Comments on: Adobe warns of shortfall, job cuts

The software maker says the global economic woes and weak demand for its just-launched Creative Suite 4 software is adding up to sluggish sales.

[Hep Cat]

"amid less-than-anticipated demand for its recently launched Creative Suite 4 series of products."

I'm going to be the first to step up and suggest that Adobe's "management", such as it is, rethink the 18-month development cycle that is draining their customers' wallets and providing little added functionality.

Can we have a Photoshop Installer that works properly before you ask me to pony up an upgrade fee? How about fixing bugs in existing products and making it easier for customers to cross-grade their software, rather than sunsetting support for them and suggesting that people buy new copies of everything?

[test_tester3]

shows that no one is immune in this economy

[anomalator]

Totally agree Hep Cat. I just installed a bundle of CS3 products a few months ago and a couple of weeks later Adobe comes out with CS4. ***? There's no way I'm going to turn around and pay more money for an upgrade after what the CS3 package costs. I think Adobe has become a little too dependent on the constant upgrades they have their customers hooked on.

[Perry_Clease]

Hep Cat and anomalator, I skipped the CS3 upgrade and went from CS2 right to CS4, but I fully understand your points.

[cyberspittle]

I upgraded to GIMP. :p

[trueyou]

who cares

[jture]

Hello, Adobe? People don't want to shell out two grand for your product suites ... especially in today's economy!

[test_tester3]

this shows no one is immune

[karpenterskids]

Yeah, I'm one of the many who doesn't have an extra thousand dollars laying around.
I'd buy CS4 if it cost a fraction of the price, though. :)

Here is where I think Adobe has a big problem.

I look at CS4 on the website and think, hey, I want to buy that and I own a previous version of practically everything in the suite. So I look up the upgrade prices and wham, bam, no thank you, and no sale here.

The upgrade prices (which are high anyway) only apply if you own 1) CS3 corresponding suite or 2) one product from the CS3 suite. If you own virtually all of the products in the suite and they are not the exact previous version you get NO ADDITIONAL DISCOUNT!

So here I am with previous versions of Adobe Acrobat Pro, 2 versions of Photoshop, 5 licensed copies of Photoshop Essentials, 2 copies of Adobe Premiere Elements, 2 copies of Lightroom,an old full copy of Macromedia Director, and probably at least one copy of virtually every competive product and I still can't get any decent upgrade pricing on any CS4 suite that is not much less than what I would pay for a completely new full license.

Adobe needs to get a clue that those employees that they are sending out the door would not be there if someone in their marketing department would get a clue that they are missing out on a lot of sales with constant upgrades that offer marginal features with upgrade pricing that only applies to the immediately previous version.

And... given today's dynamics offer both Mac and Windows versions on the same CD/DVD with the same 2 computer installation limits so that small developers can actually afford to use their products on BOTH platforms.

[drbyte]

Some of the alternatives to the Adobe line of software really make it look like organized bloatware. Adobes programs are nice, but there are some nice (and often free) alternatives that don't install each application like an operating system or block up your creative time with updates.

Try installing primopdf (which is free, 11mb installer) and running off a couple pdf's or foxit reader (4mb) and see what I mean.

Makes you wonder where your money is really going considering the size of the installs and that adobe upgrades are kind of like Madden games. A little change here and there, but not enough to warrant the kind of money they want you to spend. Plus they could make their software a lot more efficient and bring those prices down.

[Rita McKee]

Adobe depends on the cooperation of thousands - tens of thousands - of small one-person graphics shops like mine. We're hurting in this economy... can't afford hundreds of dollars in upgrades, yet how can we NOT upgrade if we want to stay current in software we need to complete client jobs?? InDesign, Quark, Acrobat Pro, Illustrator, Photoshop..... great programs, one and all, but hey - do they really ALL cost so much to develop?

I'm at CS2, need to upgrade to CS4........ but if it's a choice of essentials (rent, utilities, food) and yet another freakin' upgrade from Adobe (my CS2 is only a year or so old and it cost me a BUNDLE)... sorry, Adobe.... have to go with the basics I need to survive. Is it REALLY necessary to gouge us that much?

[Heebee Jeebies]

Well, I have no problem with the 18 month upgrade cycle. Things in the digital world move too fast to have them wait 2 or 3 years for an update. What I resent is them not getting things right before they send it out. CS4's GPU support as an example should never have been done. Video card drivers are too unstable and the video card makers only care about gamers and not serious work.

What Adobe added to CS4 is nice and worth the upgrade, but not with the bugs and performance problems. They need to do better.

Another example is Lightroom 2.0. The public beta didn't have half the bugs that the final shipping version had. I don't understand how they could do this. Lightroom 2.0 should never have shipped with the types and kinds of flaws that it has. Even the 2.1 update didn't fix things and now we are all hoping the soon to be released 2.2 will do the trick.

No the upgrade cycle is just fine. They just need to put out stable, fast and bug free software. Or at least a hell of a lot better than they are.

Robert

[Robert G K]

Before they cut jobs to much I hope they finish flash for 64 bit browsers.

[mooney101]

All long as Adobe has those OUTRAGEOUS prices for their CS4 suite I'm sure There will be more to come. The Price of the student discount upgrade should be what they are charging to everyday consumers. If they did, more people would buy their product. They can charge more for big cooperations using their software that can afford it.

[uBeHacked]

How come adobe never published financial data on their LiveCycle server line? They've been out promoting it to corporate customers at ridiculously high price tags but it's pretty hard to find people that are actually using it... not to mention developers that know their API's...