Somehow this company is under the radar when it comes to complain about software but jeez, they should be on top.
I remember the times when I didn’t get what was the difference between Shockwave and Flash. I didn’t give a damn because it was all so great to see and try this brand new technology. All my graphic designer friends were just too happy and it was like we’re going to do animated movies for the intertubes and become billionaires.
I’ve never had problems with Adobe until I use their products of course. Photoshop is such a standard that there’s no question about it (although they’re slow at updating some obvious stuff). For their graphic tools, their first business, nothing to say more than competitors.
But for the rest… Their fucking formats. The PDF. So awesome in the concept. So awful to use, even professionally the software is full of bugs and UI inconsistencies. And Adobe Reader is more annoying that Norton. Maybe not, but really close.
Nooooooooooo
Flash. As long as it was used for games (and especially downloadable) it was great but since it became the standard for media players on the web, it’s not ok. The difference between having Flash installed or not when you’re browsing is astonishing, it’s more fluid, it doesn’t hang, the computer stays cool etc. But of course at some point, you have to fucking install the plugin… I made it for a month without it and I now use a Flash blocker. HTML 5 should fix the problem but it’s still a long road from being able to deal without Flash, the slow and cpu intensive media player. Damn I hate it.
I’m creating e-learning content with their tool Captivate and besides the annoyance of having updates all the time for the Helper (???) Adobe AIR or for Flash security, the software is a pile of shit. They rewrote a new version that has been late and went out in June this year. It’s worse. Like, opening a template from Adobe and having the app crashing immediately. Every time. The menu Insert offers you to insert New Slide and Blank Slide which is the fucking same thing. I can’t target old computers with Flash 7. The AS2/AS3 mess. The Help is awful with a shitty in-app browser, I can’t open the help pdf with Foxit Reader (gotta love Acrobat The Retard) and so on.
It’s a tool meant for productivity and all I get is terrible frustration by loosing time trying to do simple things that barely work.
They sell Captivate 5 at a whooping 800$. For a world-class company that size, with that price and a poor quality like that, it feels like they’re spitting in my face. It’s the first time I’m so pissed off after purchasing a download. I think I’ll never buy any Adobe product ever again.
Adobe just doesn’t give a shit or they’re in panic mode, reaching for every creation tools market possible and extend their shitty formats use I don’t know but it’s now really ridiculous.
Yes, there’s no big competition against them and that’s the main problem.