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Figma and Adobe abandon proposed merger

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Re: Figma and Adobe abandon proposed merger

#881

Post by herdcall »

RickS wrote: post #622
tsycho wrote: post #549

[Pure speculation; I don't work in the UI space at all, and at neither of these companies] I wonder if Adobe is secretly happy about this. They were acquiring Figma at the peak of the market (for growth stock/startup valuations) because of the existential risks that Figma was threatening, due to their collaborative development UX. But since then: * Startup valuations have fallen. Ignoring regulatory concerns, a new a…

(ex-Adobe, on a team highly related to an area where Figma out-executed XD, less knowledge about genAI stuff) > Adobe has probably captured back both mental and market share from Figma GenAI/Firefly's success is in a totally different domain to what Figma's doing. Figma's equivalent at Adobe is XD, which has never held a candle to Figma. The existential problem Adobe tried to buy their way out of still exists in the…

How is/was Figma so superior to XD exactly? I used to work with XD and briefly also used Figma, but never really liked it (seemed like a crude version of XD in a way), so never understood all the Figma rage. Genuine question, not challenging the view at all. The only pluses I saw for Figma over XD were that it was perhaps easier to collaborate and didn't need installation (because it is web based).

Re: Figma and Adobe abandon proposed merger

#882

Post by frankchn »

jacknews wrote: post #306

Good news. I guess there are some valid (societaly desirable) reasons for companies to buy other companies, but this doesn't seem to be one. Now, I want to read that Microsoft is abandoning the Activision/Blizzard acquisition, a similarly anti-competition deal.

The Microsoft/Activision-Blizzard acquisition had already closed in October.

Re: Figma and Adobe abandon proposed merger

#883

Post by robocat »

jamiek88 wrote: post #794
matthewowen wrote: post #781

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You’ve posted this about me twice. I haven’t shown any ire and I think it’s counter to the spirit of hacker news to suggest bad faith in my posts based on my proximity to the topic.

[flagged]

> Well he works there and misses out

That's a fine point to make

> hence his ire

Putting your spin on the actions of others is beyond rude

> Your weasel words are weasley.

That's 100% against the HN guidelines and community

I suggest if you wish to disagree then try doing it without being disagreeable

Re: Figma and Adobe abandon proposed merger

#884

Post by 627467 »

herdcall wrote: post #881
RickS wrote: post #622

Earlier quoted context omitted.

(ex-Adobe, on a team highly related to an area where Figma out-executed XD, less knowledge about genAI stuff) > Adobe has probably captured back both mental and market share from Figma GenAI/Firefly's success is in a totally different domain to what Figma's doing. Figma's equivalent at Adobe is XD, which has never held a candle to Figma. The existential problem Adobe tried to buy their way out of still exists in the…

How is/was Figma so superior to XD exactly? I used to work with XD and briefly also used Figma, but never really liked it (seemed like a crude version of XD in a way), so never understood all the Figma rage. Genuine question, not challenging the view at all. The only pluses I saw for Figma over XD were that it was perhaps easier to collaborate and didn't need installation (because it is web based).

In my view the fact that figma has been built for realtime collab just places it on totally different league. It's like office vs gdocs. It tool Microsoft years (a decade?) To catch-up and accept that most people collab online one way or the other

Re: Figma and Adobe abandon proposed merger

#885

Post by johannes1234321 »

turtle_ wrote: post #868
tsycho wrote: post #549

[Pure speculation; I don't work in the UI space at all, and at neither of these companies] I wonder if Adobe is secretly happy about this. They were acquiring Figma at the peak of the market (for growth stock/startup valuations) because of the existential risks that Figma was threatening, due to their collaborative development UX. But since then: * Startup valuations have fallen. Ignoring regulatory concerns, a new a…

Having gone through one major acquisition, my experience was that legal put a huge block on any technical integrations and even meetings that might reveal ip until the ink was dried. I'm skeptical they started any kind of collaborative work other than pie-in-the-sky, "wouldn't it be cool if" type meetings with lawyers present.

Correct, till all legal things a cleared upon both companies must act as there were no acquisition. Only specific M&A teams can look deeper and plan for integration.

This leads to a complicated limbo for acquired companies as customers consider the acquisition (buy now before new owner raises the price or hold out as they will cancel the product line?), employees are uncertain (conflicting products on both sides, which will continue, with which direction? Will yesterday's priorities still count tomorrow?) while all are counting their shares and make plans.

Re: Figma and Adobe abandon proposed merger

#886

Post by puppymaster »

627467 wrote: post #884
herdcall wrote: post #881

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is/was Figma so superior to XD exactly? I used to work with XD and briefly also used Figma, but never really liked it (seemed like a crude version of XD in a way), so never understood all the Figma rage. Genuine question, not challenging the view at all. The only pluses I saw for Figma over XD were that it was perhaps easier to collaborate and didn't need installation (because it is web based).

In my view the fact that figma has been built for realtime collab just places it on totally different league. It's like office vs gdocs. It tool Microsoft years (a decade?) To catch-up and accept that most people collab online one way or the other

yep. Figma's 'workflow' has become an api in itself. In order to compete everyone has to match the flow

Re: Figma and Adobe abandon proposed merger

#887

Post by [deleted] »

pcurve wrote: post #324
danielvaughn wrote: post #281

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder what this does to their valuation? It's not really my area so I don't know, but once a company is willing to buy you at a certain price, you're kinda "worth" that price right?

There was only one company to which Figma was worth $20 billion and that was Adobe, because it was a long term threat. I just hope Google or Msft doesn't get any funny idea to buy Figma.

[deleted]

Re: Figma and Adobe abandon proposed merger

#888

Post by coldtea »

DoesntMatter22 wrote: post #817
coldtea wrote: post #777

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Things happen quickly and AI will change things quickly. Yes, but oversold hype also dies quickly, not changing much in the end.

That is a very silly way of viewing things. AI has already dramatically change logo creation and all sorts of image generation. The impact on design is already being felt and is going to rapidly increase. The cost savings are immense.

>That is a very silly way of viewing things. AI has already dramatically change logo creation and all sorts of image generation.

It "changed" the logo creation tier which was already "changed" by Fiverr $10 logos, logo-making apps with recombinable logo graphics, and so on.

Re: Figma and Adobe abandon proposed merger

#889

Post by coldtea »

DoesntMatter22 wrote: post #878
gibbitz wrote: post #865

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sadly this is how we look at art thanks to AI. "It's just like a real person thought about it and made it intentionally -- but it's nearly free!". No one paying cares if it's just copied from other works and nearly randomly put together at the expense of those who can barely make a living doing it. Why don't we focus more on automating C-suite jobs? That's where a lot of corporate costs come from. Automating a logo d…

I am incredibly happy about this. Otherwise it's like lamenting the invention of the car because it would eliminate all the jobs making buggies and whips. > No one paying cares if it's just copied from other works There are probably zero artists alive who didn't learn by copying other works or learning to make art in that style. It's no different with an AI. An AI is something that learns from others and creates it's…

>I am incredibly happy about this. Otherwise it's like lamenting the invention of the car because it would eliminate all the jobs making buggies and whips.

Between road accidents, air pollution, noise, horrendous cities and suburbs built around car use, and so on, I don't mind lamenting the invetion of the car either...

In general it's pretty naive to celebrate new technologies without considering drawbacks. Especially if they are just stuffed down everyone's throats, whether they want them or not, and even more so if the technology has the potential to eliminate human creativity and cheapen creative output. Even more so if the technology has so much potential for abuse (for government surveillance, automated spam, all the way to far worse cases, so much so that even its creators warn about the potential existential threat).

I guess what's the remove of creativity, or the existential threat, and countless of other negatives, compared to cheap logos, or (assuming it lives up to hype the way you say) killing off graphic design as a profession?

>So at the end of the day, how is it any different than a person doing it other than the fact now a person won't be getting paid?

In the removal of human creativity in the design, and its delegation to an algorithm.

Re: Figma and Adobe abandon proposed merger

#890

Post by maroonblazer »

quitit wrote: post #858
tsycho wrote: post #549

[Pure speculation; I don't work in the UI space at all, and at neither of these companies] I wonder if Adobe is secretly happy about this. They were acquiring Figma at the peak of the market (for growth stock/startup valuations) because of the existential risks that Figma was threatening, due to their collaborative development UX. But since then: * Startup valuations have fallen. Ignoring regulatory concerns, a new a…

I agree but for a slightly different reason. UX is going to get a shake up from AI. We're already seeing a bit of the new paradigm of on-demand UI/UX with Gemini (and the various me-too demos). Both Figma and Adobe are now vulnerable to disruption in this space. Adobe can use the time to ape Figma while flexing their rather good AI expertise.

I dunno. I work with a lot of designers and there's so much substantive back and forth in terms of clarifying goals, objectives, understanding design choices, and business priorities. I.e., there's a ton of nuance that is uncovered and deconstructed in those conversations. I'm skeptical that AI, at least in its current and foreseeable form, can fill those shoes in any meaningful way.

I liken it to engineers who respond to the threat of AI making them obsolete with "Half my job is clarifying requirements and/or changes in priorities...can Copilot do that?" I think it's the same for UX/UI/Design.

I say that as a very vocal supporter of this latest generation of AI. Both personally and professionally it's upped my game significantly.

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