Thanks, Adobe.

My distaste of Adobe’s “CC” system continues unabated.

I now understand the confusion between me and some of my students.

  • What was “Lightroom CC” is now called “Lightroom Classic CC”.
  • “Lightroom CC” is now the name for the new dumbed down version with many essential missing functions (like HSL editing), a ‘simplified’ user interface, and an emphasis on cloud storage—intended for less sophisticated users who do not understand file storage.

So yes, if you ask “Are you sure you have Lightroom CC” the answer is pretty much meaningless, since a “yes” could mean you have the previous version of the full app, or the current version of the dummy app. Same name.

Thanks, Adobe. You have proven again why the CC system is dumb. The sooner we see Lightroom competitors, the better, and that is the good news: there will surely be serious competition soon.

Oh, one more thing: when you “upgrade” from stand-alone to Classic CC, you need to upgrade your catalog file. Which in my case looks like it’s going to take a number of hours. Yet another reason to dislike the whole CC thing.

Need another? Yes, recently Adobe sent out an update that ‘accidentally’ wiped out the old version of the app for perpetual license holders (I expect this has to do with re-using the name “Lightroom CC”, see above). Ouch.

Does Adobe realize this is business critical for many photographers? My feeling is that yes, alas, they do, which is why they can engage in this behaviour; behaviour that borders on the abusive.

 

3 thoughts on “Thanks, Adobe.

  1. I agree with your assessments.

    Logically, Adobe is simply working to enhance their cash flows by doing everything in their power to ‘lock you in’ to their product(s). Sadly, the only product left in their portfolio that is a ‘one time’ buy is Elements.

    If the goal is to offer only ‘lock-em-in products, at least let us choose the lock-in item we want. For example, you must purchase a package that includes LR and Photoshop. Why? If I just want LR, why not offer that to me for, say, 5.00 per mth.

    Yes, given the dissatisfaction in the industry, there will be competitors. Too bad that Google, for example, abandoned the NIK package – people still live by that product even in its current iteration.

    Competition will prevail, sometime. Market arrogance can be tolerated only so long.
    Be patient.

  2. Hmm. So I guess I’m staying on Lightroom 6.13 until someone else comes up with something better. Sigh.

    Adobe has some *brilliant* software engineers. The management side, though, is so utterly out of touch….. inertia is the only thing keeping them going right now; the inertia of thousands of customers who are so locked in to the Adobe toolchain that they can’t change over until a viable alternative looks like it’s going to become permanent.

    I think that somewhere around 2013, Adobe stopped caring about their users and just put all their energy into cranking the stock price up. Now, they’ve shown 4x stock growth in 4 years, but half the industry professionals hate the company’s guts.

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