I have dropped the entire Adobe suite from my Toolchain. I used to be a Flash Developer / Photoshop / After Effects / Premier user from 98-12 so as you can see my hobby-turned-career was deeply invested in Adobe Software.

I do not do social networks because I value my privacy.  By that same regard, I do not do cloud services because I simply do not want to.

Thus CS6 was as far as I could go with Adobe, they abandoned me as a customer, and left me with no options and that Ignorance forced me to adapt or become outdated.

Adobe deserve to be blown to rubble and as a software consultant, i will be actively encouraging the abandonment of the Adobe toolchain.

I am so angry. I am a long time user and supporter of Adobe, but this crap is insufferable, and I now hate them, and post-Jobs snooty a** s***s at Apple. They are pricing freelancers out of business. And the software and the s***ty new computers aren't even worth it!

The alternatives out there suck donkey d***, so I will not be switching.

So, just like Cubans who had to keep vintage cars running because of embargoes - I am going to keep vintage computers running, so I can enjoy the functionality of vintage CS3 for as long as I can.

Really - I hate you Adobe. Kiss my a** - I hate you.

My money will go into buying and maintaining vintage computers who can run  editions of Adobe software when it was still a great company, which do everything I need.

Dear Queen Marigold,

When you're working -happily- on CS3, then you haven't made an Adobe CS purchase for over 7 years. Since you call yourself a "long time" user, you probably paid a couple of hundreds of dollars for this CS3 upgrade, and are still running it until this very day. And really, there's nothing wrong with that.

But in the meantime, the world has changed, media have changed, software changed, and even Cuba might go through some transitions. So, vote Democrats and subscribe to Adobe, if you prefer change...

Recently had PS and LE CC stop working when not online,

Called support and was told that until I got back on line that They could not help me.

This happened twice in one week! Lost days of editing time,

Peter, I frequently smile or even chuckle at your posts.  I can't figure out if you're serious or if you're being tongue-in-cheek.  I figure telling a bunch of people trying to make money using products from Adobe to vote for a bunch of socialist Democrats is either a joke or reverse psychology, but I"m not sure.  Most of the time I think you're just out there stirring the pot, which is entertaining and a good thing in a topic populated by almost universally totally pissed off people...

I don't hate Adobe, but they're WAY down on my list of companies i like with CC and the incredibly poor customer service, but these days they're not unique. 

I hate cloud software, especially Creative Cloud - when I do nature photography I have no or horrible access to internet when at the cottage or out in the bush. Adobe has really screwed people over with this, even Lightroom isn't stand-alone anymore. Yes I know you can access the cloud offline, but only for 30 or 99 days depending on your subscription. Sticking with CS5 until I absolutely HAVE to do otherwise. Hate you Adobe, can't believe you would go this route.

All of the CC apps, including LR, reside on your computer.  You don't need to be online to use them.  You need to be online every so often to validate your subscription, that's all.

There customer support is really lacking, especially with Mavericks.  Creative Cloud has cause several issues for my team

I don't use a Mac so I don't know what the problem is with Maverick.  I have had no problems with CC (or with customer support the few times I have dealt with them).  It would seem that if Mavericks have a problem, it may be with Apple, not with Adobe.

I often have to work offline.

I also recently have had PS and LE CC stop working when not online multiple times.

When this happens I'm basically SOL.

Called support twice and was told that until I got back on line that They could not help me.

This happened every week for  4 weeks! Lost days of editing time each week,

When I got back on line spent an hour or more  with customer support  to fix the problem each time.

Fix would last maybe a week if I am lucky. 

I don't quite understand what the problem is.  PS and LR are installed on your computer and you do not have to be online to use them. You have to be online periodically to validate your subscription and, of course, if you want to share your work.  A lot of what support does is online, yes.  They do that so they can look into your machine to find and try to fix problems. 

BobZ30 wrote:

 

I don't quite understand what the problem is.  PS and LR are installed on your computer and you do not have to be online to use them. You have to be online periodically to validate your subscription and, of course, if you want to share your work.  A lot of what support does is online, yes.  They do that so they can look into your machine to find and try to fix problems.

To each his own...

I personally despise subscription software. Call me a hater. Whatever. Who really cares. No matter how you want to spin it, it's just plain extortion.  The only benefit derived is on the side of the supplier. There is no benefit to the end user. "Stop paying us and we'll cut you off..."  Seems as if they might have watched to many "mob" movies starring Robert Deniro, Joe Pesche, and Ray Liota. Sadly it happens.

You really need to take a hard look at what these companies are doing. How would you like it if the only choice you had was to lease your car, rent your home, borrow your clothes and nothing was yours. Basically you are paying to borrow their software. Once you were unable to pay the extortion fee....POOF your product no longer is viable. Your layered PSD files are worth cr@P.

Just stop, calm down, get back on your meds,  and really take a hard look at what adobe is doing.

And about letting them "look into your machine": It's just an opinion but it's based from experience: You've got to be insane to let someone remotely take over your system.

Get back on my meds? I'm not the one ranting.  All I asked was what the problem was.  There was nothing about subscription software pro or con.  If you don't like, fine. Don't use it, find something else, but don't say I need to take a hard look at anything.  I have and made my decision.

I say it periodically, but I still believe it...  Adobe, at this point, is the 800 pound gorilla.  Essentially they're a monopoly in photo editing...  Yeah, I know "oh, but there are all these competitors"...  Bollocks.  I figure all the other companies combined aren't 10% of the users Adobe has.  And like any 800 pound gorilla, it defecates wherever it wants.

I still thinks it's absolute genius...  They have a humungous revenue stream for software the don't have to improve, support very well (essentially not at all), and users can't skip versions when there's not enough new to induce them to buy...  Genius.  Very smart gorilla.

I cannot believe that people are still repeating "I don't quite understand what the problem is.  PS and LR are installed on your computer and you do not have to be online to use them. You have to be online periodically to validate your subscription.

That may be the canned Adobe response. Some people may drink the cool aid.

But in reality it's not true.

Was in IT for 30 years. A PS user since 3.0 and yes I did purchase upgrades.

I was only with CC that major problems began.

Seems like no one really tested it for users that will be off line for extended periods of time.

No one thought about users that work in secure locations where there is no direct outside access to the net.

No one seems to have a work around if your software stops working and you do not have an internet connection.

It's extremely frustrating when you have a client waiting it see a final edit and you cannot edit until you can get to a location with internet access.

I've had this happen three weeks in a row. Each time Adobe support "fixed the problem" Only to have it reoccur again just 5 day later. So the BS about periodic validation just does not cut it.

Having support repeat the process of "Fixing CC" by deleting files, Only to have another support tech have you repeat the exact same process the next time it stops working.  No wonder people are ticked off.

We just want it to work every time so we can do our work.

Dave, have you seen the recent financial numbers from Adobe? Their revenues are down drastically. The stock price is taking a dip too. Doesn't surprise me, since we all saw the huge online backlash from old users, no matter how hard Adobe tried to deny it's existence while trying to convince everyone what a great success CC was.

A few days ago we also learned that Adobe is spying on it's users:

http://the-digital-reader.com/2014/10/06/adobe-spying-users-collecting-data-ebook-librarie s/#.VDdV7vl_t8E

Are you still comfortable letting Adobe connect to your computer as much as they want to?

First, it's unbelievable how many haters here are keen on being able to make their very own decisions, while they'd like to deprive Adobe from making their decisions and offerings. Adobe decided to stop developing new features and versions for users who do not want to let themselves in with the subscription model. That's Adobe's bold decision - get over it !

Next: many haters contradict other haters. The one says "Adobe is a monopoly, because alternative software just sucks" while the other says "There's an abundance of useful alternative software". So opinions differ, how typical.

Finally, not all cloud-based features are working very well, and there will always be glitches and horror stories about failing software and bad support. With almost 3 million users, something must go wrong now and then. But apart from these true stories, many other assumptions are dead wrong: Adobe doesn't require you to be continuously on-line; Adobe doesn't force you to use new versions; Adobe's stock value is going down - yeah sure...

'Next: many haters contradict other haters. The one says "Adobe is a monopoly, because alternative software just sucks"'

I must have missed that one. I believe Adobe has the vast majority of users.  NOT because anyone else's software "sucks".  I figure most of us started several, or even many, versions back when we owned the software, and it was a reasonable alternative to using several products.  And, we're more comfortable with the devil we know that dealing with a bunch of alternative products.

I"m sure there are a myriad of reasons for whatever drop Adobe is experiencing in revenue (if they are), but even using Peter's number of 3 million for user base, and even at the lowest cost $10/month plan, that should still be over 400 MILLION dollars/year...  If there's a real, significant backlash, and revenue does plummet, hopefully top management will reevaluate and correct the misstep.  Til then, I'm lazy enough, and have enough inertia, that it's easier for me to put up with the monthly shakedown than to relearn a bunch of alternatives.

More than you know. Purchased the disk version, somehow was transferred to cloud, now I can't even view a pdf I created today using InDesign unless we purchase the program again.

Peter, here you are complaining about how others are complaining about Adobe. What if we apply your own words towards you: get over it. Bitter ex-customers will complain. For a long time. Nothing new in that.

About the stock time period you chose to display, I have two words for you: quantitative easing. We'll see what the stock will do during the end of this year. Looking at all those double tops and recent volatility I can definitely smell the fear

Oh yeah and Peter, any amazing new features recently to write home about?

I still do!

Peter, before the CC model anyone could use the software with the right hardware. With the subscription model that is no longer the case - a number of users cannot make the switch to CC due to connection restrictions (their work environment is not connected to the external web, working for a year as a photographer or journalist in an area where no connection exists, etc.) Yes, it is true a continuous online connection is not required, but a connection in pre-determined intervals IS required - something not available to a certain (small) segment of users.

It is too easy to say "put up, or shut up" to these users, in my opinion. Of course there are alternatives (I switched to those almost two years ago after having been a user since v3 of Photoshop, and I am very happy with the switch personally), but you ought to understand that for many creatives this is not really an option. Most designers are caught in the Adobe workflow, whether they like it or not (hopefully with all the new alternatives and creative companies seeing new opportunities where Adobe left gaps, this stiuation will change in a couple of years).

The CC subscription model was conceived by top managers with the single foremost objective of pacifying their share holders and finding a solution to the ever-dwindling perceived value of the traditional updates cycle and their justification for asking high update fees, while their customer base - the creative community - was of secondary importance to them. From a business point of view it makes absolute sense, and seeing Adobe (still) is pretty much the master in the creative domain, the CEOs and top managers can afford the 'boldness' to pull it off. The same holds true for a company like AutoDesk.

Having said that, from a user point of view it has created more problems than it has solved. No matter what the marketing department tries to convince us of, or how much candy is thrown at the user. Whether the candy is enough to pacify you and/or keep you happy: that depends on you.

Adobe made their decision, you made yours, I made mine, and I decided to follow a different path than the one that Adobe offered me. I am glad Adobe went CC - otherwise I would have never discovered so many interesting new tools and applications (commercial ones, but also often free or open source!).

I just cannot afford the very high price of Photoshop and just recently got a copy of version 7.0.1 off Ebay. I haven't done very much with it yet but I'm loving it so far. I would get  Photoshop  CC 2014 if I could but I only have a Windows 32bit machine. I saw a download for 32bit but I wanted to ask Adobe if it would indeed be workable. The problem is how on earth do you contact these people? All I get is a run-around. It's the same with all big companies. I suspect they anticipate tons of complaints. I might just download it and see.

Adobe has many more reasons to stick to the CC model than to turn away from it: quicker introduction and adoption of new tools, faster update cycles, services like syncing, hosting, mobile features, etc. Just a small minority of users has problems with it, and users like Herbert should just call with Adobe – they do have solutions (like yearly subscriptions, handled by resellers).

And I'm not touting any alternatives, or advising to have a look at them at all. I'm just noticing that among "haters" there's no consensus about these alternatives being good or even better than Adobe's products. Feel free to give them a try, and judge for yourself. And the same goes for these stock rates: I really don't care about them, I'm just noticing that "haters" like to interpret them in very subjective ways. Please stop using these as some sort of a lame proof for Adobe CC being a mistake. None of us know Adobe's financial plans and forecasts.

Things I do agree on: the many authorizations, log-ins and sign-ons when using Adobe CC (and I don't just mean the monthly touch-base connection) can be annoying; the issues with using and syncing fonts (especially those for web) are only emerging and will increase; and getting effective Adobe support can be truly cumbersome. But none of these are a crucial hindrance in using Creative Cloud, and if you're just using print media tools, then you probably won't even notice them.

Of course there will be "haters", and surely they will be countered by "fans". But the only haters I can understand are those who really prefer to own their software. All other arguments are i.m.h.o. mostly futile.

I would just like the software to work when I need it to work.

Been shut done more that once because I did not have internet access and the software decided to have a fit. Happened 3 times in a three week period. Lost a lot of editing time.

I mainly use Premiere, AE and Photoshop.  New features in Photoshop CC do not interest me and AE is a nice stable full featured program.  With CS6 Premiere finally came into it's own but still lacks certain things I've had for years in other editing programs.  I see these features showing up in CC releases and would like to upgrade but I will never subscribe.  I refuse to become part of a SLAVE CLOUD system for the rest of my creative life. 

I want the freedom to move on to another editing program if I desire to as I have done in the past.  With video it's not uncommon to have a client call 3 years later asking for minor changes to a project but without the ability to own a perpetual license I would be stuck subscribing to Adobe forever which only benefits them—not me. 

In reality there is plenty of competition in the video editing arena and if Adobe does not change it's model I'll just move on.  It's a shame as I've supported Adobe for years even when using Premiere caused one to become suicidal.  They have completely lost my trust.

Brubeck's Pal wrote:

 

I just cannot afford the very high price of Photoshop and just recently got a copy of version 7.0.1 off Ebay. I haven't done very much with it yet but I'm loving it so far. I would get  Photoshop  CC 2014 if I could but I only have a Windows 32bit machine. I saw a download for 32bit but I wanted to ask Adobe if it would indeed be workable. The problem is how on earth do you contact these people? All I get is a run-around. It's the same with all big companies. I suspect they anticipate tons of complaints. I might just download it and see.

Well, I downloaded the 32bit version of Photoshop and Lightroom and they work just fine on my machine which is not very high spec. Everyone's circumstances are different and being unemployed means I could never afford this without the Creative Cloud version. This is the first time I have used Photoshop because of my circumstances and I know that, in a way, it's alright for me that I don't need to take it too seriously because it's not my bread and butter but it means new users like myself are able to use the software. I started off thinking it's terrible, making it a rental. Then my wife said "But it's only £8 odds a week" I changed from "that's ridiculous!" to "yesss!" But like I said, it's alright for me.

I do however, sympathise with you guys who have to make a living using it.

It's absolutely horrible. Every time I sit down to my computer, I have to endure an hour of updates. EVERY. TIME. It's awful. I found this thread by googling "I hate Adobe CC". And here I am. *sigh* glad I'm not the only one, misery loves company.

I just signed that, I was happy to!!! It says they only need 723 more signatures! Get the word out!

The updates must be failing.  Are you seeing any sort of error messages or is your internet connection so slow or iffy that the update downloads never complete?

corrinamlewis

You just "signed" what? Put up a link please.

Sorry. I was responding to Andy Bay's earlier post, where he posted the following link:

http://www.change.org/p/adobe-systems-incorporated-eliminate-the-mandatory-creative-cloud- subscription-model

sheesh.

Thanks, I just signed it (and added a bit more    )

We should keep that link alive every now and then. I never even knew it

existed.

On Tue, Oct 21, 2014 at 6:13 PM, corrinamlewis <forums_noreply@adobe.com>

MORE THAN EVER

04akasha

Don't forget to sign the petition that corrinamlewis posted above.

Hi Zawackij,

I would just like the software to work when I need it to work.

Been shut done more that once because I did not have internet access and the software decided to have a fit. Happened 3 times in a three week period. Lost a lot of editing time.

You're absolutely right !

It's unacceptable to see this kind of software or certain features crash or malfunction, when there's no connection. But that's another discussion (and a valid one), so keep Adobe posted about such things happening. They really do want to hear of such bugs and death traps from customers, in order to improve the stability and reliability without Internet connection.

Hi StormMarc,

With video it's not uncommon to have a client call 3 years later asking for minor changes to a project but without the ability to own a perpetual license I would be stuck subscribing to Adobe forever which only benefits them—not me.

I have two questions for you:

1. What on earth are you doing then in the meantime ? Don't you have other projects involving video and the same or similar tools from Adobe, benefiting from the subscription model ?

2. Did you know you can (once a year) lay hands on a free trial version for the period of a month? And if your trial account is expired, you could even give it another try on a different computer...

Hi corrinamlewis

It's absolutely horrible. Every time I sit down to my computer, I have to endure an hour of updates. EVERY TIME.

There must be something wrong with your installation.

Please refer to another forum discussion or support resource, because this is not normal. Updates take minutes, not hours. And in the meantime you could just cancel or postpone them (updating is not required).

There is also a month-to-month subscription available that is 50% higher per month but only needs to be purchased a month at a time.