Goodbye Adobe

[GraphicsGeezer]

You have ruined my day for the last time. I've worked with you for 20 years and I've had enough of programs that are bloated, slow, crash prone and simply don't do what they say they're going to do. I am getting rid of Creative Cloud. There are alternatives to Adobe and here is an article that shows you many of them. http://mac.appstorm.net/?s=alternative+apps+to+everything+in+adobe+creative+cloud&blog=mac&term=revi...

I hope this lazy, greedy company gets the fate it deserves.

Have a nice day!

[c.pfaffenbichler]

This is a user Forum, so you are not really addressing Adobe here, even though some Adobe employees thankfully have been dropping by.

I find your post unfortunate.

programs that are bloated, slow, crash prone and simply don't do what they say they're going to do

may qualify as a rant but not as a proper description of the issues that have frustrated you so.

Consequently you do not diminish a possible suspicion that your problems with Adobe software might have been your own fault (in part at least).

I think the regulars on this Forum are naturally not ignorant of Photoshop bugs and issues (including ones concerning Adobe in general) but still are able to get their work done with the application.

[Terri_Stevens]

If you think any of the apps in your link are Photoshop beaters then think again as they are not. If you seriously want an alternative try Affinity, Gimp, Sketch or Corel Painter 2016. I would say only Painter comes even close to matching Photoshop and in some areas beats it hands down, but its much harder to learn with an even steeper learning curve than PS.

I can't say I have problems with slowness and true bugs in the current build are actually hard to find. Adobe's marketing though is unfortunate as they imply Photoshop is suitable for just about anyone and its not, that's the whole purpose of having Elements in their catalogue. Photoshop is and always will be a high end  professional tool that amateurs can dabble in, so lets not pretend everything is going to be easy going for casual users who want professional results without professional skills. It sounds to me as if you'll be happier with something less demanding so good luck with whatever you migrate too.

Terri

[c.pfaffenbichler]

Photoshop is and always will be a high end  professional tool

As the OP made a point of mentioning the length of time they have worked with Adobe product/s they probably consider themselves an experienced user.

Though based on their Forum activity (Dreamweaver, Animate, …) I wonder if they may not have picked the Photoshop Forum kind of by mistake.

[GraphicsGeezer]

Thanks, all, for your posts here. You're right I am just venting, and I could have chosen any forum, but I am finished with Adobe for good. I find it fascinating that such a huge company can produce such mediocre results. I think its long, profitable ride is over.

[D Fosse]

I still think you have compatibility issues more than anything else. If this is Photoshop you're talking about, most likely with a buggy video driver, a font manager, things like that. If you see crashing, that's almost certainly the video driver.

You may go elsewhere, but chances are you get problems there too. I'd try a system cleanout first - uninstall everything you don't need, update all drivers. Temporarily disable everything that might be suspicious, like plugins or fonts.

[GraphicsGeezer]

I've tried almost everything, including contacting Adobe by phone and getting them to look through my computer themselves. They did find errors but fixing them didn't help. I did the same with Apple, who found minor errors as well. No overall improvement. I've reinstalled the programs and had fonts verified and use a regular maintenance tool.

Adobe tech support is great and the staff is great. I think I have a big-picture issue and there's no forum for that.

[c.pfaffenbichler]

If I may ask: Can you afford »switching horses in mid-stream«?

Will contractors and customers be able/willing to handle a new workflow/file formats/…?

[GraphicsGeezer]

That's what kept me from changing before now. As a lone freelancer I won't be able to get work from bigger outfits because I won't use their software. But I'm hoping the payoff will be worth it. I'm downgrading from CC to CS4, which works fine even on my iMac. I can always return to CS4 if needed but I intend to get rid of all Adobe programs because the increase in efficiency will be worth any lost business. Some new programs, like Hype, which I'm using to replace Animate (Flash) don't have all the functionality of Adobe programs but I can work around most of them by offering my clients other ideas. Most programs are a lot cheaper than old Adobe CS programs.

Judging from the link I provided earlier, I'm not the only person doing this.

[Brad Lawryk]

GraphicsGeezer wrote:

don't have all the functionality of Adobe programs but I can work around most of them by offering my clients other ideas.

Trying to change what the client wants compared to providing what they actually want is never a good idea. You are basically telling them that you can't do it so about this idea.

[Benjamin Root]

I'm considering moving this to Community Connections. Everyone okay with that?

[c.pfaffenbichler]

Everyone okay with that?

No protest from my side.

the increase in efficiency will be worth any lost business

Have you tested the alternative software exhaustively yet?

[GraphicsGeezer]

Perfectly willing to have you move it.

No I haven't tested any new software. Currently testing Hype, and quite pleased. Hasn't crashed yet and works pretty fast.

As for telling the client I can't do what he wants, I'm a small shop with a lot of small business clients. They generally leave design decisions up to me and they're generally very happy.

I wonder if Adobe thinks about how many jack-of-all-trade customers they have? Some programs I use only every few months and have to learn them all over every time.

[Guest]

I can understand your frustration. However I personally feel that Photoshop is still the best for some obvious reasons -

1) Its the oldest software and pioneer in Graphic designing so the interface is more familiar to me and other designers.

2) Secondly it offers many features under one software and for many tasks that I regularly perform I need not look for another software.

I love this software and will continue to use it forever I am sure.

[Terri_Stevens]

Adobe does have its faults and sometimes can be frustrating, but like you , I think it is far and away the best software company in the world for creative professionals and enthusiastic hobbyists. When you think that the company began largely as a developer of a printer language, Postscript and an associated font library and look at what it is today, its quite amazing.

The subscription model gets criticized but in the case of Photoshop it has given access to thousands of people who otherwise would not be able to afford to buy the programs. Even with the entire Creative Cloud suite its pretty good value for money. People forget that Premiere,Indesign, Illustrator etc when bought together used to cost thousands to buy and even at the subscription price takes years of subscribing before the cost of buying becomes better value. In some countries its even possible to get a tax concession as leasing the software is part and parcel of running a business.

There is some talk of Apple looking on Adobe as an acquisition target which would be a disaster as they traditionally believe in selling on an exclusivity basis and I suspect would position Adobe solely as a high end software developer again like Autodesk. Those rumors have been around for several years now, but as the pile of cash Apple is sitting on grows and grows, its inevitable sooner or later they will buy something. I only hope Adobe don't let it be them.

[John T Smith]

>hope Adobe don't let it be them

Adobe is a stock company, so anyone who buys a majority of the stock runs the company

Subject, of course, to US laws concerning creating a monopoly

[Terri_Stevens]

Sadly that's true. Hostile takeovers are all the rage it seems. Donald Trump has just succeeded with a hostile takeover of the Republican Party in the US and who would have believed that possible 12 months ago

[davida4290947]

Touche

[D Fosse]

MissTake wrote:

There is some talk of Apple looking on Adobe as an acquisition target

Those speculations have been around for years, but it seems to me Adobe doesn't fit into Apple's carefully crafted image one bit. Apple hasn't had any focus on the pro market for many years.

[R Neil Haugen]

Apple's CEO had a very public quote this spring ... he had no understanding of why in the world anyone would buy a desk-top computer these days.

Really ... he said that nearly word-for-word.

Apple has become all about devices.

They're still selling expensive Macs that are having more and more functional issues when people try to work with them ... for their $6G's or more of investment. But ... who really cares about that "desktop" market anyways ... bunch of dinosaurs ...

So ... do ya really think Adobe's big programs would fit well into a d-top free environment?

Naw ... Apple doesn't want Adobe ... not anymore. And as a 30-some year PC user, I still find that very sad.

Neil

[GraphicsGeezer]

Do Adobe products work well on PCs? If so I'll buy one!

[Benjamin Root]

I don't have any complaints at the moment. Running a Windows PC with the CC apps. Not saying you'd just jump over to the Windows side and see all problems vanish, though.

[Terri_Stevens]

Most software works as well on a PC as on a Mac these days not just Adobe offerings. The advantage of the PC is price and serviceability. In the event of something being incompatible like a graphics card you can easily swap it for a different kind which is deliberately made difficult with Macs which is why we see so many GPU issues here. Granted a Mac generally will look nicer, but is that all that important if its a desktop PC living under a desk? You can anyhow get really beautiful cases if you want. A friend of mine bought a high end PC and had everything inside transferred to a brushed aluminum case, which does look awesome. Would you believe doing that cost less than buying a high end Mac? Personally I just look on these boxes as tools so couldn't be bothered to do that. You can also customize PCs with very elaborate cooling systems allowing you to boost processing power sometimes as much as 40 % by overclocking and I'm not sure you could easily do that with a Mac.

Sadly Apple have moved the business model from business to consumer now. I wonder what the late Steve Jobs would make of this? I suspect he wouldn't totally approve as he was pro innovation. Have you noticed there has not been any really exciting products since he died? All they do is build on the success of existing products and cut costs and risk by not taking a chance on a brand new set of ideas . Anyone here think an Apple watch is indispensable? They are working on driverless cars and the Internet of Things so will remain immensely profitable but by focusing on the consumer market. 

Adobe fans may breathe a sigh of relief as there is a lot of city gossip about Apple buying Time Warner now. That would make a lot of sense as they have a vast collection of assets to stream to Apple devices from film, tv and music, not to mention cable and broadband networks.

[D Fosse]

Terri Stevens wrote:

Sadly Apple have moved the business model from business to consumer now. I wonder what the late Steve Jobs would make of this?

I think it's fairly obvious that Steve Jobs was the architect behind this move, ever since the original iPod (that's pod not pad). For as long as I can remember, Apple's marketing - and truly brilliant marketing it has been - has been directed towards vague entities like "youth", "trendy", "urban", maybe a little dash of "creative", but not in the sense that we understand it. More like "I'm a creative person - I can do anything I want".

But "professional"? Not on the list. To us, Apple's definition of creative would spell "amateur".

As for Mac vs. Win - the most obvious difference from a user's perspective is that Windows is very much hands off. It just doesn't do a lot if things that OS X does. And that's a good thing IMO, because it improves reliability and ruggedness.

Take color management for instance. Windows just doesn't do it - it's all left to the application itself. In OS X, there's lots of things going on with ColorSync (for which there is no Windows equivalent) - which is fine as long as it works, but the potential for bugs interfering is very much higher.

And bugs happen. A while ago there was a little publicized OS X bug that affected Lightroom users. All of a sudden they noticed black clipping on screen, everything below level 16 or so was clipped to solid black. And there was nothing users could do, except wait for an update from Apple.

Same with video driver issues, obviously.

[c.pfaffenbichler]

And there was nothing users could do, except wait for an update from Apple.

In the meantime they could always blame Adobe for Macintosh’s mistakes … and a few of them probably did.