RANT
About me:
I am a heavy Lightroom user due to my job. I spend about 60+ hours a week processing thousands of high resolution raw images. This rant is primarily about Lightroom and the Creative Cloud.
Lightroom:
Adobe Lightroom 6 is significantly slower than Lightroom 5 in all aspects. However, Adobe stopped releasing updates for Lightroom 5 so I am and will be forced to use Lightroom 6, hands down an inferior product. I don't care for or need new features to Lightroom, just updates for new camera support. Unfortunately, the masses just want what's new and exciting and Adobe has no reason not to cater to them because the masses is where the money is.
Subscription model:
I can grudgingly accept the subscription model if Adobe made a product that worked well. But Adobe does not make a product that works well. Adobe can get away with the subscription model because many people use their product. What else are we going to use? Adobe can gut its user base to make more money because they can and we can't do anything about it, yet.
Snoopware:
Upon installing Creative Cloud to my PC, my computer has been take over by snoopware from Adobe. Update services and user telemetry are two that I recognized but there are many more mystery processes running in the background. I don't know what they do, just that they are sending information to Adobe.
User profiles:
Like other major companies, Adobe data mines its users by building a profile about them. This has become acceptable behavior for major companies that provide free services, but they are also under the microscope when it comes to privacy. I don't see a reason why Adobe does such extensive data mining on users so I fear the worst. Whenever I try to do something on the Adobe website, the sign in page inevitable appears and I can't do anything until I enter my credentials. It says to sign in, "for your protection." This is a lie. Sign in is not for the user's protection, but for Adobe's profit.
Customer service:
Adobe customer service is the worst I've ever seen. I've spend dozens of hours chatting with Adobe representatives that led to rage inducing frustration.
First, the solutions they offered were canned, scripted, insulting, and of no help. I can find and read the articles myself, I didn't wait to speak with a representative because I forgot my password or some other trivial problem.. The issues I was having with Lightroom were not basic user problems.
Second, when escalated, the Adobe representative wanted to remotely control my computer which is an insane protocol for a consumer product in the year 2017. I can understand if it was an IT professional for a company owned computer. But Adobe is a third party company wanting access to everything on my personal work computer.
Third, it takes a long time to jump through all the hoops to just get in touch with a representative. Adobe wants me to sign in every single time, probably to continue to build a profile on me.
Fourth, one time, I told the representative three times that I was already a monthly subscriber and owned (rented?) Lightroom 6. Nevertheless, they kept trying to sell it to me.
Fifth, sometimes I can get through to talking/chatting someone, but other times, I'm just left with a blank chat page and an email 20 minutes later stating that the issue had been resolved even though I never got to talk to anyone about it.
Advertising:
Adobe's advertising is as close as a company can get to lying without crossing the line. Maybe they do lie. Absolutely unbelievable.
Conclusion:
I've been using Adobe Lightroom for over 10 years and have been both happy and impressed with everything that it could do. Lightroom 6 has changed all of that. For fear of pirated software, Adobe has decided to gut its loyal user base. They probably made a lot of money since the Creative Cloud made its debut. People like me will probably not be heard and will just have to live with it. Shame on you Adobe. Shame on your inferior products. Shame on your customer service. And shame on your business practices.
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