4 ms·

Adobe acquires Figma

93 points by MomciloM 4y ago

dang 4y ago
Comments moved to https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32850178 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32850178, which is on the front page, appears to have been the first submission, and isn't a corporate press release (https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&sort=byDate&type=comment&query=corporate%20press%20release%20by:dang https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&sor...). I assume bloomberg.com will update that article now that the news is confirmed.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
rsolva 4y ago
I guess this means a big boost for Penpot? It might not have a full feature overlap, but I can imagine it beeing more than good enough for teams collaborating on mockups and web related graphics. Plus it is open source and can be self-hosted, so it can't really be bought up and "taken hostage" like Figma has been.
ajkjk 4y ago
I don't really get why a company wants to be acquired if they're already best in their class and therefore will be raking in money for the foreseeable future. Don't they get a big payout either way?
- moreira 4y ago
  It depends on what you want out of life. They now have cachet/reputation, and deeper pockets, and can easily start up and get funding for anything they might want to do. Just making a slow, healthy profit with a company might not be enough for them.
  - vidbina 4y ago
    I feel you there. Sticking around long-term may also not be sustainable for everyone. It takes a lot of energy (to wade through the ups-and-downs) as even running a co in a "profitable" situation isn't always as rosy as one hopes it to be. There are lawsuits, internal politics, competitive drama, etc. Cashing out allows one to regain some headspace, take care of family or address other personal matters that need attention (or have been inducing some strain) and finance the next idea that one may have had on their minds. Furthermore, things tend to get more corporate-ish as orgs grow because more structure is needed/required and this may not fit every personality type very well, so I guess builders will do themselves a service to hop out once the train shifts into a different gear to allow folks that are better at that game to take it from there. Just hope that Adobe doesn't end up ruining things because I feel that is usually the issue with acquisitions. The buyer just dulls things down or they actively kill to push one of their overlapping overrings.
robbie-c 4y ago
So disappointing to see this happen to a beloved product, but congrats to the team for getting this outcome.
mhd 4y ago
So, what's our alternatives? As others, I'm both pessimistic about the future and increasingly anti-Adobe (last thing I liked from them was non-subscription Framemaker and maybe PS 5.5). Penpot? https://penpot.app/ https://penpot.app/
- docdeek 4y ago
  Affinity has a suite that is pretty nice (not affiliated with them, just like the tools and didn’t want to pay a subscription for my rather occassional use).
  - mhd 4y ago
    Oh, sorry, I meant as an alternative to Figma, not the Adobe Suite itself. But yeah, I dabbled a bit with Affinity Designer. It is quite focused on the "PageMaker" side of things, i.e. not for medium to large documents (IIRC still no support for footnotes, multi-column mode being a bit manual etc.)
blub 4y ago
This is probably good for Figma competitors, because Adobe will crapify it just like they did a long time ago with their own products. Well deserved lesson for those that decided to support a cloud product instead of an offline tool.
vouaobrasil 4y ago
I dislike Adobe as much as the next person, but I think there isn't a person on earth that wouldn't take this deal. If I had a product like Figma, I'd sell it in a microsecond for what Adobe offered.
wokwokwok 4y ago
> Like many of you, I grew up using Adobe software and it was a critical part of my personal creative journey. It is an incredible opportunity and honor to help Adobe build the next generation of creative tools. Especially in a time when AI-generated models make us question the role of human creativity, this opportunity is also a huge responsibility. Is AI generated design really much of a thing? That’s a very strange little comment about AI models tacked on the end. I suppose stable diffusion has been very visible lately, but for a heavily manicured corporate blog, it’s an odd touch.
saos 4y ago
Feels uncessary. Figma could have IPO with no issue. They are well ahead of Adobe. Very dissapointed by this to be honest. Their Monoply continues.
imron 4y ago
> Adobe is deeply committed to keeping Figma operating autonomously What an 'incredible journey' for Figma.
kensai 4y ago
Before criticizing Dylan, step in his shoes. These are $20 billion we are talking about. With his creativity, he might very well revolutionise a similar or another industry. Let's be optimistic here. There are alternatives (Penpot) for the rest.
lienhoangduy 4y ago
I'm looking for Figma alternative on Product Hunt and found this guy (https://visily.ai/ https://visily.ai/) XD

93 points by MomciloM 4y ago

dang 4y ago

Comments moved to https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32850178 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32850178, which is on the front page, appears to have been the first submission, and isn't a corporate press release (https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&sort=byDate&type=comment&query=corporate%20press%20release%20by:dang https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&sor...). I assume bloomberg.com will update that article now that the news is confirmed.

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

rsolva 4y ago

I guess this means a big boost for Penpot? It might not have a full feature overlap, but I can imagine it beeing more than good enough for teams collaborating on mockups and web related graphics. Plus it is open source and can be self-hosted, so it can't really be bought up and "taken hostage" like Figma has been.

ajkjk 4y ago

I don't really get why a company wants to be acquired if they're already best in their class and therefore will be raking in money for the foreseeable future. Don't they get a big payout either way?

moreira 4y ago
It depends on what you want out of life. They now have cachet/reputation, and deeper pockets, and can easily start up and get funding for anything they might want to do. Just making a slow, healthy profit with a company might not be enough for them.
- vidbina 4y ago
  I feel you there. Sticking around long-term may also not be sustainable for everyone. It takes a lot of energy (to wade through the ups-and-downs) as even running a co in a "profitable" situation isn't always as rosy as one hopes it to be. There are lawsuits, internal politics, competitive drama, etc. Cashing out allows one to regain some headspace, take care of family or address other personal matters that need attention (or have been inducing some strain) and finance the next idea that one may have had on their minds. Furthermore, things tend to get more corporate-ish as orgs grow because more structure is needed/required and this may not fit every personality type very well, so I guess builders will do themselves a service to hop out once the train shifts into a different gear to allow folks that are better at that game to take it from there. Just hope that Adobe doesn't end up ruining things because I feel that is usually the issue with acquisitions. The buyer just dulls things down or they actively kill to push one of their overlapping overrings.

robbie-c 4y ago

So disappointing to see this happen to a beloved product, but congrats to the team for getting this outcome.

mhd 4y ago

So, what's our alternatives? As others, I'm both pessimistic about the future and increasingly anti-Adobe (last thing I liked from them was non-subscription Framemaker and maybe PS 5.5). Penpot? https://penpot.app/ https://penpot.app/

docdeek 4y ago
Affinity has a suite that is pretty nice (not affiliated with them, just like the tools and didn’t want to pay a subscription for my rather occassional use).
- mhd 4y ago
  Oh, sorry, I meant as an alternative to Figma, not the Adobe Suite itself. But yeah, I dabbled a bit with Affinity Designer. It is quite focused on the "PageMaker" side of things, i.e. not for medium to large documents (IIRC still no support for footnotes, multi-column mode being a bit manual etc.)

blub 4y ago

This is probably good for Figma competitors, because Adobe will crapify it just like they did a long time ago with their own products. Well deserved lesson for those that decided to support a cloud product instead of an offline tool.

vouaobrasil 4y ago

I dislike Adobe as much as the next person, but I think there isn't a person on earth that wouldn't take this deal. If I had a product like Figma, I'd sell it in a microsecond for what Adobe offered.

wokwokwok 4y ago

> Like many of you, I grew up using Adobe software and it was a critical part of my personal creative journey. It is an incredible opportunity and honor to help Adobe build the next generation of creative tools. Especially in a time when AI-generated models make us question the role of human creativity, this opportunity is also a huge responsibility. Is AI generated design really much of a thing? That’s a very strange little comment about AI models tacked on the end. I suppose stable diffusion has been very visible lately, but for a heavily manicured corporate blog, it’s an odd touch.

saos 4y ago

Feels uncessary. Figma could have IPO with no issue. They are well ahead of Adobe. Very dissapointed by this to be honest. Their Monoply continues.

imron 4y ago

> Adobe is deeply committed to keeping Figma operating autonomously What an 'incredible journey' for Figma.

kensai 4y ago

Before criticizing Dylan, step in his shoes. These are $20 billion we are talking about. With his creativity, he might very well revolutionise a similar or another industry. Let's be optimistic here. There are alternatives (Penpot) for the rest.

lienhoangduy 4y ago

I'm looking for Figma alternative on Product Hunt and found this guy (https://visily.ai/ https://visily.ai/) XD