Microsoft, Adobe execs discuss Apple, potential merger in meeting

12346

Comments

  • Reply 101 of 138
    bigpicsbigpics Posts: 1,397member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by computadude View Post


    merger of 2 sinking ships = EPIC FAIL



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by monstrosity View Post


    I think the pair would suit each other. Heart warming in a way. It's like two school retards finally hitting it off in later life, then getting married (then dropping stone dead during the honeymoon).



    I see drift, but I sure as hell don't see sinkin'. Look outside your consumer electronics, cool OS blinders.....



    MS: Yeah, plenty of chinks in the armor, especially in areas where the public sees, but all flesh wounds to the core business. No real competition to Office anywhere on the horizon. No chance of PC OS falling below 80% in the next decade and Win 7 is actually, while not my choice, much improved (all it had to be) and a hit. Solid solid server share in the Enterprise - all huge money. Outlook. Exchange. Hate 'em, but not going anywhere.



    As for their peripheral businesses, Sync (in Fords) is at least a modest hit. Bing on Verizon (ironically on all their Androids). Do you know what each 1% share of search engine queries is worth? Hint - billions. Haven't heard much distress out of the X-Box camp and many gamers are choosing it as their set-top box.



    Not nearly as dead in the phone market as people think based on the Win 7 mobile buzz. And the RSP market (really smart phones) is hardly mature. Not too late for a huge company with enterprise backing to muscle in - and while many say it's down to a replay of Win v. Mac with iOS v Android, with net standards and the cellcos themselves in the mix, the market may not compress to one huge and one boutique player this time. There could be three viable major players (APPL, GOOG and MS) with staying power plus other niches, e.g., HP/Palm, Intel/Nokia, etc. around for a long time.



    IE 9 is supposed to stanch the browser share loss based on, again, good pre-reviews. New version of Mac Office just coming out. And while the Live stable's buzzless, there's big cloud infrastructure being assembled nonetheless.



    Revenues up. Profits up. R&D actually showing signs of gelling. Where's the sink?



    Adobe is not in as strong a position as MS - the Flash wars do aim closer to its core - and has a much smaller market cap than either MS or Apple, but also has a number of iconic products that have led to sales increases for 9 out of 10 years (through 2009), and most of which are not under serious assault. I could go on about Adobe, but the point is clear:



    Apple's in great, but not unassailable shape. MS often looks clumsy and dances like a drunken elephant, but has lots of deep pockets, entrenched market positions, talented staff and is hardly an epic fail. And lots of you are likely cueing up to buy either Photoshop or the new Mac Photoshop Elements.



    Still, all that being said, it's still hard to really grok what probable and important synergies a merger would have for either MS or A. Remember the story talked about joint ventures as another possibility. And given the extended and painful federal (and EEC?) scrutiny a merger would cause, and in the wake of the MS/Yahoo stand-off which ended with such a strategic partnership, my two cents is that this route would be more likely.
     0Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 102 of 138
    cubertcubert Posts: 728member
    And Ballmer reportedly referred to Adobe's CEO as "Haji" and "Aqbar" on more than one occasion during the meeting.
     0Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 103 of 138
    cubertcubert Posts: 728member
    I sure hope Steve has a Photoshop replacement waiting in the wings because killing off the Mac version of all there software would be Ballmer's first directive.
     0Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 104 of 138
    tinktink Posts: 395member
    Quote:

    ...to discuss a number of topics, including a ..... even a merger



    I think i'm going to be sick!!!!

     0Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 105 of 138
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by NotTylerDurden View Post


    I've been a Apple user since 1989 and I love my Mac but I need the creative suite to get my work done. If they merged, I would have to look into buying a PC as sad as that makes me. Damn, I hope this doesn't happen.



    I guess an alternative would be to go buy the fastest mac I could afford and the latest version of the Creative Suite and see if I could wait out this tragedy until something changed. That should at least get me two years before I would have to make another hardware decision. It's like battening the hatches before the storm.



    It wouldn't make sense for MS to kill CS for Mac... they are putting a lot of resources into Office for Mac... I think if MS is after Adobe, it is to try come up with a compelling App store alternative... something based on Flash technology so they can get lots of crappy apps built fast. MS is neglecting the fundamentals of development (hardware, os, software) because they've screwed the pooch on all 3 levels and need to buy their way back into the game.



    This is all about the mobile space...
     0Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 106 of 138
    I wonder. If Apple did buy Adobe would they drop Flash altogether?
     0Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 107 of 138
    asciiascii Posts: 5,936member
    Adobe don't need to merge with anyone to solve the Flash on iPhone issue, there is a purely technical solution, namely making their products generate HTML5/JS/CSS code.
     0Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 108 of 138
    palegolaspalegolas Posts: 1,362member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post


    The meetings were said to last over an hour, and the subject of Apple was one of the main talking points.



    If this meeting lasted just over an hour - that means they basically got to say hello, exchange business cards and sit down, have a short formal introduction of who is present, and have a basic exchange of standpoints, a couple of replies and then have Steve Ballmer launch the contents of his intestines at Apple for about 20 minutes straight - and that's it. An hour is a very short time.



    I think such a merge would become the formal death of Adobe. Employees quitting and starting new, small companies - creating competing (better) products from scratch.



    If anything, the purpose of this meeting alone - and its leaks - appears to me just to send shivers down the industry - and a way for Microsoft to demonstrate that they are still the boss.
     0Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 109 of 138
    celcocelco Posts: 211member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by SpamSandwich View Post


    A 5 gig Illustrator file? What the heck are you doing?





    Actually I am mocking up a magazine and website into "boards" for a client.. I use illustrator as its faster for me to edit than indesign and I can layout multiple size art boards. Lots and lots of eps and images....
     0Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 110 of 138
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by mbarriault View Post


    How can it be called a blockade if Adobe doesn't even have a full Flash for iOS to be released?



    yes they do.



    Anyway, this is likely the biggest blunder adobe could possibly pull. There's no way they'd be stupid enough to hitch up with the titanic. Adobe's strategy, which seems to be working, is to partner with everyone else.
     0Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 111 of 138
    nceencee Posts: 858member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by scotty321 View Post


    Jesus Christ. This is why Apple should have bought Adobe years ago.



    Agree!
     0Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 112 of 138
    nceencee Posts: 858member
    I don't care (for the most part) who gets them, I just want my Freehand back



    Skip
     0Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 113 of 138
    z3r0z3r0 Posts: 238member
    Well Apple should buyout Adobe. I can't see Microsoft getting approval as it not only has the Expression Suite, silverlight/WMV, .Net, and IIS that overlap with CS, Flash, Adobe AIR, and ColdFusion. I'm pretty sure there are more areas of overlap that would create a bigger monopoly. Not to mention Microsoft would start the document war again by twisting Adobe document formats and breaking compatibility.



    As far as alternatives to some of Adobes products these come to mind:



    ACD Canvas 11 (Photoshop/Illustrator)

    Autodesk SketchBook Pro (Photoshop)

    Inkscape (Illustrator)

    Scribus (Indesign)

    Panic Coda (Dreamweaver)

    Pixelmator (Photoshop)

    Eclipse (Flex/Flashbuilder)

    Titanium Appcelerator (AIR)

    Nuke, Shake, ehh Motion (After Effects)

    Final Cut Pro (Premiere)

    Soundtrack Pro (Soundbooth/Audition)

    DVD Studio Pro (Encore)

    EditShare LightWorks (Premiere)
     0Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 114 of 138
    nceencee Posts: 858member
    [QUOTE=z3r0;1729203]Well Apple should buyout Adobe. I can't see Microsoft getting approval as it not only has the Expression Suite, silverlight/WMV, .Net, and IIS that overlap with CS, Flash, Adobe AIR, and ColdFusion. I'm pretty sure there are more areas of overlap that would create a bigger monopoly. Not to mention Microsoft would start the document war again by twisting Adobe document formats and breaking compatibility.



    As far as alternatives to some of Adobes products these come to mind:



    - Freehand (instead of Illustrator) - if the government would have made them sell it off, (when purchasing MacroMedia) seeing it really was the only competition out there.



    I'm NOT big on the government getting involved, but this is one time I wish they had.
     0Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 115 of 138
    New company name = Microdobe.



    In the short term such a merger would have no impact on Apple computing or mobile platforms.



    I really can't see of any advantage for either of them to merge, how would such a merger help them compete with Apple?



    Microsoft is trying to break into the mobile market with WinMo 7 to which Adobe can't add that much value while Adobe is a tools company which Microsoft already has lots of and hasn't demonstrated tons of desire to compete in.



    Just thinking out loud.
     0Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 116 of 138
    zindakozindako Posts: 468member
    So basically Microsoft is admitting they are incapable of challenging Apple's innovative forward momentum and their continued success in their products. It boils down to them trying to merge with other companies that are equally inept at innovation or vision to achieve what exactly?



    Maybe Ballmer should just liquidate its assets and give it back to their shareholders
     0Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 117 of 138
    zindakozindako Posts: 468member
    I'm personally eager awaiting monday 11 October 2010 to see how much air this new windows phone 7 will suck out of Apple and Google's Android market success. Its going to be bittersweet to see if this goes the way of the kin
     0Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 118 of 138
    z3r0z3r0 Posts: 238member
    Well I always did find Freehand kind of awkward as well as Fireworks. I think I would go with Inkscape over Freehand if I couldn't use Illustrator.



    Freeverse LineForm might be another option though its pretty basic: http://www.freeverse.com/mac/product/?id=6020



    [QUOTE=ncee;1729220]
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by z3r0 View Post


    Well Apple should buyout Adobe. I can't see Microsoft getting approval as it not only has the Expression Suite, silverlight/WMV, .Net, and IIS that overlap with CS, Flash, Adobe AIR, and ColdFusion. I'm pretty sure there are more areas of overlap that would create a bigger monopoly. Not to mention Microsoft would start the document war again by twisting Adobe document formats and breaking compatibility.



    As far as alternatives to some of Adobes products these come to mind:



    - Freehand (instead of Illustrator) - if the government would have made them sell it off, (when purchasing MacroMedia) seeing it really was the only competition out there.



    I'm NOT big on the government getting involved, but this is one time I wish they had.



     0Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 119 of 138
    Everybody who thinks that Apple should buy Adobe ought to take a look at their earnings over the last three years. That should sober you up.
     0Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 120 of 138
    zindakozindako Posts: 468member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Dr Millmoss View Post


    Everybody who thinks that Apple should buy Adobe ought to take a look at their earnings over the last three years. That should sober you up.



    Point well taken.
     0Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
Sign In or Register to comment.