Try this on for size:

Adobe makes industry leading graphics software for print, photo, screen.
Macromedia makes industry leading graphics and 'content delivery' software for the web.
Adobe is going to buy Macromedia.

The ramifications of this one are going to spread and spread. With the evolution of the internet into the primary distribution media - overtaking tv and film (my students spend more time on the internet than in front of the tv), newspapers, alternative content and so on, its difficult to see a 'graphic' market that won't be touched by this.

I'd guess that the short-medium term effects of this will be the 'adobification' of MM products - integrating Adobe's amazing UI, consistency and cross-application usability; the unceremonious ditching of GoLive - it was never even a second to dreamweaver; the farewell party for Fireworks and Freehand or at least the integration of the former's DW and Flash uses into ImageReady (neither of which I'm that concerned with) and of course the expansion of Flash and the content systems (Contribute, etc).

Long term consequences are the stuff of fantasy island right now, but it'll be interesting to see what people are thinking about, if not what will actually happen...


UPDATE: here's a blog entry from MM with a little more detail about what's going to happen