“Apple Computer and Adobe Systems long have been allies in their underdog struggles against Microsoft. But in the aftermath of Apple’s recent shift to Intel chips, some of Apple’s most ardent fans are aiming bitter attacks at Adobe, the maker of Photoshop and Illustrator graphics programs,” Jon Fortt blogs for Business 2.0. “Their assertion: Adobe is taking too long to release a version of its graphics suite that fully utilizes the new Intel chips.”
Fortt reports, “A typical complaint was posted Tuesday on MacDailyNews, a site whose readers tend to be the most loyal supporters of Apple’s Mac platform. ‘Adobe has known about the switch to Intel LONG before the public did, and they STILL don’t have a Universal version of Photoshop,’ wrote a poster identified as mudflapper. ‘If it wasn’t for diehard Mac designers, photographers and retouchers, Adobe wouldn’t even BE here today.'”
“Though the posts on the MacDailyNews site were by no means uniformly critical — several posters defended Adobe — there was a familiar theme to the attacks. Adobe should be working faster, many implied, because loyal Mac users supported the company in the old days when Adobe was struggling. Apple is a powerful company now, and doesn’t have to take this kind of treatment from Adobe. Some have asserted that Apple buy Adobe. Others have suggested that Apple release more of its own graphics programs to compete with Adobe’s dominant offerings,” Fortt reports.
“Apple has the most to lose from the recent sport of Adobe bashing. Apple wants to rebuild its pro desktop business, and to do that it needs the support of strong pro software players. To grow market share, Apple will need to lure Web designers and cross-platform designers to the Mac — many of those folks use Windows now,” Fortt writes.
“They’re just not going to make the switch if the apps they use (such as Photoshop, Illustrator, Dreamweaver and Flash) aren’t supported on the Mac. Adobe gets the sale whether they stay on Windows or make the switch,” Fortt writes. “So Mac fans would be wise to pipe down. Yes, I know it’s frustrating to wait for apps. But sometimes in software, as in politics, diplomacy gets you better long-term results than dropping bombs.”
Full article here.
Pipe down?! Puleeze. Here’s a little business note upfront: Apple Computer. Inc. market value: $67,522,530,080. Adobe Systems, Inc. market value: $21,811,881,140.
Now, in the full article, Fortt seems to severely underestimate the Mac’s market share of the publishing and design markets. Adobe’s Mac customers should never “pipe down” if they are unsatisfied. No unsatisfied customer of any other company should keep quiet or be told to keep quiet, either. The customer is always right (unless you’re Adobe and your customers use Macs). Sorry, but that attitude just doesn’t cut it with us.
Adobe is painfully, obviously, and woefully late with support for Intel-powered Apple Macs. Adobe needs to shut up and start coding. And use Xcode this time.
Hint for Adobe: You should do something meaningful for the Mac users you’ve negatively impacted with your incompetence.
We believe that Adobe isn’t as attentive to Mac users as they should be. It’s up to Adobe to change our minds.
Related MacDailyNews articles:
Adobe manager lashes out at loyal Mac-using customers – October 31, 2006
Adobe Soundbooth audio software released as public beta – October 26, 2006
Apple and Adobe at war? – October 06, 2006
Analyst expects Adobe Creative Suite 3 release on May 1, 2007 – October 04, 2006
How long must we wait for Adobe to produce Universal applications for Apple’s Intel-powered Macs? – August 21, 2006
Adobe CS3 sneak peek shown on Apple MacBook Pro as Universal Binary application – May 25, 2006
Cringely: Apple must replace Microsoft Office, buy Adobe Systems for attack on Microsoft to succeed – April 28, 2006
Adobe CEO: Universal version of Photoshop due in spring 2007 – April 21, 2006
Adobe software engineer explains why Photoshop for Intel-based Macs is taking so long – March 24, 2006
Should Apple buy Adobe as leverage against Microsoft? – December 16, 2005
Adobe prefers (and promotes) PCs over Macs – March 24, 2003
Why do I get the idea that much of this (and other companies) is not about just business, but is also about “one-ups-manship”.
I can just see the execs of each company changing their companies policy just to try and “piss off” the CEO of Apple or other companies.
They don’t do that for MS cause MS does not care about customers at all, and they know they can buy the government off, so they just act nasty.
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N.
I wish Apple would just buy Adobe already.
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MDN is run by children. Could you use the word beleaguered more, please?
just buy the damn company!!! You think PC users will be pissed when 10.5 comes out. Try Apple Photoshop!!!!! Better software for less. I like the sound of that
The problem with a rat race is that even if you win, you’re still a rat.
The problem with loyalists is that they would blame anyone other than the company to which they are loyal to.
This goes for both Adobe and Apple.
w00t Mudflapper!! you got quoted dood!! w00t! 😀
Fact: “Adobe is painfully, obviously, and woefully late with support for Intel-powered Apple Macs.”
Solution: Adobe “should do something meaningful for Mac users.”
Bravo, MDN!
MDN: Well said.
Now, say the same thing to Apple – it’s far more important that Apple quit their full charge into mediocrity on a mission to increase their tiny market share by a lousy few percentage points.
Their course is that of disaster, not, as Steve wishes it was, a serious threat to become much more than they are.
And, what they are is superior to all others as long as they remain committed to superior products, performance and customer service.
A free Universal update to the current Adobe CS that we already purchased would be nice, but Adobe isn’t going that route.
So, Adobe should offer significant discounts for the Universal Mac version of CS when it’s finally released.
Adobe could write it off as a “late fee.”
I agree with the MacDailyNews Take 1,000,000%.
dayum MDN i just read your “take”. you guys used bold and everything omg.
It’s not like this is new news. Adobe told us last year that we wouldn’t see CS3 until early 2007. Why everyone suddenly got their panties in a bunch now? I mean, the quad Mac Pro runs PS just a fast as PPC even under Rosetta
There has to be a photoshop competitor alive in one of the back rooms at Apple. Leveraging Core technologies, it’s probably easier to use, too.
If Adobe would “do something meaningful,” I’d think a lot more highly of them that I do right now.
MDN MW: “simple” – It’s simple, Adobe, do the right thing. Satisfy your customers.
Asking MDN to “pipe down” is patently ridiculous.
Especially as MDN is right.
Adobe sucks and treats Mac users like doormats.
I think i remember reading that :
50% of the Photoshops sold are Mac versions.
So the company that has 5-10% of markest share (apple) is buying half of the Adobe PS suites. Time to start showing support , Adobe.
Like Q? said, Adobe informed users far in advance that there would NOT be universal CS3 until early 2007 so quit complaining. Adobe needs to transition to Xcode, there are tons of lines of code AND they need to add new features so shut up and let the engineers do their work to create a stable release.
Agree totally with MDN.
Why does Photoshop take so long to launch on my MacBook Pro Intel Core Duo 2.16GHz with 2GB RAM?
Because it’s ancient code running in a Rosetta translator, that’s why.
It’s amazing that Adobe still hasn’t released a solution. I see plenty of other large software developers with Universal Binaries already out.
repost. Said it before, I’ll say it again, Adobe is pushing too hard for mac users to be reasonable and settle for their craptacular attention to the Mac platform
George Bernard Shaw once observed that reasonable men conform themselves to the world. Unreasonable men expect the world to conform to them. Therefore, any and all progress is the result of unreasonable men.
This isn’t the first time Adobe has hung Mac users out to dry waiting for photoshop. How long did we wait for a native OS X version?
Adobe wanted Mac users to be “reasonable” and keep using and buying the OS 9 version. They took long enough to get an OS X version out the door you would think they had already cleaned up the crappy code. Yet here we are again, Strung out waiting, being told we need to be ‘reasonable’ while Adobe tries to get its act together.
Come on Adobe, get off your lazy butt and start conforming yourself to the world of crazy, hostile, zealots who are waiting to pad your bank accounts with millions of dollars for a decent product that will run natively on our computers.
Can Adobe really afford to alienate 30-40% of their loyal customer base? Can they afford to let rising in market share Apple develop a pixel-editor app to fill the void left by the non-intel native photoshop?
Can they really stand by and watch their flagship product go by the wayside like the also ran Premiere after Final Cut Pro came out?
Was this Hillary in disquise writing this article? Pipe down???
Take the diplomatic approach?? Let’s not made Adobe mad, now folks. (shuddering)
Fact…core image, core video, core animation, and core audio is an above modern day approach that literally eats Adobe’s lunch.
In a few years, it will be…Adobe who?? Flash is the only leverage they have long-term, and it’s technology stemmed from a cool little Mac program called Futurewave SmartSketch around eight years ago.
What a joke for an ending paragraph summarization in this article.
Let’s take the diplomatic approach with North Korea, too.
You simply cannot negotiate with a rattlesnake!!
Okay, so Adobe informed us that they would be incompetent and make loyal customers wait 18+ months, so it’s all okay. Everyone stop complaining.
Bullshit.
MDN is right.
Adobe is wrong.
Apple should buy Adobe and start discontinuing apps for Windows.
Microsoft would never be able to replace the apps fast enough – they can’t even come close to copying Mac OS X after 5+ years of work. Good luck whipping up a Creative Suite replacement.
Pull the trigger Mr. Jobs. It’s time.
Spoken about as well as Donald Rumseld:
“So you ought to just back off, take a look at it, relax….”
No we won’t back off, relax, or be quiet.
“We will not be silenced!” Give us Universal Binaries!
Personally, I’ve been sick of Adobe for awhile now.
Their apps are bloated and they don’t give a shit about the Mac-using customers.
I rarely post, but I have to say I agree completely with the MacDailyNews Take.
What’s Adobe going to do to make their unsatisfied customers happy?