Adobe abandons CS3 legacy support for Apple's Snow Leopard

Posted:
in Mac Software edited January 2014
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."
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 191
    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.
  • Reply 2 of 191
    takeotakeo Posts: 445member
    Ouch! The installed base of CS3 is HUGE.
  • Reply 3 of 191
    codymrcodymr Posts: 28member
    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.
  • Reply 4 of 191
    ccchrccchr Posts: 3member
    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?
  • Reply 5 of 191
    hattighattig Posts: 860member
    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.
  • Reply 6 of 191
    That's preposterous, especially considering the crap CS4 is consensussed to be.
  • Reply 7 of 191
    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!!!
  • Reply 8 of 191
    walshbjwalshbj Posts: 864member
    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.
  • Reply 9 of 191
    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!!!!!
  • Reply 10 of 191
    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.
  • Reply 11 of 191
    jon tjon t Posts: 131member
    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?
  • Reply 12 of 191
    morkymorky Posts: 200member
    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.
  • Reply 13 of 191
    hudson1hudson1 Posts: 800member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by walshbj View Post


    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.
  • Reply 14 of 191
    mpwmpw Posts: 156member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by ccchr View Post


    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.
  • Reply 15 of 191
    gmacgmac Posts: 79member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Morky View Post


    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.
  • Reply 16 of 191
    abster2coreabster2core Posts: 2,501member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by pegarm View Post


    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?
  • Reply 17 of 191
    rbonnerrbonner Posts: 635member
    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.
  • Reply 18 of 191
    Carbon was intended as a transition platform for Apple, Adobe should have been developing Cocoa some time ago.
  • Reply 20 of 191
    abster2coreabster2core Posts: 2,501member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Gmac View Post


    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.
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