I want to apologize to Adobe

I want to apologize to Adobe, but not for what you might think. In the recent “Welcome Premiere Pro 2025” discussion, I commented that the software was “buggy as ****,” and my comment got deleted because it wasn’t helpful and contained profanity. As I reflected on what constitutes profanity, I realized I have a lot of frustration, especially after installing Adobe 2025. I expected it to be a stable version, but instead, it’s been slower, and I’ve encountered a range of issues.

For example, I got an “unspecified error” while performing pre-render, and my render didn’t work when I pressed Enter to clear the red bar. It just stayed red. Then there’s the encoder failure—right when I was working on a big project. I had no choice but to update the project, but when I tried to use the render and replace function, it froze at 25% and never progressed. Canceling led to a crash or a hard quit.

Additionally, starting a new project has become unnecessarily complicated. When I press “New Project,” a small window now pops up to name the project, set the location, and choose a template. Then I either have to enter an import mode or skip it to go straight to the timeline. This extra step is confusing and inefficient because we already had the ability to name, locate, and select a template before. Now, it takes more clicks to do the same thing. I remember hearing Steve Jobs once say that success in design comes from reducing clicks and making things more efficient. Yet, Adobe seems to be adding more steps for no real benefit.

I’ve been a loyal Adobe customer for years. I’ve spent around $1,500 on extensions, plugins, and tools to enhance my workflow in Premiere Pro and After Effects. My way to contibute to community. But despite my investment, the changes Adobe has been making feel underwhelming. Sure, the new AI features are great, and I appreciate them, but outside of that, it feels like there’s little effort going into improving the core aspects of the software—particularly in the Lumetri color panel and masks. Many in my production circle have switched to DaVinci Resolve because of its superior tracking and color grading tools. I’ve started learning it too, but I haven’t fully transitioned because I’m so deeply integrated into Premiere Pro, After Effects, Lightroom, and Photoshop. But I know it’s only a matter of time before I make the switch.

And here’s the bigger issue. It’s not just me who’s feeling this way. I’ve been teaching others how to edit, and I find myself telling them to start learning other software, like DaVinci Resolve or 3D applications. I can no longer recommend Premiere Pro to them because I don’t see a future in it. It reminds me of the early 2000s when I would have told people not to invest in companies like Nokia or Siemens. I feel the same way about Adobe right now.

Adobe, you need to listen to us—your community. Please, reach out to me, text me, send me a message, or give me a call. We need to work together to fix these issues. Your software is evolving, but not in a way that meets the real needs of users. I used to get excited about Adobe’s updates, but now I’m just waiting for the day when I transition to other tools, cancel my subscription, and stop contributing to the Adobe ecosystem.

I know some people will disagree with me, and that’s fine. I’m making my decisions based on real production work. I create a lot of content for social media, commercials, and real estate videos. In my area, we’ve had discussions about moving entire production teams to other software, and those conversations are becoming more frequent. This is the reality—not just random people who type thousands of messages on Adobe’s community platform, but real professionals who make a living using this software.

This is a big problem for Adobe. Please listen to the community. We don’t always know exactly what we want, but some of us can truly help make your product better. It’s all about business. If Adobe starts listening and making real improvements, I won’t be on the sidelines. I’ll help. I’ll encourage my friends, students, and colleagues to stick with Adobe and contribute to its success. But right now, it feels like Adobe is stuck in an early-2000s mindset, like Blockbuster laughing at Netflix—until things changed, fast.