Telecom Acquisition Roundup

Grok Headline matches for Telecom Acquisition Roundup

Adobe Macromedia acquisition roundup

Adobe Macromedia acquisition roundup 04/19/2005 06:25 AM

As you might expect from a story with design, media, and technology angles, Adobe's impending acquisition of Macromedia has resulted in much reaction from a big chunk of the blogosphere. Here are what some technologists, designers, and pundits have had to say about the deal so far:

Mike Chambers, a Product Manager at Macromedia, had a few things to say about the acquisition on his blog. He can't say too much because of legal constraints around the deal, but he specifically mentions Macromedia's "culture of openness and participation" as one of the reasons that Adobe was interested in the company.

Kevin Lynch, Chief Software Architect for Macromedia, posted what sounds like a press release about the deal on his site. He's very hopeful about the future of the combined company.

Macromedia MX evangelist John Dowdell notes that Macromedia is "doing a lot of hiring these days" and points to Google Video's coverage of the deal.

(Note: if you're keeping score, that's three employees of Macromedia chiming in about the acquisition on their blogs. And many more MM employees keep active blogs, so I'm sure we'll be hearing more from that side of the fence (although because of the legal stuff, it looks like posts about this need to be approved). On the other side, I've never heard of an Adobe employee that keeps a blog. Anyone?)

Marc Cantor, one of the founders of the company that eventually became Macromedia, want s his name back, along with Director because MM "more or less have abandoned it". Marc seems fairly negative about Macromedia ("Lord knows they [can] teach a class in how NOT to run a software company") and thinks that maybe Adobe can turn things around, but only if they can shed the software-in-a-box paradigm and start making multi-user, community-based software with online components that don't rely on patent protection.

Adobe CEO Bruce Chizen said in the announcement conference call that 9/11 was a bit of a catalyst for the deal: "after 9/11, we both realized that being enemies didn't make sense". Zuh? But the new company still has enemies worth fighting, even in a post-9/11 world...here's what Chizen had to say in an interview a year ago: "Microsoft is the competitor, and it's the one that keeps me up at night."

Tim Bray, co-author of XML and Director of Web Technologies at Sun, thinks that Adobe got Macromedia for their web products. Unlike most other commentary I've seen, Bray feels that "Macromedia's DreamWeaver is the single most important Web-design product" and that "Flash is a distraction" that Adobe may drop because "near as [Bray] can tell, Macromedia has never made any serious money with Flash". What's the alternative for web developers? Ajax.

Dave Shea, well-known and respected web designer, echoes the thoughts of many in saying that Adobe bought Macromedia for their web products and savvy...and Flash in particular. Shea also wonders "what will become of Adobe's long-standing commitment to SVG, now that Flash is in the fold", names Microsoft as Adobe's main competition now (MS seems to fighting on several fronts now...the Google/Yahoo/Jeeves, Apple, and now this), but is also worried about the loss of competition in the design space: "the combined Macromedia and Adobe stable of design software is industry standard; with this buyout, Adobe essentially has a monopoly over the design world. (Quark aside. Very far aside.)" Flash/web developer Todd Dominey echoes many of Shea's comments in his post about the deal.

Dave Winer, who has his fingers in too many pies to summarize, compares the Adobe/MM acquisition to MM's purchase of Allaire: "Remember all the hooplah over the Allaire-Macromedia acquisition, and all the synergies that were supposed to happen. Hmmm. Did any happen? BusinessWeek didn't think so. Will any happen here? Heh. Slightly more exciting than Microsoft's acquisition of Groove."

TidBITS has a good overview of the evolution and history of the relationship between Macromedia and Adobe by Glenn Fleishman.

Broadband pundit Om Malik calls it a Web 1.0 (or even a desktop publishing) merger: "They are becoming increasingly irrelevant in digital worlds where free programs like iPhoto and Picasa are setting the tone on the desktop. Don't expect innovation as a result of this deal - this is a deal to boost the revenues and maybe profits."

Russell Beattie, who works for Yahoo! on mobile products and services, is heartened to see Adobe's focus on mobile cited in their reasoning for the merger and "can see a combined Flash/SVG player (Flash Lite 1.1?) from Adobe becoming a really viable platform". But Beattie also notes that "Adobe will always be the company that had a researcher *thrown in jail* for publicly explaining flaws in their product" (see here for details). Back to mobile, a commenter on Beattie's thread warns, "PDF is the dog that can bring a 2GhZ PC to its knees to display a text file. not the kind of attitude thats right for mobile."

Don Makoviney is looking forward to the stabilization in the tools competition: "As a working designer and developer of enterprise applications, I am tired of the battle over tools. When a carpenter buys a hammer, he doesn't have to change the way he builds houses based on the hammer he buys."

From the survey of all the commentary out there, the general feeling seems to be that Photoshop will kill Fireworks, Illustrator will kill Freehand, and Dreamweaver will kill GoLive. This seems to be confirmed by Adobe CEO Bruce Chizen's thoughts in a statement about the deal.

Mark notes that this is the second time Adobe has purchased Freehand. :)

The Macromedia XML News Aggregator (time for a new name?), which is a good place to keep up with all of the news and commentary about this deal, also displays a list of recent searches. There aren't many searches about the deal right now, but just after the deal was announced yesterday morning, the most recent search terms were "suck adobe", "adobe rape mm", "adobe ruin flash", "f._.ck adobe", "really upset", "stop adobe", "against adobe", and "hate adobe". I'm detecting a tiny bit of anti-Adobe sentiment here...

The financial markets didn't seem to react too well to the deal. Adobe's stock price fell 8+% while Macromedia, which was offered $41.86 per share, only saw a rise to 36.72.

BusinessWeek has excerpts of a conversation with the CEOs of Adobe and Macromedia.

"Softbank mulls Japan Telecom
acquisition"

"Softbank mulls Japan Telecom
acquisition" 05/27/2004 03:23 PM

Softbank mulls Japan Telecom acquisition

Softbank mulls Japan Telecom acquisition 05/26/2004 05:56 AM
Broadband expansion plan

Free WiFi Hotspot Roundup, If One Site
Can Be a Roundup

Free WiFi Hotspot Roundup, If One Site
Can Be a Roundup 04/13/2004 07:23 AM
JOEL JOHNSON -- So as is typical, after a full day of responses to my request for some of your favorite chain restaurants that provide free WiFi, I get one big, fat link that trumps them all, and includes all of your Schlotzsky's, Apple Stores, It's a Grinds, and New...

Norson Telecom Consulting Today
Released: "Mainland Telecom Investment &
Vendor Performance, 2004-2005" Norson
Analysis Report

Norson Telecom Consulting Today
Released: "Mainland Telecom Investment &
Vendor Performance, 2004-2005" Norson
Analysis Report 03/17/2005 04:13 AM
This Norson report analyzes fixed line and wireless equipment investments in China from 2004 to 2005, and discusses the effects of the pending 3G launch, maturing PHS networks, and new investments in NGN and IPTV technology. [PRWEB Mar 17, 2005]

Acquisition

Acquisition 03/13/2003 10:21 AM
Just when I thought I'd never find a quality Gnutella client for OS X, I acquired (ha ha) Acquisition, a...

Acquisition Goes to .8

Acquisition Goes to .8 03/13/2003 10:17 AM
MacMinute notes that Acquisition has been updated to 0.8. If you've ever used LimeWire and thought that there must be something better, there is–Acquisition. It features a beautiful Cocoa interface and taps into the popular Gnutella network.

Option-Shift K Apple Hacker Swag!

Ask Jeeves about its acquisition

Ask Jeeves about its acquisition 03/22/2005 04:52 PM
Computer Weekly Mar 21 2005 12:02PM GMT

Six Apart: LiveJournal Acquisition FAQ

Six Apart: LiveJournal Acquisition FAQ 01/06/2005 11:55 AM
Six Apart: LiveJournal Acquisition FAQ .. acquisition FAQ they have published .. FAQ

sixapart.com/press/livejournal_acquisition_faq.shtml
track this site | 5 links

"LiveJournal Acquisition FAQ"

"LiveJournal Acquisition FAQ" 01/06/2005 11:50 PM

Adobe, Macromedia OK acquisition

Adobe, Macromedia OK acquisition 04/19/2005 02:30 AM
Houston Chronicle Apr 19 2005 6:29AM GMT

"had a few things to say about the
acquisition on his bl0g"

"had a few things to say about the
acquisition on his bl0g" 04/19/2005 08:36 AM

Who's Afraid of Vendor Acquisition?

Who's Afraid of Vendor Acquisition? 11/14/2003 07:27 PM
Last month, when rumors of a Google acquisition by Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) were making the rounds, more than a few of Google's clients were nervous. ...

Will New Acquisition Boost Invacare?

Will New Acquisition Boost Invacare? 08/03/2004 10:53 AM
Investors of the maker of wheelchairs and lifts jumped at the news. But what is the long-term outlook?

HP completes Consera acquisition

HP completes Consera acquisition 02/18/2004 01:34 PM

EMC ups Q4 target on acquisition
optimism

EMC ups Q4 target on acquisition
optimism 12/10/2003 12:42 PM
Documentum in hand

Novell still on the acquisition hunt

Novell still on the acquisition hunt 11/04/2003 02:29 PM
vnunet.com Nov 4 2003 1:39PM ET

Federal Acquisition Jumpstation

Federal Acquisition Jumpstation 11/04/2003 09:54 AM
Federal Acquisition Jumpstation
http://prod.nai s.nasa.gov/pub/fedproc/home.html

Comprehensive links to federal acquisitions on the Internet.

Groove Acquisition a Done Deal

Groove Acquisition a Done Deal 04/08/2005 12:06 PM
Microsoft finalized its acquisition of Groove Networks,and officially appointed Ray Ozzie its third chief technology officer, the Redmondians announced Friday.

Questions About Google Acquisition

Questions About Google Acquisition 02/23/2003 10:50 PM
Other bloggers quickly linked to it, starting with Evan Williams, formerly Pyra's chief and now a Google employee, who updated his blog (evhead.com) at the ...

Acquisition of Alias completed

Acquisition of Alias completed 06/16/2004 06:49 AM
Accel-KKR, the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan (Teachers') and Alias management have announced the completion of the acquisition of Alias from SGI for US$57.5 million...

Yahoo Flickr acquisition

Yahoo Flickr acquisition 03/14/2005 04:33 PM
Foremski ups the ante on the Flickr/Yahoo partnership rumor, suggesting that an acquisition is about to be announced. Silicon Valley...

Following the Ask Jeeves - Bloglines
Acquisition

Following the Ask Jeeves - Bloglines
Acquisition 03/14/2005 05:35 PM
The blogosphere is buzzing about the acquisition. Here's how you can track it in real-time....

Reebok: Good Acquisition Fit

Reebok: Good Acquisition Fit 06/28/2004 01:33 PM
The acquisition of The Hockey Company will enhance earnings.

MCI May Be New Belle of the Acquisition
Ball

MCI May Be New Belle of the Acquisition
Ball 02/01/2005 09:50 PM
Most industry analysts expect the other Bell operating companies to pursue MCI rather than get into a messy bidding war with SBC Communications over AT&T.

IBM Completes Corio Acquisition

IBM Completes Corio Acquisition 03/22/2005 05:11 PM
Web Host Industry Review Mar 22 2005 9:16PM GMT

Job cuts part of SBC acquisition of AT&T

Job cuts part of SBC acquisition of AT&T 02/01/2005 09:41 PM
WASHINGTON - More than 12,000 jobs are likely to be eliminated in SBC Communications' planned acquisition of AT&T, announced this week.

Mary Jo on Google non-acquisition

Mary Jo on Google non-acquisition 11/18/2003 01:57 PM

Mary Jo Foley: you need permalinks. I wanted to point to your post about Microsoft not going after Google and couldn't.

I believe Gates. Why? Think about it. There's no way such an aquisition would get approved by our government. So, why even waste cycles trying to make something happen that wouldn't get approved anyway? Look at what happened when Microsoft tried to buy Quicken.

Update: Mary Jo responded in my comments and gave me t his permalink.

EMC completes VMware acquisition

EMC completes VMware acquisition 01/11/2004 11:37 PM
CNET Asia Jan 11 2004 10:46PM ET

Other News: iTunes Acquisition

Other News: iTunes Acquisition 05/13/2004 11:07 AM
Wired writes about how Apple gets iTunes for its store.

EMC completes VMWare acquisition

EMC completes VMWare acquisition 01/11/2004 08:15 PM
ZDNet Australia Jan 11 2004 6:34PM ET

AOL Says It Will Let New Acquisition
Maintain Its Course (washingtonpost.com)

AOL Says It Will Let New Acquisition
Maintain Its Course (washingtonpost.com) 06/29/2004 09:49 PM
washingtonpost.com - The head of America Online Inc. said yesterday that he plans to take a hands-off approach to running Advertising.com Inc., the growing, profitable online ad firm that AOL is buying for $435 million.

IDF roundup

IDF roundup 03/17/2005 02:53 AM

With the parade of multicore chips at the recently-concluded Intel Developer's Forum, it was crystal-clear that the company has finally left behind the last vestiges of the hunt for megahertz. Instead, we have a newly-branded desktop CPU, the Pentium D, and a host of other multicore products. Join Hannibal as he looks back at the IDF and discusses where Intel is headed next.

Roundup 0.7.2

Roundup 0.7.2 05/16/2004 08:54 PM
A simple-to-use and -install issue-tracking system.

E3 roundup

E3 roundup 06/05/2005 10:53 PM

Another E3 is ready to wrap up. Before it rides off into the sunset until 2006, check out Kurt Mackey's roundup of all things E3.

The big news at this year’s E3 was the introductions of next generation consoles from Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft. The marketing material’s been covered pretty extensively, and E3 was a good chance for scrubs like me to get (or attempt to get) some more information about the upcoming consoles.

Microsoft was the big winner when it came to showing off next-generation consoles. Sony was second, and about all Nintendo had to say about the Revolution was that it's about the size of three DVD cases. Read on for the definitive E3 summary.

RDF roundup

RDF roundup 07/01/2002 03:39 PM
A selection of RDF-related announcements over the last month.

Another RSS Roundup

Another RSS Roundup 01/23/2004 02:20 PM
I know I just did one a few days ago, but I got more stuff to tell you about. First of all you should know that you can know get...

RSS Roundup

RSS Roundup 01/22/2004 03:31 AM
Yeehaw! Couple of notes for the RSS Roundup. First: The Librarians Index to the Internet now has an RSS feed and an instructional page about RSS. The feed is at...

Roundup 0.6.9

Roundup 0.6.9 04/18/2004 05:47 AM
A simple-to-use and -install issue-tracking system.
Grok Description matches for Telecom Acquisition Roundup
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Telecom Acquisition Roundup

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