adobe vs. macromedia: top 10

i belong on the mailing list for experts-exchange, which if you google (i'm too lazy to link it) will turn up a site dedicated to answering any and all computer-related problems, issues, glitches, what have you. they also have the occasional article of some sort, and in this last e-mail someone wrote up a list of what adobe should do now that it has macromedia. it's cute, so i thought i'd post it.

From MHenry, Macromedia Page Editor
Adobe Vs. Macromedia - Top 10: Surely everyone has heard that Adobe will be buying Macromedia. The real question is, what is this brute going to look like when all the dust settles. Adobe, sit up straight and pay attention, here's my wish list.

1. Please don't get rid of FreeHand. I love this program. Everything about it is sexy: Multiple pages, no switching between direct select and the arrow tool -- trust me, this program is the Swiss Army Knife of vector illustration. The only justificatin for using Illustrator over FreeHand is that most printers don't know what the heck to do with a FreeHand file.
   
2. If you are going to dump Fireworks, at least incorporate some of the tools into Photoshop. Wouldn't it be great to have the gradient control of Fireworks in Photoshop? Or the vector tools?
   
3. Let Macromedia use the tabbed panels. Remember when Adobe sued Macromedia to prevent them from using their interface? Hopefully, we can get rid of the God-awful interface that MX+ users are faced with.
   
4. Get rid of all the garbage that Macromedia spewed out this last year or so: FlashPaper? Contribute? Captivate? Flex? Who cares? Apparently, Macromedia thinks all us freelancers are a bottomless pit of money. Incorporate these tools into Flash and Dreamweaver the way you should have in the first place or get rid of them.
   
5. Quit pricing upgrades differently. I don't care if I have version 1.0, quit charging me like I never bought anything from you. Let me upgrade if you are offering an upgrade! Hey Adobe, want to make some quick money? Let users of Director 8.0 and prior upgrade. Now that Director supports DVD, there's a legitimate reason for some of us to buy the newest version.
   
6. Upgrade Fontographer and quit charging so much for Adobe fonts. You'll be making plenty of money now, so cut us a break!
   
7. It's Dreamweaver, ok? Not GoLive. Don't even think about it. We all switched to Dreamweaver because it didn't muck with our code. Of course, in MX2004 we now get stuff like ">!--DWLayoutEmptyCell--> " in blank cells. Hmmm, wonder if Pagemill is still around?
   
8. Not every program is worth $400 or more. Sure, Acrobat Professional is a nice program but it doesn't do anything! You can't even create a PDF from scratch using it. It's a plugin, nothing more. Price it accordingly.
   
9. Please don't get rid of FreeHand.(see #1)
   
10. More complete manuals with purchase. I hate buying "studio" versions. You get this scrawny little book that doesn't cover half the features. If you want to encourage me to buy the studio, then give me all the manuals. At least in PDF format.

Ok, so it was more of a rant than a wish list. The truth is, I'm hopeful that this merger will bring good things to the community. I really do hope that Adobe will incorporate some of the more useful Macromedia tools. I wish that Adobe will be able to build quality apps with a smaller footprint. I hope that Macromedia's innovation and Adobe's quality will combine to build apps that are superior to what we have today.

And I wish I would have bought Macromedia stock a couple of weeks before the news broke!

Contact MHenry: MHenry@experts-exchange.com