Nooooooooooooo!

*runs around like a headless chicken*

I wonder how long it'd take someone to re-write Lr...

The problem is that Adobe is too important to let the other get control of it. Also if it came to a bidding war Apple are now in a better position to out bid Microsoft, with more free cash, no debt and a higher valued share price. It might be that they both agree to keep Adobe independent and so avoid the problems of buying it.

PDF is already in Office (2007 and 2010)...

It is highly unlikely, and Microsoft has already invested heavily in Silverlight... Read the PC Pro blog on this topic, it is highly unlikely that they would merge, more likely they will collaborate.

groan …

This would be utterly horrendous: rounded corners and drop shadows in Powerpoint and Word for the next 20 years?

Give me strength, NO, I'll need very strong drugs just to stop zzzzzzzing instantly, I just couldn't face it …

Just how exactly does the anti monopoly system work in the States? It doesn't seem to bear any relation to the real world at all …

Innovation demands competition, else stagnation becomes the norm (witness the erstwhile Illustrator/Freehand feature leapfrogging) and how Illustrator has frozen solid since then…

I resign …

If it happened I can see Aperture growing a few more Photoshop-like features and their cash reserves being spent on acquiring suitable IP's to bring them up to speed with a mac only alternative to the rest of the creative suite.

As it happens, the anti-competition brigade and the European Union would be all over any possible MS/adobe merger. I hope.

I think that is a far bigger hurdle than anything else. Adobe is minute compared to Apple or Microsoft. So could easily be swallowed by either if wanted.