There is a lot of speculation about the impact of the Adobe acquisition on the Magento community, and this debate is certainly worth exploring. However, many people are cautious about the influence of a large corporation, especially one as large as the former, on the open-source eCommerce platform. In fact, a lot depends on the exact nature of the Adobe acquisition.
Here are some facts to consider. First, you need to understand the relationship between the two companies.
The first question is whether this acquisition is a good thing for the Magento community. If Adobe takes over the project, the company will lose its monopoly status on the design and documentation products it provides. That means that if they don’t acquire an open-source branch, the community will suffer. However, the Adobe acquisition is an opportunity for Magento to gain from its leadership position in the visual content. It will also give the platform a global logistics network and help accelerate adoption of Magento solutions.
While the Adobe acquisition is good for Adobe, it will also benefit the Magento community. Because the Magento ecosystem is built on open source, third-party apps can be easily developed on it. In addition, the Magento Open Source edition can use all of the Enterprise branch’s features. But, Adobe could be considered a threat to their business models and focus on the Enterprise branch only.
The other major issue is the Adobe influence on the Magento community.
While it has a strong relationship with the Magento community, the new owner will likely have a large influence on the development of the Magento ecosystem. Moreover, the new owners may not be interested in supporting smaller market players. Instead, they will target the B2B and C giants that are willing to make a big investment. Then, they will likely make it harder for smaller players to make their mark in the open-source marketplace
Adobe has a bad history with open-source software and the Magento community. In fact, the company’s acquisition of the open-source software has been highly unpopular with the community. Nevertheless, the acquisition is good for the overall Magento ecosystem. In addition to the potential for a massive impact on the open-source community, the acquisition will also help the company to increase its competitiveness with competitors such as Shopify.