applications, he noted that it's "a good company. I used Aldus products when Adobe bought them, but I've been real happy since. [Adobe is] good at staying on the ball."