Last year startup toolmaker NetObjects gave up its independent status when it sold most of itself to IBM. The company promised that it would still support its two other major strategic partners–Microsoft and Netscape–but that it would work with IBM’s Lotus subsidiary to better integrate its Fusion line with Lotus’s Domino servers.
So far, the company has kept its promise, although the industry reaction to the IBM deal made it seem like no company had ever attempted to balance multiple strategic alliances with competing partners. But Adobe has been doing just that for years, and its future success is dependent on balancing those commitments.
Adobe has significant alliances with Apple, Microsoft, and IBM, three companies that spend much of their time trying to outwit one another (although, sad to admit, Microsoft is the one that tends to win).
This might be the best way for Adobe to thrive in the coming years. Once upon a time, Adobe seemed like an adjunct to Apple Computer: its PostScript language defined the look of Macintosh-generated documents, and it took the company a few years after its purchase of Aldus (makers of PageMaker) to figure out how best to market their offerings to the Windows market.
Adobe will move ahead if it continues to improve its products. PageMaker had been eclipsed by Quark XPress for years, but the combination of the recent 6.5 version of PageMaker and Quark’s slow and insufficient upgrade cycle has put Adobe back on top, especially for those who intend to move such rich documents onto the Web. But the company must make it easier to author for the Web.
A likely scenario would be either a Lite version of an Acrobat authoring tool or the introduction of robust Acrobat authoring capabilities into PageMill. The ability to stream Premiere animations will make it easier for the (www.adobe.com/newsfeatures/pre5/main.html) impressive new version of that program to pick up mindshare among Web developers.
The key, though, will be for Adobe to extend its all-but-flagship package, Photoshop, to the Web. Macromedia has shown the way with its Fireworks cheap-and-dirty Web-graphics authoring program; Adobe must top this, whichever partners it chooses.
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Do you think Adobe tools will rule the Web? We want to know (specialreport@vineyard.com).
