Adobe, in it’s bid to be the Microsoft of design, bought Macromedia for over $3 billion in stock options today. The move means Adobe can pair the best print and photography software on the planet (Illustrator and Photoshop) with some of the best internet applications on the planet (Dreamweaver and Flash), while gouging the hell out of developers.
As a web developer, I’m happy and sad about this. On one hand, I know that a package of Photoshop, Illustrator, Acrobat, In Design, Dreamweaver and Flash would be a mother fucker of a bundle. I also realize that this will help Cold Fusion and pour significant resources into things like Contribute.
On the other hand, I also know that Adobe is some of the highest priced software on the market and this will, no doubt, dramatically increase the cost of Macromedia products while shrinking the market yet again.