Don't hold your breath for CS7....

[_scott_]

http://www.adobe.com/cc/letter.html

Seems there won't be a CS7 ever.

[DocPixel-BMW]

@ JET and James_233

Elitist? Lofty attics? I confess: guilty as charged, although my attic is heated!

Do you know how many hours of my life I've spent learning my profession and the tools to do it effectively? Skip life... what about just last week and the many consequtive ons before it? I'll tell ya... roughly 20 - 25 hours ONLY staying up to date, relavent learning, reading and trying out new workflows, methods, plugins, and software. That's all non-billable initially, but yes... I do eventually get paid back for that investment. Not only in production but also in consultation fees.

Maybe I'm slightly jaded because of it, but the graphic design industry is my profession and I take it quite seriously. If that makes me elitist in my assessment of the CC news, or causes me to become just a bit testy with those that are "doodle and dabblers" and their entitlement viewpoints, then by dawg... so be it!

Considering that I've confessed, I'll take this a step farther. What if Adobe is actually culling the user-base on purpose for the express purpose of catering to those people that already know what the difference between a PNG and a PDF is? What if instead of all this "money-grabbing" and "Adobe's out to screw us"  trash-talk... Adobe and it's engineers really do what they say, and offer every new feature possible (and hopefully bug-fix!) ASAP, for those of us that know how to learn them AND make use of them... without reiterating the wheel and doing all the hand-holding every time something "moves".

Considering that many of the "anti-change" people are not even graphic professionals, stating that they don't need any of the new stuff, and are content with CS3, 4, 5, 6 whatever. OK. Let 'em stay there and be content. Do any of the pro's here really need their noise to prevent us from moving on and discussing new tricks, methods, and workflows... rather than telling someone for the 1000th time, verrrrry slowwwwly...."there is no crop tool for pictures in Illustrator".... and helping them reinstall on a borked under-powered budget PC where they don't even know how to navigate the folder heirarchy?

If knowing these simple things, or learning/reading about them at all, makes someone an "elitist"... I'll accept that title gladly.

The state of the graphic arts industry and it's professional tools has been stagnant and going down hill for years now. No help from Adobe on that front either. My sincere wish that once this Adobe CC business is up and running, and the naysayers are either in or out, that Adobe will find the time, energy and resources to get back to creating professional graphic design tools and won't waste any time getting them delivered to us. Period.

[Guest]

DocPixel: I have spent some time too learning my professional skills, and print design and media is my profession, though the media part is mostly outside of anything Adobe provides. And yes, I know the difference between .png and a .pdf and so do most of the people you are sneering.

The fora are here to help people new to Adobe products, what is the point of them if people can't ask basic questions and get answers from experts. Many of the newbies are likely to be from big companies who have provided them with software but no training (or very little). These big companies are the ones which Adobe would like to have as customers.

If Adobe is culling anybody it is the people who are print specialists who produce long printed documents that need good footnotes (for instance) and fixing the indexing, but Adobe is not providing such updates. How many upgrades have there been for InDesign since we first asked for footnotes?

According to this article, Adobe's revenues are mostly from digital; print isn't even mentioned here:

http://www.cnbc.com/id/100564321

Why investors like Adobe diving into subscriptions

It's more important to keep the cash flow coming in and the investors happy.

[_scott_]

And investors may be unhappy soon....

http://finance.yahoo.com/echarts?s=ADBE+Interactive#symbol=adbe;range=5d;compare=;indicator=volume;c...

[DocPixel-BMW]

@James_233: I should write between the quotes... but:

1) my post was certainly not meant as a personal attack on anyone... and I'm happy to discourse with a colleague. I am not sneering at all... but I am (very) concerned... and have been for quite a long time... of which you stated in your second paragraph.

2) "Many of the newbies are likely to be from big companies who have provided them with software but no training (or very little)."

I mean really! You certainly are NOT trying to make me feel guilty for NOT helping a big company screw my small to mid-size clients out of projects... by not helping their "truck driver turned graphic designer" or someone they pulled out of the mailroom because they've heard the term P before... are you? Newbies with no training? As well meaning as I think your post is in regards to "employees", you do know that you're taking food out of the mouths of those that DO have training... have paid for it dearly... and also are considered committed graphic design professionals because they also continue to learn on their own. You shouldn't get me started there, or please use a better example than the rewrite of "think of the children" retort(!)

3) "If Adobe is culling anybody it is the people who are print specialists who produce long printed documents that need good footnotes (for instance) and fixing the indexing, but Adobe is not providing such updates. How many upgrades have there been for InDesign since we first asked for footnotes?"

We can certainly agree on that! Print.... (long pause)... what can I say other than something I believe I stated months back here: I think it's dead, as well as the decent tools and any advances in print-production along with it. Whether now or in 5 years or 10... it's a niche. Something akin to lead type, typesetters, and real-sticky-ink printing presses. It won't completely die... but it is no longer something I would specifically train for. I've been advising my clients for well over a year now to get going learning e-book production, more web and app skills, re-purposing everything they've created for print for the eventuality of clients needing 'tomorrow' digital equivalents.

With that said... Adobe has made some serious progress in digital delivery and design tools and I do think they will concentrate in that area most going forward. As it relates to this particular forum, I certainly would not be surprised if Illustrator itself is some day "culled" from the CC and left to die. The whole CC needs better integration and the removal of unnecessary overlap of features. Even my favorite Photoshop, does not need video editing(!) In a perfect optimist world, maybe... just maybe... that's Adobe's plan, considering that there's no longer a need for it with a complete CC sub.

As an optimist... yes.. I'm looking at the positive side of possibilities, and trying to get into the heads of the planners behind this rather bold and controversial move.

4) "It's more important to keep the cash flow coming in and the investors happy."

Well... that's kind of stating the obvious. There is no other reason for exsisting...for a publicly traded company in our modern capitalistic world... now is there. It is short-sighted though and I am not agreeing that it is the right way to view a technology company... far from it! However if the cash-flow allows Adobe to lighten up the marketing dept and feature schedules needed to sell new versions.... and put that cash into continuous development and timely delivery of it.... I'm all for it.

If my optimism is misguided after a year or 2... I'll be the first on the list to have Adobe class-action sued, broken up, and the officers hung from their toes on 345 Park ave, SJ!!!!!!

[CarlosCanto]

Doc, you kind of make sense, it obviously works for you...and others that oppose have their good arguments also, a lot has been said already...

...but in one of your comments you say you "hope" this time, "for real", "no more holding back", they will fix the long living bugs...

...for me, it is a major issue, the lack of commitment to fix what's broken, for whatever reason...if the software delivered we will probably wouldn't be having this conversation, if we loved the software we would be happy to jump to the new business model innovation Adobe is offering, instead of fearing for the unknown.

[DocPixel-BMW]

CarlosCanto wrote:

Doc, you kind of make sense, it obviously works for you...and others that oppose have their good arguments also, a lot has been said already...

...but in one of your comments you say you "hope" this time, "for real", "no more holding back", they will fix the long living bugs...

...for me, it is a major issue, the lack of commitment to fix what's broken, for whatever reason...if the software delivered we will probably wouldn't be having this conversation, if we loved the software we would be happy to jump to the new business model innovation Adobe is offering, instead of fearing for the unknown.

Actually I dinged Adobe for this on another forum earlier today. If Adobe hadn't been so fixated on marketing and gobbling up new features and bug-fixes for future releases... AND... would have continued to be diligent in fixing bugs as they used to be a few years back... YES... the debate of whether this CC is worth it would have been settled long ago at this price.

This is also why I'm calling for the heads at the top... among other valid reasons. They've screwed not only us... but the very assets they depend on moving forward: their employees and talented engineers!

I'm am not going to say anything more than, the chaos within the development teams and management has been whispered about more than once in my presence.

[JETalmage]

Maybe I'm slightly jaded because of it, but the graphic design industry is my profession and I take it quite seriously.

And what the heck about all that do you think makes you so dang special? You think others here don't have just as much, if not more, experience and talent than you do? You think you're unique because you "take it seriously," as if anyone else doesn't? Get off your high horse and stop making assumptions about people you don't know didly about.

I'm 58. I've made my living doing graphics my entire life. My print graphics predates PostScript by a long shot. I was an accomplished airbrush illustrator before anyone ever heard of vector drawing programs.

I was among the earliest adopters of Macs, and was building color-separated ads and prodouct collateral and collaborating with PostScript output bureaus back when the high end color houses I also worked with were still saying that PostScript was a flash in the pan.

So drop your elitist self-glorification. You're just among your peers here, fella, not anything special.

JET

[_scott_]

Maybe I'm slightly jaded because of it, but the graphic design industry is my profession and I take it quite seriously.

You think you're the only one?

25+ years experience in printing, 15+ in web design. Started with Illustrator 88 and Photoshop 2.0.7.. and have all the discs, boxes AND MANUALS for each of the versions up to CS6. And amazingly.. I can still use each and every version today because they came with a PERPETUAL license.

You're not really special in these parts. Just another cow in the herd.

You and Zimmerman should start a club.

[DocPixel-BMW]

JETalmage wrote:

Maybe I'm slightly jaded because of it, but the graphic design industry is my profession and I take it quite seriously.

And what the heck about all that do you think makes you so dang special? You think others here don't have just as much, if not more, experience and talent than you do? You think you're unique because you "take it seriously," as if anyone else doesn't? Get off your high horse and stop making assumptions about people you don't know didly about.

I'm 58. I've made my living doing graphics my entire life. My print graphics predates PostScript by a long shot. I was an accomplished airbrush illustrator before anyone ever heard of vector drawing programs.

I was among the earliest adopters of Macs, and was building color-separated ads and prodouct collateral and collaborating with PostScript output bureaus back when the high end color houses I also worked with were still saying that PostScript was a flash in the pan.

So drop your elitist self-glorification. You're just among your peers here, fella, not anything special.

JET

There is nothing special about me when discussing with "peers" such as yourself and the roughly 2 dozen others that contribute to this forum, and I certainly wasn't making assumptions about them or you. Your pulling my unwise "grandstanding" out of context. Before I move on, interesting how your "resume" and experience parallels my own (including airbrushing ). Only difference is regarding your post below, in that I keep up to date with all of the platforms, including Mac and Linux. Dropping knowledge of OS X when the majority of ad agencies use it as their platform of choice, would not be a wise decision on my part, even if the data is cross-platform. Whatever.

I realize that this particular forum as well as all of the forums here at Adobe are for people, mostly newbies, to search for answers to their problems with the software. However, my patience is tested rather quickly when the questions have been answered many times over, and many others are a Google search away. Some of the questions have to do with the very basic training and understanding of the profession, where once again, a simple Google search would show the "desire" to learn and be a professional some day. Even the ultimate expert here who is always helpful and courteous, Monika Krause, has pointed people in the direction of Google some times.

The democratization, easy availability, and low cost of the tools we use is enjoyed by us all. However there are some, including many people/businesses the world over that not only have lost respect for the graphics profession and the training involved to be good at it, but also believe they can do it all themselves with an office computer, secretary, and "acquired" software. When they hit a snag.... and they will... well here they are getting their free advice, troubleshooting and training. Does that make me an "elitist" for pointing that out and it getting on my nerves some times?

After a solid day of reading multiple forums about The Adobe CC Bomb, what I came away with is that the largest number of people commenting and spouting nonsense about what Adobe is offering, are exactly those "generalized" above, the kind of people that can't be bothered to Google... or even read the darn release notes and FAQ sheet(!) It was ~30:1 ratio of informed vs. I-can't-be-bothered-to-read commenter's, and an even higher ratio of Pro vs. Pro-sumer, once-a-month users... moaning and complaining and slamming Adobe over something that a large majority of them really have no "business" using in the first place. IMHO, they certainly shouldn't have a large say in how Adobe moves forward with this, but yes, they are a vocal bunch to be sure and many have contributed to Adobe's coffers over the years. Regardless, they are guaranteed NOT to move Adobe and it's tools forward in the least. They have stated as much 1000's of times, even if it means better tools for the job. That's just plain sad!

JET, you may remember me backing the Free Freehand movement and an alternative to it and Illustrator a while back. Well I stopped being supportive within that group for the very same reason that I'm backing Adobe to move forward here. I want ground-breaking tools and software, geared towards professionals, using up-to-the-minute technologies and being relative for our design tasks tomorrow and in the future. The FF group almost to a person wanted to stand still and create a clone of FF. As much as I liked and depended on FF in my career, I certainly saw many areas where it could be improved rather than simply cloned. A large number of people bashing Adobe right now, also want to stand still... and many of them express their desire to do so until "CS4, 5, 6 no longer works". I personally don't see these "voices" moving the industry forward in the least, and it gets under my skin to be honest.

These are essentially the same voices we heard in the mid-80's, that are trying to alter the direction not only of Adobe, but the industry and it's tools it works with. Just imagine if we stopped with version 1.0 of all of our programs, or listened to the naysayers in the 80's or 90's. Albeit and sadly, many of the most vocal were professionals in their industry at the time. Not only was the debate more interesting in the 80's and 90's, but you also were able to learn and benefit from the "old" industry practices and apply it to the new digital world and tools we were getting our hands on. Let's also not forget, we also had to have a lot of faith and dreamy vision to go against the wisdom of those pillars of our industry in litho, pre- and post production, layout, web-, offset and silkscreen printing. This time the debate is being steered by a mob of casual users, people that can't find the time to read, and with a fairly large contingent of pirates among them.

Re: Pirates... yes, I'm sure they'll find a way as they always do. However, it just may be more trouble than it's worth for the small businesses and sweatshops that take advantage of this "avenue of acquisition". I think that's all Adobe is after.

Back to topic: Personally, I think we have to keep an open mind on this and see what happens in the coming months. I know my dreams are bit on the rosy side, but some of the detractors are far too close to the skeptical end of the spectrum. I do know for a fact that I won't be standing still and will be taking advantage of all of the tools that Adobe CC has to offer. It's an incredible line-up now, with new tools like the Edge series coming into it's own, and some of the cloud offerings look interesting to get involved with. When I think back, wow!... as a student I would have even worked a 4th or 5th extra job to afford this package every month! I'm personally not fearful that my data is going to disappear, nor that my version of choice that I used to create it will stop working either. I really don't see the large drawbacks that many people are worrying about to be honest(?).

In closing... I was silly to be goaded in posting my experience to boost my speaking points, and did so extremely sloppily. I never meant to generalize that the people I was debating with here were any less talented and/or dedicated than I am... considering that many of them surely are more so. Generalize being the key word... and without a doubt... one of the stupidest things anyone can do, so I sincerely apologize for that.

*** JET, you asked, "What do you know about us?"

Think positive: we all know a little bit more about each other now which I consider a good thing for future debates. Part of the human interaction when writing in blogs or forums, is that we often get side-tracked by NOT knowing where someone is coming from. We've hurdled that barrier admirably I would say and won't get off-topic as often in the future

*** still not sure where WZ is coming from most of the time (?????)... and how ironic that WZ and I are in the same club.    Thanks for the reminder scott_w to say, that while we can poke fun at WZ... he has it right here (for once):

KEEP AN OPEN MIND! ...and before someone hijacks that... you can keep the "and an open pocketbook" cleverness to yourself! We've heard that joke and I beat ya to it.

[DocPixel-BMW]

Because I mentioned the Free Freehand movement in a bad light above, I think I should at least be courteous enough to say that I sincerely admired the resolve and their efforts in trying to get Freehand out of the grasp of Adobe's hands. Unfortunately it was not to be.

At the time those efforts failed and a developer was found that was working on a "Freehand-like" solution to all of our dreams... that's when the disconnect from the user group's visions and my personal ones collided. You can read all about it on the Free Freehand Forum http://www.freehandforum.org/, and on Quasado's blog page http://quasado.wordpress.com/

Actually the developer is still working on an "alternative vector program" to Freehand and Illustrator, but has also decided to move into the "future tools" category by making it a web app first in the beginning. Interesting stuff and if anyone is inclined, he could use your support or at least you might keep your eye on his developments.

[JETalmage]

KEEP AN OPEN MIND!

Egads.

GET OFF YOUR HIGH HORSE!....and keep an open pocket book.

JET

[DocPixel-BMW]

JETalmage wrote:

KEEP AN OPEN MIND!

Egads.

GET OFF YOUR HIGH HORSE!....and keep an open pocket book.

JET

Egads?

High horse?

Open Pocketbook?

What is your problem?

"Keep an open mind" is a bad thing to do these days?

It's quite evident we're misunderstanding each other on very deep level here... so I'll just bow out.... or should I say down from the perch you've wrongly and unfortunately put my on.

As the saying goes, "it's not the tools that you use, it's what you make with them". Here's wishing success with whatever tools you choose to use.

[Doug A Roberts]

i think i am fortunate to not have an opinion on this. i work for a large company, it's up to them what i use. as for home jobs... i could still use illy 10 and PS 7 really...

[Guest]

JETaImage: what do you suggest is better than Illustrator, preferably for Macs.

[JETalmage]

JETaImage: what do you suggest is better than Illustrator, preferably for Macs.

I stopped buying Macs in my own studio shortly after all the long drawn-out false-start drama leading up to the release of OS10. So I don't even keep up with what's available on Mac OS these days; it's a non-issue to me. I just don't see a compelling Mac OS advantage anymore.

I'm as OS agnostic as they come. I don't live in the OS. I live in the applications I need to run. The OS is just for launching applications, managing file storage, providing system-level resources, and handling I/O. Otherwise, I just want it out of my face.

I've got no beef with those still devoted to Mac; I guess I'm glad it's there, 'cause Microsoft has to have something to copy. But to me it's just another corner I don't care to paint myself into, in terms of software options.

Things to use instead of Illustrator? Depending on what you want to do, Canvas, Draw, Corel Designer, Xara Designer Pro, even Inkscape.

JET

[MW Design]

Saw this on the PS forum. Hitler's response to CC.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67Iw9q2X9cU

Quite a production and funny.

Mike

[JETalmage]

That is funny.

But I'm not nearly so desperate and cornered and helpless as the little tyrant. Anyone who thinks my voicing my take on Adobe's latest greedy gambit means I'm sitting here wringing my hands, about to pop an aneurysm, they're as misguided as history's favorite fascist.

So don't hold your breath waiting for me to sigh in resignation and say , "Sign us up."

JET

[MW Design]

no, me either. i do have options and i don't see my clients switching anytime soon anyway.

[CarlosCanto]

so far in this thread only..

in favor of CC - 6 including a couple of employees, plus Wade who started it all

against CC - 14

never seen a Poll Post, I wonder if more people would participate if there was one.

[DocPixel-BMW]

MikeWenzloff wrote:

Saw this on the PS forum. Hitler's response to CC.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67Iw9q2X9cU

Quite a production and funny.

Mike

LOL! That was.................(breath).............. hilarious! Creativity in all forms... I can't get enough of it. Sign me up for "Creativity"!

[W_J_T]

MikeWenzloff wrote:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67Iw9q2X9cU

Pretty amusing, however I doubt that would be the actual outcome decision. Aside from Adobe's "Koolaid Drinking Fanboys".

----------------------------

Corel is all about giving users choice | Corel Blogs

http://corelblogs.wordpress.com/2013/05/08/corel-is-all-about-giving-users-choice/

"At Corel, we strongly believe in giving users the choice to purchase your software the way you want."

[MW Design]

I take it as resignation. A "Wanna keep updated, you have no choice" type of thing--and the rationale to make that decision. "Hitler" in the clip found something he could justify the sign-up.

BTW, these same people did a vid for when the iPad came out. Pretty funny, too.

Mike

[JETalmage]

I take it as resignation. A "Wanna keep updated, you have no choice" type of thing--and the rationale to make that decision.

Exactly.

Adobe, of course, already has its own discounted volume license agreements for corporate customers. Don't believe for a minute that the by-subscription-only dictate isn't targeting the pocketbooks of individual freelance illustrators and designers and small shops--among them, the most highly skilled users and the very creatives whose decades of patronage put Adobe where it is in the first place.

Just look at the figures. Over two or three years, you will end up paying more; you will have to pay continually; and if you decide to stop paying, you will be immediately orphaned until you resume payments. And remember: these are "introductory" price schemes. Stay irrationally "married" to a single software vendor that acts like Adobe and you will become its captive.

The policy is a bit schizophrenic on Adobe's part. Those of you who have frequented this forum for a few years: Take a moment and consider how many posts you've seen from users in various professional fields--medical, education, even scientific research. The fact that these people are beginners or dabblers in Illustrator certainly doesn't make them dummies.

Moreover, consider: Who do you think has been the real targets of Illustrator development for the last decade or so? The no-nonsense, robustness-focused, serious-business-functionality mindset of seasoned graphics professionals...or the instant-gratification whiz-bang eye-candy of beginners without concern for the needlessly convoluted and untidy constructs under the  table?

Illustrator's focus--the features, the bullet lists, the ever-changing gratuitous eye-candy and increasingly marketing-saturated interface window dressing--has been toward gaining more vector-drawing beginners. And judging by the majority of threads in this forum, it's been working. Illustrator has become the "consumer-class" defacto assumption. So don't give me the "more 'professional' focus" nonsense. Adobe has always wanted as broad-based a neophyte-level general-purpose user base as it can capture--but with vertical market "professional" pricing; and now expects all those users--the infrequent casual user and the full-time independent creative alike--to accept a continuous-payment licence rental scheme.

Sweet deal for schizophrenic Adobe, if it can pull it off. Dark days for all of us if it starts a runaway software trend.

JET

[JETalmage]

What do you consider the most "professional"-focused major functional addition to Illustrator in recent versions?

• Perspective Grid (directly copied from the FreeHand feature which appeared years before)?

• Multiple Artboards (provided in all of Illustrator's primary competitors for many years, and still half-baked compared to the FreeHand implementation it tries to mimic)?

• Grad Strokes (with its curiously absent evidence of excitment in this forum)?

In comparison, consider some examples of  major new features in competing drawing softwares:

• Canvas's full GIS feature set. Opens a whole world (literally) of new data-driven mapping capability for a professional illustrator to offer his clients. And it's offered as an add-on, so you don't have to buy it if you don't want it.

• Draw's anticipated next-step integration with the axonometric capabilities of Designer. Again, an optional and affordable major enhancement. Open an industry-standard 3D CAD file, rotate it to the needed orientation, flatten it to efficient 2D, then modify and enhance it for commercial illustration use, leveraging the axonometric drawing features. And even a second-tier option for those whose clientelle justifies the associated third-party licensing of more vertical-market CAE programs (CATIA, etc.).
• Xara Designer Pro's truly WYSIWYG HTML/CSS functionality. A practically-seamless godsend for the static web-page builder or site mockup prototyper, compared to Illustrator's laughable piecemeal web-centric attempts. (Don't even get me started on Designer Pro's incomparably faster, better-integrated, and more intuitive integration of raster-based effects with vector-based illustration.)

Those are the kind of ambititious major features which actually broaden the profit-making potential of a professional illustrator by broadening his own illustration repertoire.

Those are the kinds of things any professional illustrator should consider before ever allowing himself to become effectively entrapped to a single software vendor by dependency upon a continuous-pay subscription-based dependency licensing scheme.

JET

[JETalmage]

Predictably, Adobe's removal of traditional licensing options is already being leveraged by Corel as a competitive advantage in its marketing. Hopefully, others (Quark, ACD, Xara) will soon follow in kind. If they're smart, they're already working the wee hours right now to configure generously-compelling side-grade offers from any legacy version of Adobe apps.

The migration doesn't have to be universal, merely significant. If the user base discards its single-vendor blinders and handles its wallets accordingly, this move could potentially, at long last, end the age of lethargy in which Illustrator's market share dominance and snail's-paced development has put the 2D vector drawing segment.

Also, step up to the 30,000 feet bird's-eye level for a few moments and consider a broader view of  technology trends.

The Unreal Editor is a mainstay development platform in an industry that now rivals (exceeds?) the motion picture industry. Yet it is freely available to young talents who are making themselves highly-skilled content developers. Needless to say (or should be), archaic Illustrator is not even in the same ballpark of sophistication-level of such a program.

Of course, you know about open source (or should). But ever visited PortableApps.com? Put the Portable Apps open source appication on a flash drive (or external SSD). It then serves as a tidy manager/downloader/launcher/update tracker of dozens of open source offerings that are bundled as "portable apps" (applications which are standalone; don't have to be installed to Windows's Registry). The result is an elegantly handy portable volume which you can simply carry from computer to computer and have all the associated apps immediately available; no muss, no fuss. As more discover it, it should be a boon to open source. You really should try it. While you're at it, be sure give Scribus--the open source page layout app--a try.

Even those otherwise oblivious to technology and business trends are aware of Google. I hear that Google is applying some of its conventional-wisdom-breaking business-model innovation to the connectivity infrastructure industry. Can hardly wait for that in my area.

My point is: In the light of recent innovative business models, Adobe's move appears almost despirately market-share defensive by comparison. Postscript was innovative. A world changer. 30 years ago. Since then, we've seen it develop InDesign (only after acquiring Aldus, and same basic functional model as PageMaker and XPress). We've seen it acquire Flash and turn it into a mass of confusion.

Removing/restricting licensing options from the customer base doesn't exactly warm the heart, and is not the kind of "innovation" my world is looking for.

A bird's-eye view of one kind of innovation the world is looking for is dramatic innovation toward user-friendly, highly-intuitive and highly-versatile interfaces for truly data-driven graphics. Not just professional graphics creators, but information-expert workers need to be able to build highly versatile build-once, publish-forever solutions without having to become fluent XML and Javascript and SQL coders and without tedious, convoluted, high-maintenance workflows. In short, Illustrator's stone-age Graphs and half-baked Variables just don't cut it. Not by a long shot.

A completely new-from-the-ground-up, serious-business 2D vector drawing program was needed two decades ago. Adobe is the obvious entity to have stepped up to that plate. But instead, it's just continued to milk Illustrator's mediocrity.

So it's long past time for a change anyway.

JET