Adobe/Macromedia - should it go ahead?

I just had an interesting conversation with a nameless industry person along the lines of "will the merger be allowed?" When you consider the amount of lawyer's time that has been taken up trying to position Microsoft as less of a monopoly on the desktop, surely the combined forces of Adobe and Macromedia would become just as large a monopoly in their Designer/Developer space? Should therefore the powers that be call a halt to this one before the juggernaut get's up to motorway speed?

Keep Director alive

I think, and hope, that there's going to be a ground swell of support around Macromedia (or is that now Adobe) Director in the hope of saving this great product for the future. Here, the real founder of Macromedia makes a strong pitch to get Director back. I sincerely hope that he, or someone is able to do so. There were some great engineers working on Director in recent history, led by the passion and commitment of Tom Higgins and Miriam Geller. I sure hope it survives.

Hustle Season 1 now on DVD

Absolutely my favourite TV programme at the moment. Brings to mind fond memories of watching Mission Impossible in my youth. With season 2 now airing in the UK on BBC1, now's the time to remind yourself how great season 1 was! Go on, treat yourself.

Do you have an "a" in your first name?

Yes, I know that's a strange question, but I had a nice thought that will help the domain companies sell off the dozen or so unregistered .com domains. I'm sure I'm not the first to think about it btw, so I'm not claiming any kudos. It goes like this: My first name is Wayne, so if it were available, which it isn't, I would register yne.com to make my email address w@yne.com - I won't be daft enough to tell you what I have done though, as the obvious downside of this is that you only get one chance with the left hand side of the @ - once the spammers get it, you're doomed!

Adobe to acquire Macromedia

Well after probably years of speculation about someone acquiring Macromedia, it turns out not to be Microsoft as many expected (except me!), but the old rival Adobe. This will be interesting.

Rick Wakeman at Lincoln Cathedral

Well I was certainly taken by surprise by a new release from Rick titled Rick Wakeman at Lincoln Cathedral. Despite thinking that it was a piano recording, it in fact turns out to be church organ for most of the tracks with just one recorded on a Steinway Grand Piano. Fans of Rick's previous organ tracks such as Jane Seymour will be delighted. It also marks a first for Rick in that it's a 2 CD set, with disc 2 being a binaural recording for headphone lovers and one track in DTS surround. Altogether a refreshing change I feel.