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Adobe to acquire Figma for $20B

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Re: Adobe to acquire Figma for $20B

#361

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Anti-trust laws were written to address certain perceptions of how businesses operated back in the late 1800s. They were not particularly grounded in reality, and as such they are hard to actually implement as written in most situations.

> Anti-trust laws were written to address certain perceptions of how businesses operated back in the late 1800s Source? First I’ve heard of Teddy Roosevelt’s trust busting being a grandiose PR campaign.

It sort of was in the sense of Taft, Roosevelt’s successor, being much more aggressive and effective in actually bringing anti-trust lawsuits to fruition.

Re: Adobe to acquire Figma for $20B

#362

It’s a shame that the competition authorities don’t seem to have any interest in these type of acquisitions which destroys competition and harms consumers. Same thing happened with Architecture software eg when Autocad bought Revit - end result is extortionately priced software that many architects cannot afford because they are paid so poorly. Same will happen for graphic designers.

The FTC and other regulatory bodies could still move to block this, it’s not final in any way.

Re: Adobe to acquire Figma for $20B

#363
post #280

Earlier quoted context omitted.

See, if this was local software that you could buy once and keep forever, an event like this would not have felt so full of foreboding. On cloud-based web apps, there is no opt-out short of ceasing use of the program entirely. Don't want their new features? Too bad, we're going to roll them out anyway, and there is no turning back after that. I'm still puttering along just fine on a copy of Office 2010, so my opinion…

If this was local software, you'd lose out on most of the collaborative benefits that Figma provides. That collaboration, especially with guest accounts is one of the reasons for the explosive growth and popularity. If this was a buy it once tool that required IT support for collaboration it wouldn't have nearly this growth trajectory or industry adoption.

You can make local software with collaboration support. It is possible to make Figma so that you can do your design locally even if your Internet is kaput.

Re: Adobe to acquire Figma for $20B

#364

Oh hell no. Adobe is where software goes to die. Which is big shame because Figma has been great, and had serious potential to turn into the first WYSIWYG tool that would actually generate code you'd want to use. But Macromedia software was also great, and now it's mostly non-existent. I'd love for this to turn out different, but I have very low expectations.

> Adobe is where software goes to die.

AFAIK Corel has the same reputation. What is the problem with design software companies?

Re: Adobe to acquire Figma for $20B

#365

Many years ago, when Adobe bought Macromedia, they acquired a tool called Fireworks[1]. This was a combined bitmap and vector editor that was incredibly well-optimised for user-interface and web design, at a time when most designers were paying exorbitant license fees to do such work painfully and slowly in Photoshop and Illustrator. Fireworks was cheap, powerful, and hugely ahead of its time. Many of the features an…

I have such great memories of Fireworks prior to the acquisition by Adobe. It was my go to tool for 90% of all web graphics: simple to use, no need to fuss with layers for selections, vector + bitmap in one app, easy exports, and everything editable within a PNG file. Such a wonderful tool! I truly hope Figma doesn't suffer the same fate. Hopefully the $20B price tag, justifies resources.

Re: Adobe to acquire Figma for $20B

#366

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I actually think we need new antitrust laws that are a bit more proactive when it comes to super-massive companies like Adobe. Such companies have learned to be much more cunning when it comes to get around existing laws, and plus they have much more money than ever.

What do you think happens to VC investments when it’s harder for companies to be acquired? If you were a founder and wanted to sell your company, would you want the government telling you that you can’t sell it for the best price?

That's exactly what stock exchanges are for!

Going public should be the norm, not being bough by a monopolist, otherwise the entire premise of what makes capitalism desirable is broken.

Re: Adobe to acquire Figma for $20B

#367
post #280

My heart plummeted when I read this headline. I've done UI design work in some capacity for 18 years, and have always dreamed of design software with the thoughtful UI and features of Figma. When I realized Figma was that software, it was like experiencing a miracle. Software like this doesn't exist . It was the first design software I paid for (yes, in 18 years). And now it's going to die. I almost feel like crying.

See, if this was local software that you could buy once and keep forever, an event like this would not have felt so full of foreboding. On cloud-based web apps, there is no opt-out short of ceasing use of the program entirely. Don't want their new features? Too bad, we're going to roll them out anyway, and there is no turning back after that. I'm still puttering along just fine on a copy of Office 2010, so my opinion…

Well, I can't quite get my Word 5.1a to run anymore. It was the best version of Word to ever have lived. Unfortunately, it only runs on 68k and PPC macs (on the latter even under emulation, IIRC). Software has a limited lifetime, unfortunately. Bit rot may be metaphorical, but it does happen.

Re: Adobe to acquire Figma for $20B

#368

It’s a shame that the competition authorities don’t seem to have any interest in these type of acquisitions which destroys competition and harms consumers. Same thing happened with Architecture software eg when Autocad bought Revit - end result is extortionately priced software that many architects cannot afford because they are paid so poorly. Same will happen for graphic designers.

> Same thing happened with Architecture software eg when Autocad bought Revit - end result is extortionately priced software that many architects cannot afford because they are paid so poorly.

Architects rolled up their sleeves and are solving the problem by writing open source software: https://osarch.org/

Re: Adobe to acquire Figma for $20B

#370

My heart plummeted when I read this headline. I've done UI design work in some capacity for 18 years, and have always dreamed of design software with the thoughtful UI and features of Figma. When I realized Figma was that software, it was like experiencing a miracle. Software like this doesn't exist . It was the first design software I paid for (yes, in 18 years). And now it's going to die. I almost feel like crying.

Looks like Adobe is getting you back for pirating their software for 18 years
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