Well this is going to light it up like a Xmas tree

Adobe has announced the purchase of Macromedia (subject to regulatory approval, interesting to see how that pans out, with a number of high profile overlapping apps).

Implications? Really don't know at this stage. How will flash versus SVG pan out? Adobe has long been quite a strong supporter of SVG. The Flash tools with SVG as the file format? Adobes support for SVG to wane markedly?
I imagine GoLive, which has never quite ignited the passions like Dreamweaver might be for the sale yard. Or the chopping block.

A good move by Adobe? I'd say so, for them. Their web plays, with the exception of PDF (which I know is not really a web technology) have never done as well as Macromedia's. SVG versus Flash, GoLive versus Dreamweaver both springto mind. 0 for 2. Adobe still has a big lock on print and digital imaging, but never translated it into the web. Well $3.5 billion seems to have done that.

But big mergers never seem to go as well as people hope. HP/Compaq, Compaq/Digital, and many more are a testimony to that. Cultures are different, allegiances differ within the new companies. A few hours ago, there companies were fierce rivals in web and digital imaging. Now they are one.
Plus there is a tribal nature to many customers. There are Mac people and Windows people. Ford people and Pontiac people. And Dreamweaver users, flash users, and ColdFusion users, in my experience, often feel very strongly about Macromedia in the same kind of way. It's a great asset. Will Adobe get their allegiance for free (well,$ 3.5 billion)?

Good for the web? I think its really too early days for over consolidation on the web. It's still so young, I think we need the flux and dynamism of many smart people doing lots of cool things. I think at least in the short term the implication of this will be that we see less of that.

But you never know.