P: Allow CPUs without AVX2 to install Adobe Products

"Go back to Lightroom version 14.01. " Well, without AVX2 support the "Import" module is useless and everyone will have to jump through hoops just to import photos. Not funny. Yes. I have decided to go for new PC (it was time), but it is unacceptable to break process of paying users.

I'd like to follow up on this issue, adding a critical analysis of today's software development industry and its priorities. 

Becoming philosophical: this bug and its handling by Adobe is exemplary for the dilemma of today's software development industry. The management has decided that the highest income is to be expected when changing from one-time- to subscription-based licensing. I agree that this simplifies long-term maintenance. What these managers missed is that this change implicitly switched the main technical software rating metric from "Software Quality" to "Newly Added Features" (obviously, the highest-rated, overall metric of managers was and is "Generated Income").

Unfortunately, this shifting of priorities results in a huge pressure on the employees (software developers) of these companies: short release cycles emphasize features and do not leave resources for regression testing or bug fixing. Moreover, today's technologies (microservices) challenge software quality: in the past we had software architectures designed to last for decades. Microservices foster fast release cycles - at the cost of weakening the overall architecture. This can become critical.

And yes, customers expect these rapidly added features because of their regular payments. 

So I ask myself (and Adobe and this community): shouldn't we shift focus again, making software quality the number one metric? Less features, but well implemented and tested? There are plenty of methods in place for automatic analysis of dependencies - for instance implementing SBOM in combination with license/requirements management could have helped Adobe to identify the AVX2 dependency at an earlier stage. Agreed - it's challenging to measure and "sell" software qulity.

My personal conclusion is that Adobe focuses almost exclusively on new features - easy to measure, to justify, and to sell. But any newly added feature adds software complexity and increases the likelihood of bugs. And, if not handled appropriately, complexity kills software development quality. The need for hardware/software backward compatibily does not ease matters. 
Time (for Adobe and for us, customers) to shift priorities?

@AxelMatt - I absolutely disagree with your statement "There's no update or fix or something else necessary" - this is simply wrong. There are at least two severe bugs in 14.01 that make Lightroom (close to) unusable for me on an AVX processor: 1. failure to import video files at all and 2. The faulty "Auto" correction button (unavailable when first opening a photo - need to change to another photo and then back, before "Auto" becomes available).  Thank you @johnrellis for your sumnary of pitfalls - these are the ones that hurt. 

Dear Adobe Community,

I completely understand and empathize with the frustrations many of us are experiencing regarding the AVX2 requirement and its impact on legacy systems. The situation has caused significant disruptions, especially for those of us relying on older yet fully capable systems for our creative workflows.

I’d like to highlight a few key points:

1. The Creative Cloud Concept:
   The idea of a unified "Creative Cloud" that allows seamless work across devices is fundamentally compromised by this backward incompatibility. As others have noted, it's no longer feasible to use different systems in tandem when hardware requirements and software updates diverge so drastically. This undermines the collaborative and flexible nature that Creative Cloud is marketed for.

2. Financial and Workflow Impact:
   For professionals like myself, who rely on high-performance desktop systems with significant investments (e.g., 128GB RAM, dual GPUs, 12-core CPUs), the forced shift to using less optimal hardware, like laptops, is both costly and inefficient. Replacing such systems for compliance with a single software requirement is not a trivial expense.

3. Request for Legacy Support:
   Adobe must provide a way to mitigate this issue by offering:

   • A rollback option to Lightroom Classic 13.x for systems that do not support AVX2, with full functionality retained.
   • A clear and advanced communication process for future hardware or software requirements to prevent these unexpected disruptions.

4. Transparency and Accountability:
   It would be appropriate for Adobe to formally acknowledge this oversight and provide an interim solution for affected users. A temporary fix or extended support for non-AVX2 systems would go a long way in maintaining trust and loyalty among long-time subscribers.

We are not merely frustrated customers; we are professionals who have invested heavily in Adobe's ecosystem. The lack of backward compatibility is not just an inconvenience—it directly impacts our ability to work efficiently and deliver quality results.

I hope Adobe can prioritize addressing this issue and consider the constructive feedback shared by the community.

I agree that the customers with older non-AVX2 CPUs haven't been treated well, and at a minimum, a formal "oops" from Adobe would be appropriate.

LR 14.0.1 was released using the new video components that required the use of AVX2. But it broke the use of video, not allowing videos to be imported, rendered to thumbnails, or sometimes played:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/lightroom-classic-discussions/14-0-1-stuck-at-quot-copy-and-import-photos-quot/m-p/14944136

It wasn't until LR 14.1 that the system requirements were formally changed to require AVX2 and have the installer enforce it. I think this was not deliberately intended by LR team -- they wouldn't have released LR 14.0 knowing of that restriction by the video components (maintained by another group in Adobe).

But as a result, there are likely very many users who did a fair amount of work in LR 14.0 and 14.0.1 assuming that the video problems would be fixed soon.  Then two months later, they find out that there won't be any future releases of LR compatible with AVX2.  

So now they're faced with two bad choices. They can stay with LR 14.0.1 but can no longer use video with LR. But if they want to continue to use video in LR, they have to roll back their catalogs to LR 13.5.1, losing two months of edits to collections, published collections, and stacks (but not Develop edits), the new camera and lens support, Denoise applied to linear-raw formats, HDR gain maps, and all the bug fixes.  Doable for many but time-consuming and painful.

... please provide an update or fix for all of the legacy hardware customers ONLY (processors lacking AVX2) to revert their Lightroom installation to the last LRC release (13.x) working on their platform. 

By @JF2881159952ho 

There's no update or fix or something else necessary. Go back to Lightroom version 14.01. This is available in the Creative Desktop Client and runs also with older CPUs.

Another point is that this version can handle the with LR 14 updated catalog which can't be opened with LR 13.x

your post hits it on the head. For adobe to not give at least 4 months warning that members will require AVX2 going forward - is a major faux pas and unfair.

Well.. FACT IS from 14.0 lightroom started to have problems with video (rendering IMPORT function unusable) on computers without AVX.
The problem is, that with each 'version' you have to upgrade lightroom catalog.
I did upgrade, then worked around import and continued to work with LR14 on my photos as I was sure that the fix is coming.
Fix was not a fix, but just a ban on those without AVX2, but the damage is already done.

Why?

Because although I CAN reinstall/downgrade my Lr to 13.x i CANNOT downgrade my catalog and keep my edits that I have done during this period while I was full of hope.

So now my only choises are:
- continue to use crippled Lightroom (without import module), while paying for it
- just discard edits that I have done to my images during transition period
- buy a new PC
- look for alternatives like C1, Darktable etc..

This thread has been retitled and moved to Ideas as a Feature Request. 

This thread is unlocked but under review and may be locked again.

@DexterGordon

Valid comments will not be censored and have not been censored but there is no reason to have multiple threads for this issue.  Any future threads, if appropriate will be merged here.