Re: Adobe/.Macromedia: Demand a Roadmap

Absolutely right. I have a couple of friends that work for Adobe, and I've been fishing 
around with them to try to find out what the coming months have in store and got 
nothing. One friend told me that a grand total of approximately 10 people even have the 
foggiest notion of where the deal is headed, and they're keeping things very close to the 
chest, both internally and publicly, to prevent any leaks or rumors, and to allow them to 
manage expectations.

That said, it's a safe bet (my own speculation here) that Photoshop, Illustrator (Freehand 
may or may not continue or be integrated, but it will probably be left to wither on the 
vine), Flash and InDesign will remain for the most part unchanged. The big question mark 
seems to be what's going to happen between Dreamweaver and GoLive. I won't even 
venture a guess about the other product lines like After Effects or Premier, except to 
suggest that we can probably expect an effort at tight integration between Adobe's Motion 
Suite and Flash.

One other observation: Adobe is hard set on continuing to promote and develop Acrobat 
and PDF workflow, so it's likely this will be the underlying engine of any other product 
decisions they make.

Evidently, we're all going to have to wait and see, as neither company seems inclined to 
throw us any hints, for a variety of very good reasons, including those mentioned below. 
The inner circle has a lot of work to do to figure out how to merge the product lines across 
the board... and then the engineers have to figure out how to make the code play nice. 
Yech!

What might be more productive than demanding a product roadmap would be 
encouraging the two companies to engage their user base through focus groups and 
whatnot in order to find out what we collectively would like to see happen.

CV

> At the onset of any corporate merger, there is a "quiet" period where
> neither company can discuss anything about integration plans,
> internally or with customers. The employees don't know any more than
> you do, I assure you. Adobe may not even know right now which products
> will more forward and which won't. And if they do, they can't talk
> about it or make any official plans until the Federal government and
> shareholders approve the deal. This can typically take anywhere from
> 3-9 months.
> 
> The ink is not dry on this deal. While it is very likely the deal will
> go through, there is still a lot of work to do before either company
> can even think about discussing product roadmaps.
> 
> I appreciate your perspective. A whole lot of people would like to see
> the same thing. But legally, neither company can oblige.
> 
> -r-
> 
> 
> On 4/22/05, Michael James Pinto <michaeljamespinto@y...> wrote:
> >  As a customer of both companies it's wrong that that 
> >  they can't provide a simple product roadmap.
> >  
> >  As customers we shouldn't have to guess if program 
> >  X or Y will be killed off or merged. If Adobe can't 
> >  do this, how will they ever sell enterprise 
> >  level software?
> >  
> >  If you can aquire a company for a few billion dollars,
> >  you should plans for you key product lines in place,
> >  and this should be shared with your customers who
> >  have invested not just in purchasing the software,
> >  but in training and support.
> >  
> >  So I would ask that any of you who buy in quantity from
> >  both companies (on a scale where you have a sales rep)
> >  to ask Adobe for a public product line roadmap.
> >  
> >  Please feel free to pass this on to any IT manager
> >  that you know who buys Adobe/Macromedia products...
> >  
> >  Thanks,
> >  
> >  Michael Pinto
> >  Very Memorable Design
> >  www.vm.com




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