Filed under: Software
Adobe pulls back the curtain on Adobe-Macromedia development
Adobe has begun to pull back the curtain, hinting at what's in store now that the Adobe-Macromedia acquisition is complete. Ben Watson, Group Manager for Adobe’s Developer Relations Team, blogs about some of the sample applications that Adobe has been working on - Macromedia Flex
with Adobe LiveCycle, Macromedia ColdFusion with Adobe LiveCycle,
and Macromedia Flash with Adobe Acrobat (that one sounds hot). The techies at Adobe are excited that the merger legalities are over, so they can get down to work integrating the two products. What's it all going to mean? Here's Watson's quick take:a) A sign of life for Web 2.0.
b) A supa-slick client platform.
c) A real composite application development suite.
d) The beginning of the end of deployment-driven architectures.
e) One of the largest and fastest growing developer communities around.
f) A new face for Java.
f) A really cool bunch of awesome geekiness with all the requisite blinky lights and shiny knobs.
![TUAW [Cafepress]](http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
AHM said 4:11PM on 12-05-2005
The Adobe-Macromedia merger is likely to give us even slower applications, less standardization, and a new attempt to replace (X)HTML with memory and cpu-hungry PDF and Flash technologies. See Daring Fireball's take on the merger: http://daringfireball.net/2005/04/adobe_translation
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Jeff said 4:32PM on 12-05-2005
Less standardization? No way, it's more like consolidating assets and improving standards by keeping what works, dropping what doesn't. I mean, PSD, AI, EPS, PDF, TIFF, SWF, HTML files have been the standards for ten years. I don't think it will change, only get better.
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Brady J. Frey said 5:29PM on 12-05-2005
By standards, we're talking coding standards by the W3, not your desktop apps -- SVG will die out (Flash but open and XML), flash + pdf, dreamweaver gets golive's junk code... what we've pushed we professionals to look ahead too maybe a new uphill battle.
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Jeff said 5:43PM on 12-05-2005
Early versions of GoLive I admit were atrocious, but since CS, I have found a new-found love for GoLive. I don't know, I guess as much as I give Freehand a bad wrap, I'll take the motto of Freehand fanatics and repeat it for Golive, "just give it a try." The last two versions of GoLive are pretty slick.
Adobe at one time did go astray on W3 standards, but has fought tremendously to be completely on par with W3. In GoLive CS2 I love the CSS tables function.
I am just optimistic that the merger will create a web program with the standards and efficiency (in code) that Macromedia brings, with the flexibility, intuitive nature, and file sharing that Adobe brings.
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MacXprt said 5:48PM on 12-05-2005
Just finished a usergroup survey for Adobe CS3 vs. Quark 7.
There will be two versions of CS3. Premium and Platinum.
Premium:
Photoshop
Illustrator
InDesign
GoLive
Version Cue
Adobe Bridge
Acrobat Professional
Platinum:
Photoshop
Illustrator
InDesign
Version Cue
Adobe Bridge
Acrobat Professional
Dreamweaver (in place of GoLive)
Flash
Here are the details I received for what's in store for CS3:
CS3 Features
GRAPHICS and IMAGING
Precise transparency controls, drop shadows, alpha channel support, and support for Photoshop PSD layer opacity. Built in flattener is designed for minimal rasterization and reliable output and reliable output.
Built-in image engine, reduces time spent on image manipulation: all major graphics formats are supported and alpha channels can be softened.
Streamlined interface allows most common tasks to be controlled from a single palette. Streamlined Print dialog box offers better preview and summary.
Cross-platform OpenType Font Support and Unicode international character support.
OUTPUT ENHANCEMENTS
Users can have better control of their final output via enhanced PDF and PDF/X support, PDF and EPS Styles and through customizable pre-flighting that can be set up by output provider and provided to their customers.
PPML support enables variable data printing to compatible devices.
PostScript 3 Support is enhanced, including Smooth Shading and As Is with Device Independent Color
Color management is always-on, and can be easily shared and standardized to a specific output setup, allowing better on-screen soft proofing. Advanced Color Management users will find many new options.
Robust graphics engine provides improved anti-aliasing and image previews.
DOCUMENT CONSISTENCY
The application includes a number of features that allow for easy global corrections:
Users can create layout blocks that can be edited in one place with real time updates in multiple pages, files or even among multiple users.
Complex layouts can be shared among multiple users for simultaneous collaboration.
Users can flexibly synchronize images, text, layout and styles across multiple layouts and media types.
MULTI-CHANNEL PUBLISHING
Web Layout environment allows direct HTML and robust image export.
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Thomas said 5:59PM on 12-05-2005
I wish they'd work on pricing. A couple hundred dollars for a web page building application seems way to much. Especially because in a year they'll ask for more money to upgrade.
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iJavaJoe said 6:38PM on 12-05-2005
I'd like to see a create your own suite version of the applications. I could pick and choose what I want to buy. Also, the price would be reduced by the various versions of software apps I have purchased. This one or two size fits all stuff is Garbage. I can't afford it all and I don't want it ALL. All I want is : Photoshop, Illustrator, Dreamweaver, and Flash Pro. I'm sure each of us is a bit different in what our suite should be. Let Adobe know you want to "create a bundle".
Adobe could manufacture one disk with ALL the software on it and create your bundle license to allow you access to only the apps you bought. If you want to add another application in the future they could generate another "bundle license".
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Robert Knight said 7:47PM on 12-05-2005
Jeff-
Both Adobe apps AND (formerly) Macromedia apps wrote dreadful (X)HTML code. Dreamweaver was moving towards better code, but GoLive has yet to make the same progress. The W3C HTML standards are important because coding to a standard makes it easier for your websites to be accessible to disabled internet surfers as well as be read by search engines.
You can validate any web page here:
http://validator.w3.org/
The push for applications that write standards-compliant code and browsers that correctly render that code is very important now because acompany that didn't ever do it very well owns the company that was trying the hardest.
The big fear with this merger is that up until now, Adobe has pretty much stunk at web apps. So, web developers want to know...is Adobe going to try as hard as Macromedia did (which wasn't as hard as many of us would have liked), or are they going to get fat and happy with no competition.
And then there is Microsoft and their cludge of a non-standard browser...save that for another day.
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Brady J. Frey said 9:14PM on 12-05-2005
I second Knight's comments -- and another thing, is it safe to say SVG is now a dead technology? That almost flash XML app was on it's way, but sorely behind flash -- I'm afraid it will die, when it should be the contender.
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