@wolf359 - sorry, the threading is just too much.

" They have the ability to force their customers onto a new business model from the previous business model as a result of that. It is an unfair advantage."

How is this an "It is an unfair advantage"???

There are no alternatives to may key applications because Adobe was allowed to acquire them, and then eliminate them (or in rare circumstances, eliminate their own). This was at the heart of the Microsoft / Netscape web browser argument years ago. It went nowhere in the US for the most part. Having close to monopolized the market, they can take unreasonable control.

A current parallel to this in the US is how the owner of Albertsons stores recently acquired Safeway. The end result is that in a huge number of markets, the number of choices / alternatives disappear. So a lot of stores that were previously Albertsons are being sold to Haggen.

"ability to lock you out of your IP investments which are infrastructural. Again, some places, this seems to be okay."

Forgive me sir but you get "locked out of your IP investments"

all the time by simple advances in software and hardware.

But not overnight, or in a week or any other period of time in which business cannot theoretically continue day to day operations.

"The US has historically been rather tolerant of that, other places less so. But then, my feeling is that Adobe should NEVER have been able to acquire Macromedia - simply selective products of Macromedia, like Flash (which is what they wanted anyway)."

Why not ????

Show me one case where their was actual Harm to THE GENERAL PUBLIC by Adobe's Aquiring of Flash.

Well, my point was that they should have been allowed to acquire Flash, but not the entire portfolio of products.

Illustration: Freehand vs Illustrator. Now only Illustrator.

Raster: Photoshop vs Fireworks. Now only Photoshop

Dreamweaver vs GoLive. The exception, but now only Dreamweaver

In the somewhat newer field of RAW / digital camera software, Lightroom now bundled in a $10 a month bundle with Photoshop. They can totally take a loss on Lightroom in such a bundle, because there are no real rivals now to Photoshop.

I can think of one very easy way Adobe could pull out of this draconian spiral, and that's to do like what they did with AIR or PDF: open the file formats.

Best regards,

chikako
Meshbox Design | 3D Models You Want