作者： CNET科技资讯网 翻译：李海

CNETNews.com.cn 2005-06-21 09:0 AM

CNET科技资讯网6月21日国际报道 20年成功的避开微软后，Adobe系统公司逐渐逼近软件巨人的瞄准范围。

Adobe公司1982年成立，那时，微软已经7岁大。从那以后，Adobe在数字文本与图像编辑软件市场树立了领导地位。

上周，微软推出了它的图形设计软件，Acrylic的测试版本，它表明，微软对Adobe的容忍度越来越少。 Adobe已经准备收购Macromedia。

分析师们认为，Adobe将PDF与Macromedia的Flash相结合将点亮公司的发展之路。

Burton集团的分析师Gary Hein.说：“微软已经表示，Flash不仅仅是一个讨厌的东西了。Metro，Avalon与Acrylic 的发布表明，微软正在对Adobe和Macromedia认真对待。”

这一市场的竞争格局远没有稳定下来。微软已经多次谈到了Longhorn，这种Windows操作系统将融入很多的互联网程序进去。但是Longhorn的一再推迟给Flash等软件以成长的空间。

Adobe拒绝对收购所产生的战略影响发表评论，但Macromedia方面表示，收购是为了和微软竞争的说法相当可笑。

Macromedia公司的首席架构师Kevin Lynch说：“我认为，Flash对Windows没有任何威胁。和微软相比，我们真的是一家小公司。Flash专门是为互联网应用，互联网程序而设计的，它跟操作系统非常的不同。”

分析师对Flash的战略重要性有不同的看法。

Hein说：“我同意Flash不是操作系统直接威胁的说法，但是，它对操作系统的构成部件造成威胁，比如开发工具等等。”

与曾经被微软列入头等威胁的网景（Netscape）不同，由于微软的忽视，Adobe公司过去几年获得了成长的空间。而现在，微软开始重视了。

Adaptive Path咨询开始的顾问Jesse Garrett：“对Adobe来说，与微软竞争是它的宿命。Adobe并购Macromedia 让微软再也无法忽视这家公司了。”

另外一方，微软官员却淡化这场竞争。他们更愿意将双方的关系称作“合作”。多年来，微软与很多公司的关系，即竞争又合作，比如甲骨文。微软开发者部门的产品管理主任John Montgomery说：“当然会有一些产品与我们的产品领域重叠。与此同时，Adobe和Macromedia都是我们重要的伙伴。”

一旦Adobe完成对Macromedia的收购，新公司将在三个产品领域同微软形成竞争。

在图形编辑领域，Photoshop与Illustrator的紧密结合让Adobe确立了领先位置。微软上周发布了Acrylic的测试版本，，这是一种矢量图形创建与编辑软件。

在数字文件领域，Adobe的PDF处于当家位置。PDF已经成为行业的标准，广泛应用于政府与企业的环境当中。（Adobe曾经表示，微软的Word，Excel与PowerPoint均能方便的创建PDF文件。）

上月，微软演示了Metro，这种回应PDF的文件格式将出现在Longhorn操作系统中。

在Web应用平台技术市场，Flash与最近推出的Flex服务器软件已经在进军企业市场。Longhorn的发布日期一再推迟表明，微软升级这种操作系统碰到了严重的困难。

现在，Acrylic仍处于测试期间，Metro维系在Longhorn的命运上，很多人认为，Adobe的机会很大。Adobe最近发布的Creative Suite 2表明，这家公司的前途能够预知。 （编辑：孙莹）

Microsoft and Adobe to square off?

Published: June 20, 2005, 4:00 AM PDT

By Paul Festa
Staff Writer, CNET News.com


After two decades of successfully steering clear of Microsoft, Adobe Systems is edging closer to the software giant's crosshairs.

Since its launch in 1982, when Microsoft was 7 years old, Adobe has built up a commanding lead in the markets for digital document and image editing software, among the few areas in PC software Microsoft has failed to dominate.

Microsoft's test release last week of the Acrylic graphic design tool and the demonstration of its Metro digital document format indicate that the company may be growing less tolerant of Adobe as it encroaches on Microsoft's turf with the proposed acquisition of Macromedia and its Flash and Flex framework for building Web-based applications.

The combined forces of Adobe's PDF and Macromedia's Flash particularly, say analysts, have brightened the bull's-eye on the San Jose, Calif., graphics software company.

"Microsoft is already showing signs that Flash is more than just an annoyance," said Burton Group analyst Gary Hein. "Announcements like Metro, Avalon and Acrylic show that Microsoft is taking Adobe plus Macromedia much more seriously. (Adobe Chief Executive Bruce) Chizen should be worried."

In the race to sell technology for building Web-based applications, the competitive landscape is far from stable. Microsoft has described its vision of Windows applications integrated tightly into the Internet through the company's Longhorn operating system, but numerous delays have allowed alternatives such as Flash and "AJAX" to gain traction.

Adobe declined to comment on the strategic implications of its proposed acquisition. But Macromedia called "ridiculous" the idea that it is competing with Microsoft's operating system at all.

"I don't think Flash is any threat to Windows," said Kevin Lynch, chief software architect for Macromedia. "We're a really small company compared to Microsoft. Flash is specifically designed for Internet use, for Internet applications, and that's very different from an operating system."

Analysts take a different view of the strategic importance of Flash, and compare it to the threat the Web posed to Windows before Microsoft launched its defensive, ultimately successful campaign with the Internet Explorer browser 10 years ago.

"I'd agree that Flash is not a direct threat to the OS, but it's a threat to portions of the OS" such as developers' tools, said Hein. "It's kind of

like the old Netscape push in that if you can develop all of your apps in a browser, it makes the OS less relevant."

Unlike Netscape, which came to Microsoft's attention as a head-on threat, Adobe has made its living over the years by dominating areas Microsoft tended to neglect. Until now.

"For Adobe, competition with Microsoft is its manifest destiny," said Jesse Garrett, a consultant with the San Francisco consulting company Adaptive Path, which works with Macromedia. "The Macromedia acquisition makes Adobe a threat that Microsoft can no longer afford to ignore."


For their part, Microsoft executives play down the competition, or as they like to call it, the "coopetition." For years, Microsoft has both competed and partnered with a number of other companies, ranging from database maker Oracle to Intuit, the leader in financial software for consumers and small businesses. Adobe, even with Macromedia, is no different. "There are certain areas where our products overlap. At the same time, Adobe and Macromedia are important partners for us," says John Montgomery, director of product management in Microsoft's developer division.

Assuming Adobe completes its acquisition of Macromedia, the combined company competes with Microsoft in three product areas.

In image editing, Adobe leads the market with its tightly integrated Photoshop and Illustrator applications. Microsoft last week released a test version of Acrylic, a vector- and pixel-based image creation and editing software title, though Montgomery downplays the direct competition.

In digital documents, Adobe rules the roost with PDF (Portable Document Format). The core of what the company calls its Intelligent Document Platform, PDF is widely considered the industry standard, in widespread use in government and the enterprise. (Adobe makes a point of noting, in its PDF fact sheet, that Microsoft applications Word, Excel, and PowerPoint all produce PDF files with the click of a button.)

Microsoft showed off its answer to PDF, called Metro, last month, as part of a demonstration of the capabilities of its upcoming, and late, Longhorn operating system.

In Web-based application platform technology, Flash and the recently introduced Flex server software have begun making inroads in the enterprise. Meanwhile, the world awaits even a test version of Longhorn amid continued evidence that Microsoft is having significant difficulty driving upgrades to newer operating systems.

With Longhorn late, Acrylic still in a test version and earning mixed reviews on developer forums, and Metro tied to Longhorn's fate, many see plenty of breathing room for Adobe and its intended acquisition target. Illustrator and Photoshop, part of Adobe's recently updated Creative Suite 2 package, are seen as all but invulnerable for the foreseeable future.

"It seems to us that the likelihood of prying creative pro customers away from either Adobe product, especially with the advances delivered in the new Creative Suite 2 releases, is not high at all," wrote Merill Lynch equity analyst Jay Vleeschhouwer in a report circulated last week.

But concern about Adobe's prospects--as reflected in a dip in the company's share price following the Acrylic release--has less to do with the quality of Microsoft's offering than with the fact that Adobe has provoked Microsoft's competitive ire.

Rather than competing with products or technologies, Hein said, Microsoft identifies competitive threats on a company-by-company basis.

"And they go after the company," Hein said. "Adobe and Macromedia are more of a competitor than either standalone, and Microsoft will compete by offering a free version that's better integrated with the OS. None of Microsoft's announcements or trial versions will displace Adobe, but it's a clear signal that Adobe just popped much higher on Microsoft's competitive radar."