So it’s finally here, MACR ceases to exist as of today. I’ve been tracking my stock account to see when they turn my MACR stock into ADBE. I even have my order in for more ADBE stock so I can bump up my holdings. It’s kind of a sobering thought, and it’s a little bit scary. I’m planning to take the CFMX 7 certification exam next week and now I’m left wondering how much of a priority ColdFusion is going to be in Adobe’s world.

John Dowdell had an interesting snippet in one of his posts. He says “the biggest idea I’d try to get across is to please look at the software architectures which need to be created for the next ten years, not just the software architectures which have been produced for the past ten, twenty years.”

I think that’s the best way to look at this acquisition. So what about the next ten years? I’ve talked a lot in this space about the web as a platform and how Macromedia’s Flash platform is well positioned to be a leader in that space. I think it goes further than that. The Flash platform could become the de facto operating system for all kinds of devices. They are strongly moving into the mobile space and there is no reason why Media Centers couldn’t be built on the Flash Platform. Imagine being able to use Adobe’s video editing and professional design tools to create a great user experience on the Flash Platform.

Here’s another thought. What about building Adobe’s enterprise level design tools ON the Flash Platform. Imagine having a version of Photoshop that runs on the Flash Platform so that it can be used on any machine that has the Flash Player installed. It’s a long shot, and it would be a long way off, but building on the ubiquity of the Flash Player gives companies access to a wider audience and breaks through the barriers of the operating system.

Now I don’t mean to say that Macromedia is going to create its own operating system, but I do think that the Flash Platform has amazing traction as a platform for building software on top of. We aren’t at the point where we could see Dreamweaver, Photoshop or After Effects written in Flash, but in ten years, as the platform matures, I think that’s a real possibility. The Flash Platform just opens up so many opportunities.