Adobe: From desktop publishing to online media

Adobe's acquisition of Macromedia about two years ago gave them a significantly stronger foothold in the online development tools space. Of particular importance to the online media landscape was the development of their Flash Media Server product which allows video content to be streamed through a Flash interface which is already available on most web browsers. The most prominent company to have utilized this technology is YouTube, whose technology is primarily based on Flash technology. Adobe also has many other sever-based applications for online media such as

Macromedia Breeze 5

Meet, present, and train online, live, and on-demand

Adobe Central Pro Output Server

Merge templates with enterprise data to deliver personalized print, fax, e-mail, web, or PDF documents

Macromedia ColdFusion® MX 7

Accelerate the development and deployment of web applications

Adobe Connect

Comprehensive web communications solutions for the enterprise

Adobe Contribute Publishing Server

Manage website content and control user access rights with a flexible, scalable server

Macromedia Flash Media Server 2.0

Speed development and deployment of rich Flash content

Macromedia Flash Remoting MX

Deliver data-driven Flash content

Adobe Flex™ 2

The most complete, powerful application development solution for creating and delivering cross-platform rich Internet applications within the enterprise and across the web

Adobe FrameMaker Server 7.2

Integration with server-based applications

Adobe Graphics Server

Deliver dynamic, data-driven images to any audience

Macromedia JRun™ 4

Speed the delivery of J2EE applications with an affordable and reliable server

Adobe LiveCycle® products

From electronic forms to personalized document generation and delivery, Adobe LiveCycle products extend and accelerate core business processes

Adobe Output Designer

Design professional-looking documents quickly working in conjunction with Adobe Central Pro Output Server and Output Paks

Adobe Output Manager

Maximize print job throughput working in conjunction with Adobe Central Pro Output Server

Adobe Output Pak for mySAP.com®

Extend your investment in SAP with sophisticated document generation

Adobe Web Output Pak

Merge templates with enterprise data to present dynamically generated PDF documents in a web browser

As the dominant player in online development tools, they will inevitably contribute to the path of the online media landscape as many media companies already utilize their products and are likely to continue using their products. Additionally, their expertise and experience with internet technologies will allow them to develop better tools over time and thereby affect how we experience online media in the future.