Quark and Corel make a comeback

After caving in and subscribing to CS6 I thought it wouldn't be too bad having access to "state of the art" Adobe offerings.

Then came CC and though I was a bit excited for more 64bit goodness, it ended there.

The CC versions are glitchy, inaccurate, and features I used regularly were removed sequentially from each app with each update.
Dreamweaver CC, Bridge CC, discontinuation of Fireworks, four Edge apps for cookie cutter designing (which don't even come close to Dreamweaver's capabilities)

But thankfully, Aptana was a good free replacement though - albiet no "live preview" but hey Dreamweaver CC wsiwyg wasn't too great anyway, so whatev's.

No consistency between interfaces, no ability to change font or icon sizing (for all apps - "some" doesn't count - and only "acommodates" retina, not "any size"), removal after removal of features, and tighter and tighter integration into cloud based privacy invading "features" that have nothing to do with production work flows

Photoshop does video? What? Lightroom can't be shared - and does video? What?
Bridge can't do exports? Illustrator STILL only has 220" max document sizes?

Illustrator STILL has no document recovery?

Ai CC crashes so much that it would have been nice to not have to start over - and the weak reply from Staff and FanBoys of manual or auto save every few minutes - no really?

I'm stupid and never thought of that, but it kills your undo's and do you only make a document change every two minutes?
When you're flying through a design "on a roll" you can make dozens of changes in two minutes and "BOOP" crash at 1:58.

So it turns out "bleeding edge" software offerings is stupid. So Okay, I'll wait a month and THEN update.. but wait, why am I paying monthly again?

Oh right, it's for the "benefit" of constantly new software. But now the onus is on me to check the forums for issues and problems with every update right? But I have to wait a month for other poor subscribers to be our live production - and yet - beta testers. Harsh.

So...
Aptana is a great replacement for dreamweaver gurus who require php and asp and mysql and and and and - but don't require wysiwyg

oh wait, it's free and uses 1/5th of the resources.

Turns out windows Explorer (or the Finder) work as well as Bridge CC does, and actually the built in OS has more features.

Lightroom 4.4 I may keep since it's still offered as a box product with a standard license.

Does anyone really even understand just what the hell like a million apps of "edge" is for?"
Chripes, make it all one app already - oh wait, you did, dreamweaver, but uh, Okay.

Ps, AI, are getting replaced with Corel, I'm just working through the learning curve. (i like that i can customize the interface on any resolution monitor - and it uses native windows protocols that adobe in other threads says it simply cannot do?) - and document sizes are "unlimited" - it renders significantly faster than Ai, and PS.
Did I mention you can own it?

and Indesign? Yup, working with Quark 10 now and it's pretty nifty. Does everything I need - just have to verify if it can do data importing.

Did I mention you can own it?

Count the days Adobe, after 20 years or being an Adobe slave, and knuckling under your consistent removal of everything I need to have a smooth workflow, my purchase and rental of your garbage is numbered.

I'm sick of paying more for less, getting buggy updates, being held hostage by a softwware company, and getting more and more features of fluff that have nothing to do with core quality and efficiency. It's bizare that you soak resources to reinvent the wheels you already have instead of making them better, faster...

Adobe,

You used to be so very awesome. You essentially killed your competition.
Then you became jerks to everyone, and now you're at the as*hole level.

And guess what?
Your competition lives, and is gaining market share - and me.
So good luck with Edge, and FrankenShop.

I so very badly want a refund. But thanks to your new model - I have nothing to refund.
I wish I could run my business like that - but then again, if I did?
I'd have no clients.

I upgraded Quark 6.5 to version 9 a year ago in anticipation of where a Adobe was headed, as a backup. You can upgrade any version of Quark from version 3 onwards for a limited time for sum of $279.20… and version 10… all new from the ground up is just around the corner!

http://shop.quark.com/pa/p-6-quarkxpress-9-pacific-asia-and-africa-edition.aspx

THE COREL TEST

STEP 1: COLOR MANAGEMENT in Parallels Win7 on Mac

So maybe Corel-Suite is an option.

Therefore I have to know if my Mac color management will work in Parallels Desktop with Windows 7.

Dual screen in fullscreen mode is also a requirement.

And guess what?

IT WORKS LIKE A CHARM

after 15 minutes of trying.

My hardware calibrated NEC LCD2690 shows exactly the same perfect print colors in Win7 and OS X simultaneously in fullscreen and coherence mode.

full size: http://s1.directupload.net/images/130516/glpkjvmj.jpg

Ready for

Step 2: Testing if Corel can establish a professional print publishing workflow.

Maybe in two to three weeks I will test that :-)

I've been an Adobe customer since the 1980's and I have been upgrading every year or two since then.

But I refuse to work with the Cloud...   and the latest announcement re offering future updates to Creative Suite only via the Cloud/subscription model has got me considering jumping ship...  Adobe has me backed into a corner, so I'm seriously considering going back to Quark XPress and/or other alternatives.

Adobe seems to disregard loyal customer's workflow and buying habits, and, in recent years has had TERRIBLE customer service.

It feels like a business case sorta like JC Penney... looks like they might learn the hard way. I sure hope it doesn't come to that.

Have been eyeing the Corel site many times since this Adobe nonsense. Looks like CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X6 might be my new friend.

I've been a loyal customer since CS3 Master Collection and have upgraded every year. Adobe said mater of fact "change is painful." Let me tell you how disgusted I am with Adobe. I can't even stand the sight of their name and logo right now. I never thought I would hate a software company but I am thoroughly disgusted with Adobe. I am willing to buy substandard software than rent Adobe software.

I always liked Corel's graphics suite.  I would have stayed with it, but I had to move to Adobe products for college since they were the industry standard.  I have upgraded all the software I use to CS6 and don't intend to upgrade after this because I figure perpetual software is on its way out.  The only Adobe software I would continue to upgrade is Acrobat.  Switching to CC is not an option for me because I don't profit from Adobe software and I'm not paying for software I don't own.  The same goes for Microsoft Office.  I'm still using the 2007 version and I plan to stay with it until it no longer works.

Funny I just check to see of Corel and Quark are still around. Thank You Adobe for making me look at your former rivals who will soon be gaining market share again thanks to the CC. Anyone know a good replacement for Photoshop?

You can already imagine what the future with this subscription only Adobe Creative Cloud aka The Adobe Price Gouging Smoke Screen has to offer: It goes like this. Adobe updates programs with a few new features (some totally useless) then decides these features warrant them raising the monthly fees by $5-10 every update cycle. Adobe has not guaranteed a maximum subscription fee limit it will charge on future updates in writing. It has only said $49.99/month in online quotes. Where is the guarantee in writing that this price will not increase?