Adobe abandons CS3 legacy support for Apple's Snow Leopard

[AppleInsider]

Adobe announced this week that it has not tested and will not support its Creative Suite 3 line of products, including Photoshop CS3, on Apple's new Snow Leopard operating system.

John Nack, the principal product manager for Photoshop at Adobe, announced on his official blog that CS3 and earlier have not been tested on Snow Leopard. He provided a link to a compatibility document from Adobe that went even further.

"While older Adobe and Macromedia applications may install and run on Mac OS X Snow Leopard (v10.6), they were designed, tested and released to the public several years before this new operating system became available," the document states. "You may therefore experience a variety of installation, stability, and reliability issues for which there is no resolution. Older versions of our creative software will not be updated to support Mac OS X Snow Leopard (v10.6)."

General support for CS3 applications, the company notes, exists through Adobe's paid support program.

Adobe released Creative Suite 4 in 2008, effectively replacing CS3. Clearly this latest move is designed to encourage users to upgrade to the latest version of Adobe's software. The Mac upgrade retails for $699.99.

Nack said that there are a few minor problems with CS4 in Snow Leopard, though most of the suite works fine under Apple's new operating system. He said that problems remain in Flash panels and Adobe Drive/Version Cue.

The company's support document states it will support and upgrade CS4 within Snow Leopard. Currently, none of the applications in the CS4 suite require an upgrade to work within the new operating system, to be released Friday.

"Adobe will support Creative Suite 4 software running with Snow Leopard according to its standard customer support policies," Adobe said. "Older versions of Adobe Creative Suite software were not designed to run on Mac OS X Snow Leopard (v10.6), so you may experience issues installing and using the software for which there are no solutions."

[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]

[pegarm]

Considering how frequently Adobe refreshes their Creative Suite line (they're on an 18 month update cycle) and how much it costs for the upgrades, Adobe is doing their customers a great injustice by not supporting even one generation old software.

Sorry, but I don't have the kind of cash Adobe expects me to shell out for their products every time they want to go to the well for an upgrade. (Was CS4 that markedly different from CS3 that it deserved its own version?)

I use Adobe's products because there's very little else out there that competes with it, but my disappointment with Adobe as a company grows stronger with every announcement they make.

[Takeo]

Ouch! The installed base of CS3 is HUGE.

[codymr]

That is a real jackass move by Adobe... I have CS4, but for people still running CS3, I can see why it is hard to justify an upgrade of a perfectly good program like CS3 - especially when it will cost a couple of thousand dollars. Then they wonder why people torrent pirated copies of their software.

Apple is also not faultless... users should expect a degree of legacy compatibility with a new OS and somewhat older version of software, especially something as fundamental as Creative Suite.

[ccchr]

They shouldn't be surprised if people obtain illegal copies of their latest CS4. Somehow the "evil" factor is still very predominant with old companies. When does the greed end?

[Hattig]

This is just pure greed. CS3 wasn't replaced until last year, that's a really short support timeframe for such expensive software.

Certainly I won't be buying any software from that company if I can help it.

[Cesium133x]

That's preposterous, especially considering the crap CS4 is consensussed to be.

[donmique]

I can only think that this is part of an overall policy to make people update to a version that has little added value for an exorbitant price.

This was confirmed recently when I updated my Canon camera - now there is no Adobe RAW update for this camera in CS3 and I have to convert all CR2 files to PNG before I can even edit. Having spent £600 on a new camera, Adobe now expect me to spend another £500+ on CS4 to see my photos!!!

[walshbj]

That sounds greedy AND lazy.

There's also a report on Apple 2.0 this morning that Photoshop Elements 6 has problems with Snow Leopard. That's a pretty big-selling product.

Adobe is either asleep at the wheel or hassling Apple.

[paulinskip]

I was so incensed by this I had to comment!!
First its RAW support now dropping CS3 support for Snow Leopard!!

If Adobe could be bothered to actually give us good reasons to upgrade such as features and enhancements they wouldn't have to keep trying to force us to make the largely pointless upgrade to CS4!!!!

I wonder if they wont support Vista when Windows 7 comes out!!!!!

[tmoore44]

Shame on Adobe. How hard would it be to fix any bugs in CS3/CS4? I just purchased Leopard and Snow Leopard upgrade hoping to continue on with CS3. Gonna install Snow Leopard and CS3 on a new drive and keep my fingers crossed.

[Jon T]

Clearly, there is going to be a run on pirated copies of CS4 after this announcement.

Adobe's pricing is not designed to attract a mass market, unlike Apple's software products.

I wonder what price would give the perfect ratio of sales to revenue. $299? $399? Or would they make hugely more getting everyone to buy it if it were $125?

[Morky]

If you have any memory of the recent evolution of OS X, Adobe has bent over backwards for this platform:

2000 - 2002: Migration of suite from OS 9 to OS X, a completely new OS.

2005-2006: Migration from PPC/Codeweaver to Universal/Xcode. This required changing not just their code base, but their entire development process, using a yet unproven tool: XCode. They even helped Apple improve XCode during this process.

2008- Sorry, Adobe, we changed our mind: no 64-bit Carbon. This forced Adobe to move their entire suite to Cocoa for CS5.

They are doing a remarkable job keeping up with these changes in the course of their regular upgrade cycle. I think things will finally settle down for them, as there is not much left that Apple can do to them, but they have had a rough nine years supporting a huge, complex suite on the Mac platform. We should all be thankful they didn't give up or simply skip major releases on the Mac.

[Hudson1]

Originally Posted by walshbj

That sounds greedy AND lazy.

There's also a report on Apple 2.0 this morning that Photoshop Elements 6 has problems with Snow Leopard. That's a pretty big-selling product.

Adobe is either asleep at the wheel or hassling Apple.

I've never bought any Adobe software but I don't think they are being unreasonable. CS3 is no longer sold so why should they pour resources into fixing a program that works fine with the current OS X? If CS3 breaks, maybe Apple will do something as they are ultimately the ones who made the changes that caused the problem.

As for PS Elements 6, since it's current I imagine Adobe will provide a patch for whatever problem may be encountered as a result of upgrading to OS X 10.6. At least I would hope so.

[mpw]

Originally Posted by ccchr

They shouldn't be surprised if people obtain illegal copies of their latest CS4. Somehow the "evil" factor is still very predominant with old companies. When does the greed end?

I agree, I think people should steal software they don't need and can't be bothered to pay for to teach the rightful owner a lesson about greed.

[Gmac]

Originally Posted by Morky

If you have any memory of the recent evolution of OS X, Adobe has bent over backwards for this platform:

2000 - 2002: Migration of suite from OS 9 to OS X, a completely new OS.

2005-2006: Migration from PPC/Codeweaver to Universal/Xcode. This required changing not just their code base, but their entire development process, using a yet unproven tool: XCode. They even helped Apple improve XCode during this process.

2008- Sorry, Adobe, we changed our mind: no 64-bit Carbon. This forced Adobe to move their entire suite to Cocoa for CS5.

They are doing a remarkable job keeping up with these changes in the course of their regular upgrade cycle. I think things will finally settle down for them, as there is not much left that Apple can do to them, but they have had a rough nine years supporting a huge, complex suite on the Mac platform. We should all be thankful they didn't give up or simply skip major releases on the Mac.

You're kidding right?

Each of these platform changes you mentioned also provided Adobe with a reason for a new version of their suite to encourage upgrades and hence make a lot of money. As for Carbon/Cocoa any developer with half a brain would know that Cocoa is/was the only long term framework for mac os and that that is what they should have focused on years ago. Adobe's task would be easier if its apps weren't bloated pigs. Acrobat reader is a prime example. Apple's preview does a better job and loads in second.

[Abster2core]

Originally Posted by pegarm

Considering how frequently Adobe refreshes their Creative Suite line (they're on an 18 month update cycle) and how much it costs for the upgrades, Adobe is doing their customers a great injustice by not supporting even one generation old software.

Sorry, but I don't have the kind of cash Adobe expects me to shell out for their products every time they want to go to the well for an upgrade. (Was CS4 that markedly different from CS3 that it deserved its own version?)

I use Adobe's products because there's very little else out there that competes with it, but my disappointment with Adobe as a company grows stronger with every announcement they make.

Would you expect a air plane manufacturer to upgrade and support your prop plane instruments with their current jet plane instruments?

[rbonner]

I have been using CS on snow leopard for months now, it has yet to have any issues.

Wondering if they are just not setup for the support calls.

[roehlstation]

Carbon was intended as a transition platform for Apple, Adobe should have been developing Cocoa some time ago.

[MrENGLISH™]

Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard Compatibility List

[Abster2core]

Originally Posted by Gmac

You're kidding right?

Each of these platform changes you mentioned also provided Adobe with a reason for a new version of their suite to encourage upgrades and hence make a lot of money. As for Carbon/Cocoa any developer with half a brain would know that Cocoa is/was the only long term framework for mac os and that that is what they should have focused on years ago. Adobe's task would be easier if its apps weren't bloated pigs. Acrobat reader is a prime example. Apple's preview does a better job and loads in second.

If you thought it was so easy and inexpensive, perhaps you should have applied to do it for them.

[flippetybob]

I have been annoyed with Adobe for a while .. now I am livid !

The sooner Apple or somebody else provides a viable alternative to this crapheap of slow old OS9 code, the better

I can't believe it's still carbon .. it's slow and a TOTAL MEMORY USEAGE DISASTER ZONE

Now, I hear that the 2K package I bought only 18 months ago is unsupported .. looking forward to your demise Adobe !

[JLL]

Originally Posted by Morky

If you have any memory of the recent evolution of OS X, Adobe has bent over backwards for this platform:

2000 - 2002: Migration of suite from OS 9 to OS X, a completely new OS.

2005-2006: Migration from PPC/Codeweaver to Universal/Xcode. This required changing not just their code base, but their entire development process, using a yet unproven tool: XCode. They even helped Apple improve XCode during this process.

2008- Sorry, Adobe, we changed our mind: no 64-bit Carbon. This forced Adobe to move their entire suite to Cocoa for CS5.

They are doing a remarkable job keeping up with these changes in the course of their regular upgrade cycle. I think things will finally settle down for them, as there is not much left that Apple can do to them, but they have had a rough nine years supporting a huge, complex suite on the Mac platform. We should all be thankful they didn't give up or simply skip major releases on the Mac.

Adobe was told in 1998 that they should code in Cocoa, but they didn't want to and Carbon was "invented".

[coolfactor]

Originally Posted by Hattig

This is just pure greed. CS3 wasn't replaced until last year, that's a really short support timeframe for such expensive software.

If I read the article correctly, they are still supporting it, just not on Snow Leopard. Nobody says you have to upgrade your computer to Snow Leopard, and Adobe shouldn't be on the hook for the costs involved with that. Leopard is still a robust, capable operating system and Adobe knows that.

If I recall correctly, CS4 was a complete rewrite using many OS X technologies, rather than being a code-port with the Windows version, and Snow Leopard, while subtle on the surface, is a major reworking under the hood. It makes sense why Adobe would do this, although unfortunate.

[John.B]

Originally Posted by walshbj

There's also a report on Apple 2.0 this morning that Photoshop Elements 6 has problems with Snow Leopard. That's a pretty big-selling product.

Adobe is either asleep at the wheel or hassling Apple.

Do you have a link? All I can find about SL application compatibility is a reference to snowleopard.wikidot.com, which is currently cratered.

If true, that woulds a huge problem because it's not one that can be fixed by buying a newer version.

Makes me glad that I was able to buy an additional Mac for home use that still shipped with Leopard a couple of weeks ago.

[jpmuk]

Spitting mad is something of an understatement to describe how I feel.

Creative Suite is WAY overpriced for what it offers (very incremental feature increases every 18 months). I bought CS3 as an upgrade to the original CS (missing out CS2) and apart from being Intel native I only noticed very minimal improvements and nothing that helps me be particularly more productive (native speed gain excluded, if you were using Windows would you really have noticed much improvement at all?).

I know more people who are still using CS3 than those using CS4 for exactly the same reasons as me. Adobe, make us WANT to upgrade. Be more innovative. There are loads of chequebooks waiting to be opened if you can give us something we really feel can help us, but don't do it this way. Don't kick your loyal users in the groin 2 days before they are about to upgrade their OS.

I'm ready now to explore some alternatives. Coda for one to replace Dreamweaver. Need to do some investigating...

[mitchell_pgh]

Ouch... but I'm not surprised.

Snow Leopard is really a fresh start for Apple in many ways. It's the only way that they can stay competitive AND innovate.

I'm looking forward to Friday.

[mitchell_pgh]

Originally Posted by jpmuk

Spitting mad is something of an understatement to describe how I feel.

Creative Suite is WAY overpriced for what it offers (very incremental feature increases every 18 months). I bought CS3 as an upgrade to the original CS (missing out CS2) and apart from being Intel native I only noticed very minimal improvements and nothing that helps me be particularly more productive (native speed gain excluded, if you were using Windows would you really have noticed much improvement at all?).

I know more people who are still using CS3 than those using CS4 for exactly the same reasons as me. Adobe, make us WANT to upgrade. Be more innovative. There are loads of chequebooks waiting to be opened if you can give us something we really feel can help us, but don't do it this way. Don't kick your loyal users in the groin 2 days before they are about to upgrade their OS.

I'm ready now to explore some alternatives. Coda for one to replace Dreamweaver. Need to do some investigating...

CS5 will make me want to open my pocketbook. I look forward to real 64bit support.

[wessan]

Would be nice to have something like Aperture Studio to compete with Adobe. Aperture is a great piece of SW and adding a second Photoshop-like application even not as good as Photoshop in its first version would maybe make Adobe thing about better OS X support. Apple has already shown that is is able to create an image editing SW and application for editing photos would go nicely with Final Cut and Logic Studios.

[Morky]

Originally Posted by Gmac

You're kidding right?

Each of these platform changes you mentioned also provided Adobe with a reason for a new version of their suite to encourage upgrades and hence make a lot of money. As for Carbon/Cocoa any developer with half a brain would know that Cocoa is/was the only long term framework for mac os and that that is what they should have focused on years ago. Adobe's task would be easier if its apps weren't bloated pigs. Acrobat reader is a prime example. Apple's preview does a better job and loads in second.

Apple was pretty clear they intended to promote Carbon for the long haul, and were even using it themselves in such basic tools as the finder. They were explicitly working on enabling 64-bit Carbon before announcing they were dropping that at the WWDC. Also, maybe they were thinking about going Cocoa in 2005 and got sidetracked by the massive undertaking of moving to Intel and XCode.

Acrobat Reader is, of course, a crime against humanity. Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign are pretty awesome, however, and are bloated pigs because they can perform very complex functions for the professional market. There is a reason that real Photoshop-killer has failed to emerge.

[John.B]

Originally Posted by coolfactor

If I read the article correctly, they are still supporting it, just not on Snow Leopard. Nobody says you have to upgrade your computer to Snow Leopard, and Adobe shouldn't be on the hook for the costs involved with that. Leopard is still a robust, capable operating system and Adobe knows that.

Except that you may no longer be able to buy a replacement system with Leopard installed and supported, as of Friday.

It'll be very interesting to see whether Adobe continues to provide support for CS3 on Windows 7 when it's released this fall.

[Morky]

Originally Posted by JLL

Adobe was told in 1998 that they should code in Cocoa, but they didn't want to and Carbon was "invented".

Not quite. Apple created Carbon to not obliterate 10 years of Mac application support, and allow applications to be rapidly ported, including a lot of Apple's own. The first demo was IE running on Mac OS X before MS had even seen the new interface. A lot of Apple programs are still written in Carbon, even in Leopard.

[LE Studios]

Originally Posted by ccchr

They shouldn't be surprised if people obtain illegal copies of their latest CS4. Somehow the "evil" factor is still very predominant with old companies. When does the greed end?

When the world end that's when greed end.

[Strawberry]

Adobe Customer Support is an oxymoron.

[Gmac]

Originally Posted by Abster2core

If you thought it was so easy and inexpensive, perhaps you should have applied to do it for them.

I never said it was easy or inexpensive.

[LE Studios]

Originally Posted by mitchell_pgh

CS5 will make me want to open my pocketbook. I look forward to real 64bit support.

That's why Adobe not supporting it to make CS5 better with 64-bit. When they do release it then people may change the perception of Adobe, but right not everybody got that slapped in the face reaction.

[emulator]

Originally Posted by paulinskip

I wonder if they wont support Vista when Windows 7 comes out!!!!!

it's the other way around. in the same sense of this story, they would not support CS3 install on Windows 7.
however, even cs1 works on windows 7.

Originally Posted by wessan

Apple has already shown that is is able to create an image editing SW and application for editing photos would go nicely with Final Cut and Logic Studios.

heh, final cut was macromedia and logic was emagic. to release a photo editing suite, apple need to purchase another company.

[JLL]

Originally Posted by Morky

Not quite. Apple created Carbon to not obliterate 10 years of Mac application support, and allow applications to be rapidly ported, including a lot of Apple's own. The first demo was IE running on Mac OS X before MS had even seen the new interface. A lot of Apple programs are still written in Carbon, even in Leopard.

In the original Rhapsody plan Carbon was nowhere to be found.

It wasn't until later that Carbon was announced, and that was in large part because of Adobe (and Microsoft).

[wprowe]

I wonder what adobe's time frame is for cs5. it might be worth it for cs3 owners to wait until cs5 to also do the snow leopard upgrade. it isn't like leopard doesn't work. with adobe's short time frame between releases (18 months?), it would seem plausible that cs5 would be just around the corner in 2010. given that possibility, maybe i should wait to upgrade to snow leopard until i can get cs5. i would hate to drop money on cs4 now and have them release cs5 in six or eight months.

[ianmac47]

If there was ever a justification for pirating software, Adobe is at the forefront of making a case. CS3 isn't a decade old legacy program; its not even three years old.