Adobe has written off its desktop applications

[pinnacled34498554]

It's pretty clear that the desktop applications for adobe CC will continue to be a buggy mess until they just get replaced by mobile apps. There is ZERO effort being put into maintaining these programs and keeping them running smoothly. In the last 3 years, the number of bugs and errors has skyrocketed, and it's still pulling $50 a month for the annoyance.  Monopolies are curse. Adobe is a curse.

[John Mensinger]

Activity here in the user forums would suggest otherwise. There are always some frustrated or dissatisfied posts, but the number of issues addressed and solved—among the users and by the developers—outpaces the negatives considerably.

I have doubts about the iminence, but if or when mobile platforms ever do become a viable, or the preferred, mode of operation for pro-level output, then of course Adobe will commit resources to bringing advancement to that market. That's how all business works.

[Jeffrey_Smith]

Is there a specific issue you are experiencing and can share with the forum?

[BobLevine]

I will not debate the QA that goes into some of these apps, but I strongly encourage you to look up the definition of monopoly. Adobe isn't even close. There's plenty of competition in this space.

[Barb Binder]

Hi @pinnacled34498554:

Let us know if there is something specific we can help you with. 

~Barb

[Eugene Tyson]

I think it's a little unfair to Adobe.

They have a roadmap and stakeholders like any other company.

It might not be going the direction you see it going.

Everyone at Adobe works so hard and it's unfair to tar the entire company with the same brush.

There's plenty of alternatives.

Which I've tried in the past.

None - absolutely none of the competition - is anywhere near the standard Adobe is at.

That's of course my objective and personal opinion.

[rayek.elfin]

@Eugene Tyson 

There's plenty of alternatives.

Which I've tried in the past.

None - absolutely none of the competition - is anywhere near the standard Adobe is at.

That's of course my objective and personal opinion.

By @Eugene Tyson

In my opinion your statement should be qualified, because it is too general.

I do agree InDesign, Illustrator, and AfterEffects stand at the top of the heap. InDesign and After Effects simply because there is no equal competitor for each. Perhaps less so for InDesign seeing that QuarkXPress still does a pretty good job.

Illustrator not as much because of the vanilla application, and more so for its ecosystem of plugins.

Photoshop is lagging behind in various areas. It is no longer the #1 digital painting app - there are better and more advanced alternatives (both open source and commercial). And it is behind other alternatives from a technical point of view (the half-baked 16bit image mode is but one example). For 3D texturing work it is pretty much dead - but Adobe did buy out Luxology to avoid having to rewrite the core of Photoshop too much and leave OpenGL behind.

Even in other areas Photoshop is falling behind more and more. It no longer delivers anything outstanding in terms of features that alternatives (both free/open source and commercial) cannot handle - even if it takes a few plugins (quite a few PS plugins are compatible with the alternatives - no need for PS to run them).

Lightroom finds itself in a similar situation - excellent alternatives out there.

Acrobat: I would argue that for business users on Windows PDF Exchange Editor is a by far more suitable product than Acrobat itself.

Dreamweaver is  - well, let's just tell it as it is: it is dead. No longer properly developed, and the web crowd moved on years ago (but for some die-hards mostly found on the Dreamweaver forums here and beginners who have no clue).

Animate CC (Flash) is a mess. King of the hill two decades ago, but now badly managed and buggy as heck. The 2d animation industry mostly moved on to properly developed animation software. Even open source alternatives such as OpenToonz do a better job for the most part. (If it wasn't for one very dedicated plugin developer I would no longer recommend to anyone!)

Premiere is only one of a set of video editors aimed at professionals. Resolve, Final Cut Pro, and a range of other options out there. All at a similar (or higher) standard of development.

XD really isn't anything to write home about. There are better alternatives out there. Most students I know avoid XD unless they are forced to use it by their instructor.

And so on. I do agree with you on account of InDesign, After Effects, and Illustrator (and Substance Designer/Painter). The other apps in Adobe's portfolio - meh.

[Eugene Tyson]

Of course, that's your opinion.

I've worked in the industry for nearly 25 years and I've tried many alternatives and found them to be lacking.

Of course, the right tool for the right job.

I'm strictly print orientated so for my needs InDesign, Photoshop and Illustrator are streaks ahead for what I need compared to what I've tried over the years.

[Dave Creamer of IDEAS · Accepted solution]

While I realize you just want to vent, I can't help but add my two cents...

I DO think that Adobe rushed out the latest version of CC to meet an artificial deadline (Adobe MAX). I thought this "rush to release" problem went away with CS; CC was supposed to eliminate this issue. But the marketing dept. always trumps the programming dept. Also, the Mac M1 chip seemed to throw them off track too.

That said, a lot of the problems come from problems on the user end, such as outdated GPU cards or drivers. I, for one, have not had any major problems with Adobe software on my systems (Win 10, Win 11, Mac 12.x).

Another issue seems to be lack of knowledge of maintaining software. If I'm making money with my software (which I do), I would not blindly update to any new version. Users could have controled the CC app preferences to install or not install new versions, and to remove or not remove old versions. Keep and use stable versions until one feels the latest releases are ready for "prime time". 

Finally, Adobe does not fit the definition of a monopoly. There are plenty of alternatives--some are open sourse (usually free). It is popular by user choice, and some clever marketing to colleges back with the original suites.