Au Revoir, Adobe

[docinbc]

You know, I have been with Adobe since long before they bought up Macromedia. I loved the software and still do. It may be a bit bloated, but I suspect there are users who actually use those bloated bits. I enjoy the software that I use and have spent a long, long time learning it.

However, I really don’t like CC and more than that, I don’t like Adobe’s growing arrogance about their customers over the years. The recent change in Device Licenses caused educational and non-profit users a whole lot of misery. Did Adobe ever acknowledge those complaints? Well, no, they didn’t. They didn’t offer an apology, let alone anything meaningful, like an extension on the user’s licensing. No, their response was to raise the cost of the licenses.

Subscriptions are killing me. I don’t need or want subscriptions on everything. It is nice for marketers because they have steady revenue, but for me it is unnecessary. Perhaps it is nice of large businesses who simply pass their costs on to unsuspecting customers, but I am subscriptioned to death.

So, here I am retired and only do free work for small non-profits. Those same small non-profits cannot afford even the discounted prices Adobe charges and those discounted prices are patently absurd ... the software may or may not be bloated, but the pricing is.

So, although my leaving Adobe will have no impact on their bottom line and Adobe won‘t care one whit, I am am having the pleasure of exploring some amazing alternatives to Adobe, an exercise both interesting and guaranteed to keep the little grey cells functioning happily. You know, come to think about it, perhaps Adobe should care (but they really won’t) because for the few of us who actually take the time to write au revoir messages, there are a bunch of others who simply leave.

The funniest bit of this story to me rotates around the question of Adobe’s licensing to public schools. Schools pay fortunes to Adobe and yet they form the best advertising possible of the company. It is the same with AutoCAD in industrial arts training. When you think about it for a second or two, schools should demand that Adobe (and AutoCAD) supply them with the software and pay them to use their product. Nobody benefits more than Adobe from its use in the school system. Just a thought, schools.

So, so long, I’m off on a new adventure.

[Abambo]

docinbc  wrote

The funniest bit of this story to me rotates around the question of Adobe’s licensing to public schools. Schools pay fortunes to Adobe and yet they form the best advertising possible of the company. It is the same with AutoCAD in industrial arts training. When you think about it for a second or two, schools should demand that Adobe (and AutoCAD) supply them with the software and pay them to use their product. Nobody benefits more than Adobe from its use in the school system. Just a thought, schools.

Schools always needed to pay for the tools they used, but they got hell a good price. Some 30 years ago as a research assistant at my University, I participated in more than one purchase for hard- and software. We got huge discounts but still needed to pay a fortune.

[docinbc]

Well now, “hell of a good price” is certainly a matter of opinion. I certainly don’t think the current device licensing cost to schools is a “hell of a good price”. If you want to see what a real contribution to society looks like follow the story of SalesForce, one of the world’s largest software companies (one most people don’t even know about). They have set up a whole charity wing of their corporation called “Cloud for Good” that provides access to non-profits to their extremely powerful base system for $0 - no strings attached. They provide the needed enhancements to facilitate easy use by the charities, have workshops, conferences and tutorials. Adobe would do well to pay attention.

I will certainly stand behind my statement that Adobe receives huge benefits from its licensing for schools. There are very viable alternatives for schools. Maybe they should start using them.

[Abambo]

docinbc  wrote

I will certainly stand behind my statement that Adobe receives huge benefits from its licensing for schools. There are very viable alternatives for schools. Maybe they should start using them.

Well, if there are, they should use them. I for my part, I came from a « viable alternative » and simply had problems working in a pro environment. I was happy, when I could change to Adobe products and as soon as we were ready to embrace the CC model, we did.

But yes, the world is not flat, so there are alternatives, depending on what you want to do...

[docinbc]

You know, as an “ACP” you obviously are defensive of Adobe, but they are like any other monopoly, technological or not. Once they think they have a lock a market, they lose interest in a whole lot of what they should not forget. There are modern day John Warnock’s and Charles Geschke’s, you know those upstarts flogging that strange Postscript thing. There are products out there that are challenging the primacy of Photoshop and Illustrator and the speed at which they are developing should concern Adobe. There is much better video software than Adobe flogs and, you know the price point for some of this software is much, much better. I’ve done a lot of design work over the years and as I said, I love Adobe, but it ain’t the only horse in the barn. Most assuredly the world is not flat regardless what you want to do.

Enough of this nonsense. Cheery bye.