Earlier quoted context omitted.
"Think of it this way, how many people get rich anymore by writing say, IDE's? None, because we all use what Microsoft, Adobe, or Eclipse gives us, for FREE" So how do you explain Dreamweaver's success over Frontpage?
Dreamweaver is not successful. Analyse Dreamweaver's cost/profit ratio. Remember, Dreamweaver is boxed and sold at retail. The advent of AJAX gave Dreamweaver a little more life, since to make an impressive AJAX page requires a ridiculous amount of not very well structured code. Keeping track of not very well structured code is what IDE's are good at, and what Dreamweaver's target audience is bad at. That said, as a…
"Adobe buys Macromedia for $3.4bn" http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4456895.stm
"The individual products within the Studio solution also remained solid, with Macromedia Dreamweaver MX standing as the company's largest individual product ... The MX family also continued to receive industry accolades." http://www.adobe.com/macromedia/ir/macr/news/2004/jul23_q104_results.html
"to make an impressive AJAX page requires a ridiculous amount of not very well structured code" ... ", do not invest in a startup that plans to make a straight IDE play."
Why wouldn't an AJAX IDE make a good investment? People would be queuing up to buy it if making impressive AJAX pages is as hard as you say it is.