Adobe Abandons PowerPC Mac Users
Adobe has announced that future versions of Creative Suite will no longer support PowerPC-based Macs. This is hardly earth-shattering news, because it makes sense for Adobe (and other software developers) to abandon the old software core (Carbon-based development) and move on to technologies that will make the best use of Intel Macs. There’s nothing wrong with the basic idea of restricting future products to newer technologies.
The announcement includes an unpleasant little surprise, however. Adobe is abandoning all PowerPC Macs in its current Creative Suite offerings, too. That’s right. If you purchased Creative Suite 4 or any of the individual CS4 applications, which included PowerPC support when they were released, don’t expect any updates other than to address critical security flaws.
From the Adobe web site:
Will Adobe continue to release patches for PowerPC based systems running Creative Suite?
No, Adobe will no longer develop for this platform other than for critical issues that may arise.
This means that new digital camera you just bought may not work with Adobe products, since it now seems unlikely that Adobe will update its Camera Raw plug-in, at least for PowerPC users. If you have an Intel Mac, any new Camera Raw plug-ins should work just fine.
I see nothing wrong with moving on from older technology, even though like many long-time Mac users, we have closets full of outmoded hardware and software. But this usually happens when new products are released and older products are designated “non-supported” or “critical support only.” Adobe has chosen to make its currently selling version of Creative Suite a critical-support-only product for PowerPC users. We’ll have to take it on faith that Adobe will continue to provide standard support for CS4 products for Intel Mac users, because it hasn’t actually said so.
Adobe will continue to sell CS4, although after this announcement, I think there will be a noticeable dropoff in new Mac customers.
Why is Adobe making this decision?
Creative Suite customers benefit from working on the latest hardware and operating systems. The majority of PowerPC platform users have transitioned to more current configurations, prompting Adobe to suspend support for the PowerPC platform.
Why is Adobe making this announcement now?
Adobe recognizes the investment customers have in our software and believes in giving fair notice of any changes regarding the operating systems and hardware that our solutions support. By announcing our intentions early, we hope customers will have time to plan their migration strategies accordingly.
Adobe is trying to spin this decision as giving its customers as much of a heads-up as possible, but telling customers you intend to abandon a platform on the very day you actually abandon it is not a heads-up warning. It’s a clear message to PowerPC users to go jump in the lake, and thanks for your support over the years.
Well, Apple is no better in this regard. When did it announce that Snow Leopard will be Intel only?
Even worse. When did it announce that their Pro Suite (Final Cut, Motion etc) will be Intel only?
On day of release!
Adobe is far far better in this regard.
Don’t know why you consider Adobe “far greater” in this regard. My gripe is that Adobe has always seemed to include more features for non-Macs anyway. Adobe doesn’t seem to have very high regard for customer satisfaction at all. And I have been buying their products for over 10 years.
(I have purchased CS4 and now can’t even install it all until i get a new computer — which will be another Mac.)
Typical of companies when they get so large. They forget that they got that way through CUSTOMER SUPPORT AND LOYALTY! GET IT APPLE? GET IT ADOBE? Now GREED is the game and money is all it’s about! For the thousands of PowerPC users like myself, we just can’t always afford to go out and purchase the newest hardware or software on a whim because Adobe and Apple decide we should do so to support their new products! Small business owners don’t have the deep pockets that big companies do. To stay competitive in this recession with the big companies leaves us with two choices: Fold and quit, or rob a bank to finance the hardware and software. Thanks for nothing Adobe and Apple. Apple has already established themselves in my book as the MOST NON-CUSTOMER SUPPORTIVE COMPANY IN EXISTENCE! Now they pull this BS! And if you doubt that, just try and get support for any problems with Aperture! You can’t do it. And they don’t give a DAM they market a program as a “Flagship”? product and then they tell you to join a non-qualified support group if you have any problems! Guess the “little man no longer counts for anything!”
I personally stopped upgrading a while ago. Seems like every new version was a whole new learning curve, nothing new works hand in hand with what I need it to, and the system and programs I have now work just fine. Greed took over Adobe and Mac and every other business a long time ago.
What really drives me crazy is that everything you buy these days forces you to spend even more! Nothing works seamlessly together unless it’s the “latest and greatest”. While I understand the need for profit and the complication of making things work together, there has to be a way that doesn’t break the bank every time you have to replace a piece of equipment or upgrade a program.
I purchased a new Epson printer because I pretty much worked the last one to death, and couldn’t find replacement parts. Well fine! Now I can’t print from half my programs! So what now? I have to spend thousands to upgrade all my programs? Then they probably won’t work with the system version… and on it goes!
Then when you need help with any of it you get a guy overseas who can’t understand the question and gives you a totally unrelated answer.
It’s so frustrating that it’s almost not even worth the effort!
Adobe though should be ashamed! Adobe is supposed to be the cadilac of graphic platform. So is Mac. But they seemed to have forgotten that not every user owns the new equipment and is still running on really nice, fast PowerPC platforms. So they’ve just lost my business. I know my programs like the back of my hand and will keep using the same ones until I die at my computer!!!