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Adobe gives up on web-design product to rival Figma after deal collapse

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Re: Adobe gives up on web-design product to rival Figma after deal collapse

#141
post #114
post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It makes sense as things are right now. It's anchored by a bunch of court decisions that arguably subvert the public interest. Do I think Shareholder value should be all that drives corporations? No. But I don't think corporations should be considered people, either.

In the US there’s another option: become a Public Benefit Corporation (PBC). That’s what we (Answer.AI) did. It provides a great solution to exactly this problem: you don’t have to sell your company just because the financial offer is high; if it’s not going to help you achieve your stated public benefit then you can reject the offer. There’s really no significant downside to becoming a PBC, AFAICT, and a lot of pote…

The fact your investors won't be able to exit as easily (or ever) is a significant downside if you're having any difficulty at all raising money. It's easier to found a charity than find philanthropists!

Re: Adobe gives up on web-design product to rival Figma after deal collapse

#142
I always saw this as Figma looking for a life raft during an uncertain time and Adobe being a whale. Shrewd on both parties part. I'm not surprised it fell through, though I am surprised that they have no plans for this space anymore.

Re: Adobe gives up on web-design product to rival Figma after deal collapse

#143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Graphics is harder. More users means more use cases, needs to work on more platforms, layout and output to work on various resolutions/dpi, GPU/driver dependence and issues. Print, web, UI design, prototyping, photo editing, all wildly different areas, whereas audio is way narrower scope with less or more mature standards background (eg MIDI spec is 1983).

I don't know how much you know about graphics programming, but this comment is strong evidence you don't know much about audio/MIDI programming.

I don't know how much you know about audio/Midi programming, but this comment is strong evidence you don't know much about graphics programming.

Re: Adobe gives up on web-design product to rival Figma after deal collapse

#144
post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>but did Figma even need to sell in the first place? I've worked a company that was profitable, operated well, growing ... but were sold and the CEO said (I'll get the words not quite right): "I fought for keeping independent and not selling, that's how I've kept that company and I wanted it to stay that way. But the offer was increased into the range where I didn't feel like I could survive a legal challenge (if it…

A lot of people tend to not accept this plain fact that for-profits must maximize profit. It's literally illegal not to do so. https://www.wakeforestlawreview.com/2012/04/our-continuing-s...

No, the is a duty not to defraud investors but there is not legal requirement to maximize profits.

Ford vs Dodge is often misinterpreted

Re: Adobe gives up on web-design product to rival Figma after deal collapse

#145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know how much you know about graphics programming, but this comment is strong evidence you don't know much about audio/MIDI programming.

I don't know how much you know about audio/Midi programming, but this comment is strong evidence you don't know much about graphics programming.

My comment doesn't say anything about graphics programming, so it's pretty neutral on that particular point.

This dismissal of the complexities of audio programming is fairly common in general (and particularly bad on HN). Remarks about "less data", "less formats", "less demanding" are typical. But throwing in the specific mention of visual resolution as if somehow sample rate and depth are not more or less precise analogs seems like a fairly major red flag.

Re: Adobe gives up on web-design product to rival Figma after deal collapse

#146
post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Related: Human sensitivity to "unwanted" noise is impressive. There's a lot of professionally released music out there where the noise floor is high enough to be annoying. Similarly our reaction to lossy codecs not quite preserving quality is usually visceral if we know the track well.

I had a time when I listened to CDs that were ripped and then compressed to 128kbps MP3. One day I had the CD and just listened to it straight on the computer through headphones and was blown away by how much I was missing on the MP3. My take is 192kbps MP3 is a lot better and 320kbps is basically transparent. I got a really great set of Yamaha speakers at our reuse center and, similarly, found a whole new world in s…

Even at 128, not many people can pass a double blind test. And yes, almost everyone struggles once you get somewhere in the range of 256/320.

Re: Adobe gives up on web-design product to rival Figma after deal collapse

#147
post #123
post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>but did Figma even need to sell in the first place? I've worked a company that was profitable, operated well, growing ... but were sold and the CEO said (I'll get the words not quite right): "I fought for keeping independent and not selling, that's how I've kept that company and I wanted it to stay that way. But the offer was increased into the range where I didn't feel like I could survive a legal challenge (if it…

It is anecdotes like this that make me think that the public shareholder model is fundamentally flawed and a large part of why many American companies are struggling to truly build long term value, and many once great companies have been destroyed by beancounters to bleating calls of shareholder value.

U just keep private and not ever get share holders if you want full control

Re: Adobe gives up on web-design product to rival Figma after deal collapse

#148
post #147
post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is anecdotes like this that make me think that the public shareholder model is fundamentally flawed and a large part of why many American companies are struggling to truly build long term value, and many once great companies have been destroyed by beancounters to bleating calls of shareholder value.

U just keep private and not ever get share holders if you want full control

Hard when you "have" to give VC equity to get off the ground.

Re: Adobe gives up on web-design product to rival Figma after deal collapse

#149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This article is about Adobe getting out of this business. I'd think if they were "rushing to implement" they'd keep the existing product around and either integrate things into it or wait to kill it until they have a replacement. Also, while it's not perfect, there tends to be a fair amount of firewalling around that sort of due diligence to keep an acquirer from just ripping everything off with inside information ga…

> This article is about Adobe getting out of this business. That's an enormous leap from, "We have no plans to further invest in it". It's more likely that they're going to create a new, Sensei-based solution in this category instead of creating yet another Figma-/Sketch-type solution.

Yeah that's actually how I read it too, like they found out XD couldn't be savaged after peeking on Figma's internals, and is cheaper/better roi forthem to can that shit and just start from scratch for a collaborative real time environment like figma is build.

expecting figma's adobe clone in anything like 6-24 months out

Re: Adobe gives up on web-design product to rival Figma after deal collapse

#150
post #10

Reading between the lines, Adobe fired all of the people who were working on XD when they did the Figma deal.

There's no "between the lines" here, it was discontinued all the way back in June. Dunno why that's headlines today. https://www.theverge.com/2023/6/22/23769586/adobe-xd-discont...
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