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Adobe abandons $20 billion acquisition of Figma (www.theverge.com)

submitted 11 months ago by throws_lemy@lemmy.nz to c/technology@lemmy.world

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[–] Clbull@lemmy.world 162 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Adobe: "We want to acquire Figma"

CMA: "Figma balls"

[–] Tangent5280@lemmy.world 15 points 11 months ago

This doesn't even make sense and I'm still laughing my ass off. Also the title makes it seem like adobe abandoned its attempt of its own accord instead of getting shafted by regulations.

[–] XTornado@lemmy.ml 1 points 11 months ago

Don't mind if I do.

[–] Uglyhead@lemmy.world 138 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (5 children)

Good!

Adobe has ruined all they touch since way back. Most notoriously with Macromedia Flash acquisition and enshittification.

[–] Potatos_are_not_friends@lemmy.world 48 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Flash was great for a lot of reasons, but had to die because of insecurities and performance issues. Apple crushed it for a good reason. It did take us a few years to catch back up.

But also, the market died. There's nothing flash does that 2018 vanilla JavaScript can't do. Yet nobody is really building tools like that anymore, and the hobby coders moved to other platforms like game makers or multimedia makers.

[–] Uglyhead@lemmy.world 24 points 11 months ago

End of an era for sure. I agree, Adobe Flash had to go. Macromedia Flash was brilliant tho.

[–] lemann@lemmy.one 24 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I miss seeing the "Macromedia Shockwave" loading screen when firing up online games on Win 98 back in the day 😢

[–] Lemminary@lemmy.world 5 points 11 months ago

I miss the UI of the early 2000s era. It felt so slick back then.

[–] Psaldorn@lemmy.world 15 points 11 months ago

RIP Fireworks. I used it for shitty design rather than websites or whatever but it was so easy to use.

[–] SkippingRelax@lemmy.world 4 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Is anyone really missing flash? as much as I hate Adobe like the next guy, the internet is a better place without that proprietary crap infesting most websites for no good reason other than a cheap animation

[–] JonnyJ@lemmy.world 5 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

I don't miss Flash, but it's hard to deny that back in the day, it was nice to have a tool that rendered content universally for web browsers. It was also fun to make shit in. 100% obviously we're better off without relying on some proprietary software to render interactive components etc, but it did serve a purpose and give us a blueprint for what the web should, and often times should NOT be.

But, Fireworks(also part of macromedia) was a fucking fantastic program and was lightyears ahead of its time. Adobe murdering it spawned Sketch, which spawned Figma. So the irony and dread of Adobe buying Figma was never once lost on me.

I rely on these tools every workign day of my life, and fuck adobe for fucking with my workflow

[–] jungle@lemmy.world 2 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

Wasn't Apple the main force behind killing Flash?

[–] Uglyhead@lemmy.world 13 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

Adobe killed Flash by buying it up and making it complete shite. It was really decent before Adobe fudged it up, I.e.,slow and dangerous.

Macromedia had done a great job with Flash. That’s why it became so popular in the first place.

[–] MisterNeon@lemmy.world 113 points 11 months ago (1 children)

As a dude that uses Figma this makes my day!

[–] FreshLight@sh.itjust.works 44 points 11 months ago (5 children)

Ok, I'm gonna ask.

What's Figma?

[–] baduhai@sopuli.xyz 63 points 11 months ago

Figma balls.

[–] Potatos_are_not_friends@lemmy.world 12 points 11 months ago

Builds web page mockups, with interactivity.

Designers these days should be thinking of the full web page. Hover states, transitions, where links go, accessibility, color, how it looks on mobile, desktop, 4k, etc.

Using Photoshop to build websites is so 2010s and modern designers use something like Figma for that.

[–] PlasmaDistortion@lemm.ee 9 points 11 months ago

Our companies designers use it to mock up application flows and how each screen, icon, font, colors, will look. Then our engineers use it as a guide for how the program should look and feel.

[–] Uglyhead@lemmy.world 5 points 11 months ago

Figma is the future, really. It does so many things for designers across many spectrums. It’s no wonder Adobe wanted to scoop it up and shelve it all. It’s going to eat their lunch and they know it.

[–] RobotToaster@mander.xyz 89 points 11 months ago

i'm gonna say it...

FIGMA BALLS ADOBE!

[–] expr@programming.dev 52 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Thank God. Adobe needs to stay the hell away from Figma.

[–] DarkenLM@kbin.social 43 points 11 months ago

Adobe needs to stay the hell away, full stop.

[–] simple@lemm.ee 43 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Awesome news. Bless the regulators fighting back.

As a result of the termination, Adobe will be required to pay Figma a reverse termination fee of $1 billion in cash.

This does bring a smile to my face. Maybe companies will actually stop trying to mass acquire everything when there are risks involved.

[–] LifeInMultipleChoice@lemmy.world 2 points 11 months ago

Or just write contracts that put the fall through on the smaller company that fails acquisition. (Seems more likely) Sucks, but many business acts do now

[–] pastermil@sh.itjust.works 32 points 11 months ago (1 children)

$1 billion termination fee would be a termination fee of the century

[–] echo64@lemmy.world 47 points 11 months ago

pretty sure that's what adobe wanted to charge me for wanting to cancel Creative Cloud

[–] doctorcrimson@lemmy.today 8 points 11 months ago (1 children)

RIP Figma shareholders I guess.

[–] Lemminary@lemmy.world 13 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Will someone think of the shareholders! 😩

[–] doctorcrimson@lemmy.today -5 points 11 months ago

Yeah I think it's privately traded, so fuck em, I guess?

[–] autotldr@lemmings.world 6 points 11 months ago

This is the best summary I could come up with:

Following mounting pressure from regulators in the UK and EU, Adobe and Figma announced on Monday that both companies are mutually terminating their merger agreement, which would have seen Adobe acquire the Figma product design platform for $20 billion.

As a result of the termination, Adobe will be required to pay Figma a reverse termination fee of $1 billion in cash.

“Adobe and Figma strongly disagree with the recent regulatory findings, but we believe it is in our respective best interests to move forward independently,” said Adobe chair and CEO Shantanu Narayen in a statement.

“While Adobe and Figma shared a vision to jointly redefine the future of creativity and productivity, we continue to be well positioned to capitalize on our massive market opportunity and mission to change the world through personalized digital experiences.”

Developing...

The original article contains 135 words, the summary contains 135 words. Saved 0%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

[–] Lemminary@lemmy.world 6 points 11 months ago

Good news! It was already heading in a shitty direction with the new chances that they overly hyped and then put behind their shitty Adobe subscription model. Old Figma would let you use it and master it before you bought it and it was successful.

[–] NotMyOldRedditName@lemmy.world 5 points 11 months ago

Woohoo!

[–] Doorbook@lemmy.world 4 points 11 months ago (1 children)

They will just hire the same people or something.

[–] b000urns@lemmy.world 5 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Adobe Gifma. Coming 2025

But seriously great this didn't go through

[–] Doorbook@lemmy.world 5 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Adobe Sigma ?

[–] ada@lemmy.blahaj.zone 5 points 11 months ago

No one is going to say Ligma?

[–] baduhai@sopuli.xyz 2 points 11 months ago

Gifma balls.

[–] ultra@feddit.ro 4 points 11 months ago

Yay!

[–] LEDZeppelin@lemmy.world 4 points 11 months ago

Ligma, Adobe

[–] leaky_shower_thought@feddit.nl 1 points 11 months ago

good call for CMA.

I would think what's going to happen there is Adobe will acquire figma and either keep the IP so their CS product will get the monopoly.

Ooorrr~ keep the brand but also get the monopoly.

[+] NoiseColor@startrek.website -12 points 11 months ago (1 children)

As a designer that uses figma every day, I have to say....

... I don't care one bit. I have to subscribe and use Adobe software anyway, not only because everyone else uses them, but because that's simply the best graphic software out there and I've tried it all. Not too mention that the full Adobe subscription, that you can usually get 50% off, is not that expensive anyway, compared to many saas that are buggy and just do one simple thing. So yeah, I don't hate Adobe anymore, everyone is doing what they are doing and most of the software out there is complete garbage and even more expensive.

[–] PoliticalAgitator@lemm.ee 4 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I also have to subscribe to and use Adobe software but suggesting it's less buggy and less expensive than other apps is delusional.

The moment you try and do anything outside of basic image editing, Photoshop immediately shits the bed.

It's riddled with features that were half developed or half removed. Tried using any of the 3D stuff? It pops up a box saying "We've abandoned this and it probably won't work, but go ahead and try because we haven't properly removed it". Using artboards? Probably not, since half the app seems to break with them, including their brand new features like Live Gradients that rearrange themselves when you save.

Looking for a filter? Well there's 2 places to look since they seem to have lost interest in the filter gallery half way through, then piled mediocre AI filters on top. It'll be a slow search, since for some reason some popup windows take fully 3 seconds to open, probably due to their 4 different UI systems in various states of abandoned.

Photoshop is widely used today because it was good 15 years ago. If someone hasn't already creating a leaner, more stable, better designed, more ambitious piece of software, it's only a matter of time until they do.

[–] NoiseColor@startrek.website 5 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (3 children)

Delusional? I'm sure you just mean to capture my attention, but you dont have to try like that.

I'm not here to defend Adobe or praise their products. For the last 2 years I have done my best to get rid of them and finally, about a month ago I conceded and payed for the subscription again.

Let me tell you, there is no software (none, 0), that can do half what photoshop can do and is less buggy. That doesn't say, photoshop or any other Adobe product is not buggy and doesn't have issues, it's just a fact there is no competition.

I say that completely confidently and with no delusion anywhere.

[–] foofiepie@lemmy.world 4 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Hmm. I was about to wade in on this one but fair enough.

Personally, I’m probably not enough of a power user to need the sort of functionality you do but I said ‘Fuck Adobe’ some years ago and never looked back.

I am, however, still on the hunt for a decent replacement for Aperture.

[–] NoiseColor@startrek.website 1 points 11 months ago

Good luck. Really, I hope you find something. I'm working on these products for hours daily, I can't afford to use something that will increase that time.

[–] dreamer@lemm.ee 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

What I don't understand about people who say things like there are alternatives and point to open source software. Like I understand that most people have used nothing but Adobe since forever, but have you even tried using alternatives for actual work? It's a frustrating experience.

[–] NoiseColor@startrek.website 1 points 11 months ago

Yes! It's just not as good and more importantly, it's not good enough. At first I thought it's because I'm not as familiar, but no, they are just not set up as good as Adobe. That's the bottom line. Why waste time.

[–] Jakdracula@lemmy.world 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Have you tried Affinity Pro?

[–] NoiseColor@startrek.website 1 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

Yes. Bought the whole package. I decided that this is the software for me and tried to use it. After two months, I gave up. It's not bad, it's just not as good. It just takes an extra click here and there, a function less here and there, an illogical here and there and that culminates to my work being done slower and me being annoyed. Affinity designer being the worst, missing auto tracing and messing up svg exports.

Not to mention the new generative ai functions that are now natively in Adobe products. That's literal gold. You can't be a serious designer and not use that. That saves up so much time, it's not possible to not have. Not possible. Adobe won. We can cry about it and whine, but they won. To bad, but it is what it is.

And the subscription price. It's easy to get 50% off on deals for the whole package. That's about 35 per month. That is a negligible. That's like less than an hour of work on a freelancers hourly rate.