Why is Photoshop the most buggy software?

[marcrust]

This is killing me and making me so sad.

I LOVE Photoshop and always have.

But why is it so hard to love this software when it keep on getting more and more buggy?

Things change all the time for no better reason. Photoshop used to be something where I felt like I had full freedom to do whatever I wanted. Me and my Photoshop could change the design world and master it! Now it is issues and frustrations all day. Fundamentally I feel that it is better because I know it so well by now. But there are other softwares that just "get it".

I feel that Adobe is missing the mark. Do simple things well. That used to be the motto. Now it is all about making updates that are more and more buggy.

For specifics anything having to do with the preferences of tools, and the speed of the program. I have to press "Z" twice for the tool to change, The way things release makes no sense anymore, sometimes a tool behaves like it did last time, other times it doesn't. Creating a new document from a pasteboard doesn't work anymore, etc, etc. It is the overall flow that is broken!

So sad... needed to vent.

[c.pfaffenbichler]

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I have to press "Z" twice for the tool to change,

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What is your Photoshop > Preferences > Tools > Spring-loaded tools shortcut-setting. 

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Creating a new document from a pasteboard doesn't work anymore

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Have you tried Photoshop > Preferences > General > Use legacy »New Document« Interface? 

[marcrust]

Oooh thanks I will try that!

[marcrust]

The issue with tools not changing over didn't fix. I still need to press "z" twice to change tools.

[c.pfaffenbichler]

And again: 

What is your Photoshop > Preferences > Tools > Spring-loaded tools shortcut-setting? 

[marcrust]

It is "selected" and set to 200 milliseconds.

[c.pfaffenbichler]

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@marcrust wrote:

It is "selected" and set to 200 milliseconds.

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Have you tried unchecking it? 

[exactspace]

Just about all Adobe software is of poor quality, because their business model is to spread propagranda that their software is required in order to be a professional, and most businesses fall for it, or forced to use it because that is everyone else's workflow. 

[c.pfaffenbichler]

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@exactspace wrote:

Just about all Adobe software is of poor quality, because their business model is to spread propagranda that their software is required in order to be a professional, and most businesses fall for it, or forced to use it because that is everyone else's workflow. 

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As I have been working with Photoshop and some other Adobe applications for a long time I am aware of shortcomings but your accusation seems ridiculous. 

Please mind your manners. 

[Derek Cross]

exactspace – that is an absurd statement. The many thousands of users of Adobe products attests to the success of their software. No one is forcing you to use Adobe applications so, maybe you should go elsewhere.

[exactspace]

That's easy for you to say, but many businesses also expect employees to use Windows or macOS. It's going to be tough keeping a career if I were only to use Linux. Same goes for Adobe stuff. They monopolize through an aggressive marketing campaign where it's difficult that any other software could compete successfully enough to be in the limelight. This allows Adobe to slack on quality, since they can maintain their revelence almost purely through marketing, while cutting corners by avoiding development expenses. 

[marcrust]

Exactspace I can see that you are frustrated, but I don't think Adobe is in the propaganda space. You're being a bit harsh. Were they also doing propaganda in the mid 90's when Adobe let everyone use copies of their software without making a big fuss about it? I would have never learned Photoshop if it wasn't for the copy I got from a friend. I am a paying customer now, but Adobe allowed me to build a career!

[twinbrush]

With all due respect Derek  (not a personal attack by any means here) but 'The many thousands of users of Adobe products attests to the success of their software' is just as absurd of a statement as you say @exactspace made. I think the amount of users that adobe has attests to the original statement of having a monopoly on the market more than anything....and exactly the point I believe they were making. Essentially users are somewhat forced to use Adobe software...again, the point of the original post is the aggressive advertising and the whole 'industry standard' thing. There are very few companies or frerelancers that don't use Adobe software and I'd say its a 50/50 split (being generous there I think) between wanting to use it and wishing there was a viable alternative. I've been using Adobe since the 90's and the software has gotten steadily worse. Back in the day you could buy the sotware you needed, now, you have to pay for the priviledge of testing it, while still trying to complete projects to a deadline. Its the old adage, if its not broken, don't fix it, but there's constant tinkering and rehassing of things that findamentally breaks workflow, to the point now where the somftware is often so broken it seems Adobe have lost track of what actually needs fixed, so lets just add in more features to paper over the bugs.

They, like most companies today, jumped on the subscription model bandwagon and its been pretty much a farce ever since. Seems to me that the majoirty of updates are nothing more than a box checking exercise to stay within the legal parameters of this subscription model, by 'supplying regularly updated software'. Every update is a complete headache for users, shortcuts changing, menu organisaiton changing, behaviours changing, things that we're all used to moving and altering funciton for no logical reason. Its like Adobe are creating the software and funcitons they think users will like, as opposed to making a more streamlined and stable version of the software their users need. 

[c.pfaffenbichler]

I think the amount of users that adobe has attests to the original statement of having a monopoly on the market more than anything....

Do you understand the concept of a »monopoly«? 

[twinbrush]

100% thanks for asking

[D Fosse]

@twinbrush Photoshop isn't particularly "buggy" in itself. Everything basically works as advertised here, with a very very few hiccups every once in a blue moon. As any software has. The point is - it can be trusted to do the job.

There are things I don't like, but those are UI design decisions I don't agree with.

What is increasingly the case, however, is that you need to have your hardware ducks in a row. Your hardware needs to be reasonably up to date, especially the GPU. That was nowhere near as critical before as it is now.

I'd estimate at least 90% of the problems people report here now, are GPU-related. I'm sure some of them are bona fide Adobe bugs - but in the majority of cases, it turns out to be an underpowered GPU from 2012 or so. Traditionally, the GPU hasn't been particularly important in Photoshop. If it worked, that was plenty good enough. But that is no longer the situation.

[twinbrush]

@D Fosse I have to agree, the latest build isn't and I know from previous PC's, hardware was most certainly the issue the majority of the time.

As I just mentioned in my reply to Derek, my complaint is not for this post really. Its more a venting of frustration that with every update it can feel like a new piece of software; which is fine if there's new features you want to use....but the frustration a lot of people vent about is when established workflows change without any logical reason. The whole transform thing from a few versions ago, do you hold shift to contrain the proportions? On a smart object layer it was different that a raster layer, which was different than a type layer or a shape layer. The removal of the 'save as' options (hence the legacy save options now), the dynamic/enhanced tool tips, the new(ish) masking function (I don't know a single professional that doesn't still hold down shift to use the old refine mask dialogue....much more reliable, intuitive and superior results.) Its those kind of things I think causes a lot of frustrations....as I say, that's slightly off topic, so my apologies.

[TheDigitalDog]

Its more a venting of frustration that with every update it can feel like a new piece of software; which is fine if there's new features you want to use....but the frustration a lot of people vent about is when established workflows change without any logical reason.

By @twinbrush

From Adobe (community forums):
"Currently, the community on community.adobe.com is used as a destination for customers to ask questions and engage in peer-to-peer conversations. IOW, this is a user-to-user support forum. The Adobe Support Community is a place to ask questions, find answers, learn from experts, and share your knowledge. Because we are a community used by people of all ages, cultures, and people at work, we carefully moderate its content".

If you have problems or need answers from other users who volunteer their time to help, do so in a discussion topic and message body, whereby you post specifics (what's the problem or issue, or the question) and provide some information about your operating system, version of the software you're asking about and steps to illustrate your problem.
https://community.adobe.com/t5/lightroom-classic-discussions/p-fine-tune-the-subject-line-of-your-ad...

If you want Adobe to be viewing what you post, there are two ways based on what you are hoping to report:
If you wish to report what you believe is a bug, you do so by following these guidelines:
https://community.adobe.com/t5/photoshop-ecosystem-bugs/how-do-i-write-a-bug-report/idi-p/12373403

If you wish to provide a feature request, you do so by following these guidelines (then make a request in the product forum):
https://community.adobe.com/t5/lightroom-classic-ideas/how-do-i-write-a-feature-request/idi-p/123863...

[twinbrush]

Thanks @TheDigitalDog not sure what the purpose of that was though, I know all of these methods and have used them....although prior to me saying that, you obviously wouldn't be aware that I have 😛

[TheDigitalDog]

Its more a venting of frustration that with every update it can feel like a new piece of software

Thanks @TheDigitalDog not sure what the purpose of that was though, I know all of these methods and have used them....although prior to me saying that, you obviously wouldn't be aware that I have 😛

By @twinbrush

Venting here is pointless; that's my point. 

“My core belief is that if you're complaining about something for more than three minutes, two minutes ago you should have done something about it.“ -Caitlin Moran

File a bug report, or feature request, don't (auto) update, or ask for help but venting is futile.

[D Fosse]

@twinbrush 

The Save As debacle, arguably the biggest PR disaster for Adobe in recent years, wasn't even their fault. Or indirectly it was, because back in 2010 they made the fateful decision to listen to customer requests and provide a way to directly save to file formats that don't support current file properties. In short, jpeg.

Previously, that wasn't possible. The file had to conform to format specs before you could save to it.

So they introduced a hack in CS5. And people got used to it, and soon thought this was the way it had "always" been and that this was the natural order of things.

Until Apple pulled the rug from under the whole thing, by removing the APIs that made this hack possible.

The moral of the story is - be careful what requests you meet. It might come back to bite you.

[twinbrush]

@D Fosse Yea I know that wasn't in their control I was just highlighting it as one of the things that frustrated users (im sure Adobe too). But isn't that kind of the point...if Adobe new it was a hack, wouldn't it have been prudent to work on a permanent 'fix' or method....I mean I know there's a lot more to it, especially when it involves coding language and frameworks from another company, but its obviously been possible....or Adobe are still hacking it as the function still remains. 

[D Fosse]

It was permanent, and it was safe, with the APIs available in MacOS at the time. It couldn't be more permanent than it was.

I'm just calling it a hack because it did go outside standard saving protocols - which require that the data conform to the file format specification. In other words, it was always a copy - the difference now is that MacOS no longer allows such a copy to be passed off as an original.

The new "legacy" workaround basically does the same thing, but this time it's not entirely safe. You risk overwriting originals.

It's worth noting that Photoshop is still the only software on the planet that could ever do this. In any other software, including Affinity, you have to start a separate and slow Export process. Just as you can in Photoshop of course.

[twinbrush]

I totally get you and I'm not arguing with you. Although I do have to point out Affinity's export process isn't slow at all, just click export, select jpeg and its done. (Well, like photoshop you have to select the quality you want to save in, along with the desired file path).

[Derek Cross]

Hi twinbrush

It would be helpful to everyone – Adobe and users – if you could post details of a couple of the reproducable bugs you've found. Thanks