motherboard:
Don’t get me wrong: Adobe’s software is great, if a bit expensive. But I do think that its business model highlights just how consolidated its power actually is—and it’s not talked about nearly enough in the creative space.
Let’s discuss how Adobe’s became the center of the creative ecosystem, and why that should be of concern.
I don’t think CC is “too powerful” but it is a conversation worth having. A lot of people aren’t happy with where the Creative Cloud is going and how locked in many of us are to it.
I find that Adobe apps on macOS feel like second class citizens – like the articles states, they don’t use any of the native UI features on macOS like fullscreen. Also, their apps are crashy. Especially Adobe Premiere. Plenty of other alternatives out there now that take full advantage of macOS and are more stable. Davinci Resolve is an amazing app, and it even has a free version that has 90% of the feature of the paid version, which is only a one time $299 fee, no subscription.
I am happy with Adobe’s subscription model when I spend many hours per day using the software. I am less happy with other apps that I like but use much less also wanting to get on the subscription bandwagon.
I’d own a copy of Illustrator if I could buy one (and I have before).
But I can’t, and I don’t need it enough to pay for a CC subscription.
So there’s at least some money Adobe’s leaving on the table.
But as mentioned, the pro market doesn’t care, and Adobe doesn’t have to care about anyone else.
“I really like Adobe as a company, but I think its suite has become so costly and unavoidable for the average creative consumer …””
Not really. For the average person there are very reasonable alternatives for most of the stuff that audience cares about. It’s the creative pro and serious amateur that are locked in (and it may be that this is what they meant by “the average creative consumer”) .
Even if, say, Affinity Photo was fine for one’s needs, you will find that you are required to submit things as PSDs in a pro environment and it’s not worth worrying about whether Affinity’s export is up to snuff, especially if you’re being paid for the job.
So, yeah, for that segment, you’re locked in. But it’s more by inertia than anything.
Adobe eliminated the idea of tiered/segmented packages, so you either pay for the whole suite or buy a la carte. Yes, there are alternatives, unless your customer(s) standardize on CC. Alternatives are for one-person shops that don’t require compatibility with corporate clients. And good for them.
Never mind the fact that three of Adobe’s oldest, core apps are decades old and mature enough to have undergone the majority of added features they’re ever likely to see in their full lifetimes. What’s the added value of updates for them? More macro panels?
And someone here can correct me, but doesn’t much of the rest of the CC suite constitute their attempts to compete with leaner, better-priced alternatives from smaller developers?
Pros don’t require PSD files. Adobe software has many programs that are just not worth using. Yet, we’re forced to get them as part of our creative suite. Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign are the main attraction. video software is somewhat popular, and the rest is niche or legacy.
And yes, there are alternatives out there.
What do pros use to share raster images then? Not .eps or .ai. Most other formats lose layering and other info.
Honestly Photoshop on the Mac is now too buggy to even make it worth pirating. I don’t do a lot of graphic art work these days, but I’m pretty great with Photoshop when I need to be.
I’ve basically switched over completely to Affinity Photo and Designer (which I was more than happy to pay for.) When I got my 2018 MacBook Pro (quad i7 with 16 gigs of RAM) I found that Photoshop ran like hot garbage on it. Photoshop. The program that used to FLY in Rosetta on my Core Duo MacBook back in the day. (Not Core2 Duo, Core Duo!)
I’d go to switch tools with the keyboard shortcuts and sometimes it just wouldn’t happen. I’d use my Intuos for some strokes and they felt wrong. I would kill to be able to run CS6 or CS5 on my MacBook Pro, but for whatever reason Apple has changed macOS enough so that those don’t run properly now. If you load up CS6’s Photoshop sometimes it will just hang for like a good thirty seconds.
I’ve looked into ways to get it to work properly, partly because I have a TON of old PSD files. But in the end I’ll just use Affinity Photo or Designer for whatever I need. Besides, my drawings in Procreate on my iPad Pro look way better than anything I ever drew in Photoshop.
As a Creative Pro, I am well aware I have become Adobe’s BITCH. And will continue to cough up the “Adobe Tax.” But when their little “would you recommend” popup turns up on the the various apps – have to give middling marks. While I appreciate the power the apps, and access to the suite – doing both graphic and web design, and occasional video work; at the CC subscription price point – it is now strictly only for working pros and very serious amateurs. But I do spend about 75% of my typical working day in Adobe Apps.
If I was just working for me in my wee studio, I’d be ALL IN for chasing up alternative apps, and do have a few. But still I have to interact with clients and vendors – so I need to be able to open, produce and edit PSDs, InDesign, AI, PDF, ect. etc. All the things.
But I do grow weary. Bridge CC 2019 is infuriatingly unstable, routinely crashing in the background during Mac Sleep. And why does Photoshop have to open a FREAKING MINI-APP just to start a new file? It’s a real production flow killer. And now inDesgn and Illustrator do it too. Acrobat DC pretty much takes all the Apple (and a lot of ADOBE’S) interface guidelines and tosses them in the shitcan. What the HELL?
Of course, there are the clients that believe everything is done in Photoshop to the point where “adobe it” is a phrase…
I have been looking at Affinity Designer with some interest, looks like a serious and capable tool. Seems every CC app update makes them more bloated, sluggish, and unstable.