AARRRGHH!! Macromedia vs Adobe SHOCKER!!!

uoba

uoba

Re: member
Macromedia have filed a lawsuit against Adobe, claiming they own the patent rights to Photoshop. They basically want Photoshop stopped!!!!!!

I do not like Macromedia products, and I will be supporting Adobe all the way for this one!!!!!!!!!

They also want to stop GoLive, claiming they own the technology for that as well!

Okay, so this may end up nowhere, and take years in court, but imagine what would happen to the Mac world if Photoshop was caught up in this sort of mess!?

:mad:
 
This has been going on for years. Part of the problem is that they both took parts of Aldus (Freehand one way, PageMaker the other) and now they are arguing over who has rights to what sub-technology, and where and who can use it. PageMaker wasn't the windfall Adobe thought it was going to be because there was very little improvement between 4.0 and the release of 6.0. This gave Quark a chance to pass them. It didn't help that they also aquired FrameMaker at about the same time. They must have thought that they had bought most of the desktop publishing market at one time (which they did), and felt little need to put anything into those products.

As for Macromedia, the only thing I remember them for before getting Freehand was Director (and wondering why they felt they needed to change their name from Macromind), and that was about it.

I still use Aldus PageMaker 5.0a (it does everything I need, so why change), but I don't recall seeing any tabbed palettes on anything, so Macromedia couldn't say they got it fron Aldus. As for Photoshop, how do they think they are going to make that one stick. PS was on version 5.0 by 1998.
 
macromedia filing patents for Photoshop technology in 1998!! This was Adobe's product well and truely by then!

We'll have to wait for the full story on this one.
 
Just hate M$ and not maromdeia, they make some good products, if it were M$ theyd just get a photoshop clone, maybe buy out paintbox and then make everything NOT mac compatible.:eek:
 
Yeah the Macromedia guys are good .. they're legal dept. is just a hungry bunch of bastards but really, who's legal dept isn't?

I just hope this doesn't hurt Adobe's work on getting their products carbonized.
 
Will Adobe want to press ahead and spend money on a Mac product if it looks like they may have a tough bill to face concerning the legal fight!

And, it's upto Macromedia to control the legal department. If the legal department want to pick a fight with Adobe and upset us Mac people, then they are only doing so under the approval from the Directorship at Macromedia.

Lets face it, Adobe Photoshop is Apple Mac's baby! To attack it and seek it's end is an attack on the Mac community.

(Let's face it, both companies, particularly MM, generate a hell of a lot more sales from the PC world!):mad:
 
if there is a new angle to this story could you post a link?

Most recent thing that I had heard was in regards to a look and feel issue.

finally has more to do with the way you edit spline points in a path.

Macromedia could have no claim on any of the core Photoshop technology. And John Warnock took his own invention away from Xerox in 82 to make sure it would become a product. It's called Postscript.

they haven't really made the true extent of the issues public. (barring some new info...)
I think that it comes down to using interface methods that users feel comfortable with. If macromedia thinks that users should stand on their heads while using Adobe products just because they first had a widget.... that's silly. Each company must listen to what the users want and mainly, we don't want to learn a new set of acrobatics for each program. We just want to do our work.

It is not impossible to imagine that some idiot Lawyer or Business Drone has stated that they feel Macromedia has some claim to Photoshop, but from a technical point of view, it is very clear who made Photoshop. Interface widgets are very hard to pin down as you can just look at somebody's program and if you know the API, you can imagine how to make something work that way.

Having the underlying code to support the action of the Widget...that's the real problem.

As far as imaging technology, no one could prove that macromedia's imaging technology has ever been even close to Photoshop.

Macromedia, in fact, has a different area of expertise, aquire interesting technology, restructure, manage and refine. They have done quite well with that model. There is a significant engineering exercise in that. Adobe has, on the other hand, focused on development of advanced and unique technologies.

An experienced programmer realizes he is standing on the shoulders of giants. Always blending in the previous knowledge base with the new discoveries.

Lawyers and Businessmen on the other hand, standardly operate on the assumption that everyone else is a complete idiot, a pathetic sheep waiting to be told what to do.<b>
"One born Every Minute" --P.T. Barnum
</b>
 
I haven't seen Macromedia's detailed briefs, so it's hard to guess exactly what legal leg they are standing on. But it's not entirely impossible that Photoshop makes use of some technology that Macromedia holds a patent on. Probable, no. Possible, yes.

That said, this smells of a legal countermeasure against Adobe's initial lawsuit, which was ridiculous to begin with. I mean, come on - Adobe patenting Tabbed pallettes? If that's the case, why haven't they gone after Apple, Microsoft, and the bazillions of other companies who's software emplores these? The reason is clear - Macromedia is their closest competitor (although Apple with FCP probably rates a close 3rd behind Microsoft).

I seriously doubt Macromedia is going to be able to stop Adobe from selling Photoshop. If by some chance they did get an injunction, I think the legal backlash against Macromedia would put them in the grave....
 
It probably that time in the calandar when something legally significant is due to happen concerning the original 'tab' lawsuit, so MM counter-scare at the right time.

Anyway, when is Photoshop 6.5/7 coming out? I can't keep my legs crossed forever!:p
 
has been losing money for more than a year AFAIK. Their aquisition of Allaire which had also been losing money (because ColdFusion and Spectra were lsoing out against PHP and other OpenSource products), has not brought them much and they haven't put much in the way of improvements into any of the Allaire products or ported them to the Mac or Linux. Their Freehand, Flash and Dreamweaver products sell well but defintely do not carry a large corporation of the size of Macromedia which also has mayn products such as Director which, while having set niche markets, provide no growth or substantial income to the company. I feel that Macromedia is losing it's touch and is resorting to desperate measures instead of improving it's current products or providing much in the way of innovation.

I think the market will be the judge on this one.
 
...deserve equal brow-beatings at the hands of a few Hungarian midget porn actors using the latest 'Blunt Communication Device' ( as patented by Amazon ) ((read: baseball bat)).

This whole process started with Adobe suing Macromedia over using Palates. That's right. Palates.

Why was Adobe so pissed? Since Macromedia and Adobe products offer a familiar, if not identical interface, consumers will have an easier time switching products. Or so I think. Their actual reasons are beyond me...

So, we now see Macromedia, after a few months of sifting through their patent portfolio, and finding speaking points, retaliating. Why? Because they can. Idle hands of the devils playthings, I guess.

Cases like these are perfect examples of the US Patents office having no measure of IT background when granting patents. Honestly, why in God's name was Adobe ever given a patent on 'Palates'? How many programs use these? Do these companies just ignore prior art?

Personally, I'm going to burn my iBook and start using an Etch-A-Sketch again. Seems less legally threatening.
 
Macromedia should stay focused on what they do best, interactive media. With Director, Flash and Authorware...I think they pretty much have this nailed down. Adobe should stay focused on the graphic design aspect. Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign and Acrobat. These are all awesome products. But if one or the other companies starts to head in a direction they normally don't go then I think it's time for them to stop and focus on what they do best.

stop this nonsense Macromedia and focus on your work. (Getting Director and Flash made for OSX!!)

just my $0.02
 
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