Adobe, Macromedia Merger Marries Flash and PDF Technologies

February 10th, 2006

According to a recent Business Week article, the new Adobe is using its newly acquired Macromedia expertise to meld PDF, HTML, and Flash into a new engagement platform.

While I’m not clear exactly what an engagement platform is, it is clear that the future of Adobe’s PDF technology will begin to look more like Flash, with increased interactivity. It seems that Flash will also increase its print capabilities (though Macromedia Flash Paper was a pre-exisiting print technology).

The result? Perhaps a more interactive Web that handles print capability more smoothly without the long wait as an external plugin loads. Along with a host of innovative applications that take advantage of the increased speed and interactivity offered.

Does this mean that Adobe/Macromedia will be creating a new defacto standard in Web development that will look not submit to the direction of governing bodies such as the Web Standards Project and W3C? I doubt it, but with near monopoly power, the new Adobe is poised to influence the future of Web development profoundly.

Entry Filed under: Technology