2005: Adobe bought out Macromedia. Some analysts theorized the move to acquire the competing slew of design software was not because they need or wanted to expand the Adobe catalog, but rather because Adobe was afraid of competition. To put bluntly, they have no clue how to drive innovation and just gobble up those around them, ala Pacman style.

Those accounts stick with me till this day. I’d like to say that I see signs of cracks in Adobe’s armour, but sadly, there is just no viable Ps alternative. And I’ve quite completely given up expecting an iteration of Ps to deliver anything more than a handful of new features, flashy panels, and another big, hefty price tag. But now, Ps (especially older versions) are being trampled on by Apple’s next big cat: Snow Leopard. What’s worse, Adobe has not shown up on white stallion with sword and shield.

John Nack (Adobe’s Principal Product Manager for Photoshop) reports that while their exists some trivial glitches in CS4, CS3 has not been tested, or rather, has not officially been tested (contrary to prior reports that it was marked “unsupported”). Nack goes on to explain that Adobe has no wanting to support a legacy program that is (brace yourself) 2.5 years old (read: sarcasm). Fair enough. I’m a man of progress. A primary reason cited is the work being done to CS5, the next iteration of Ps that is fabled to be re-written in Cocoa, and a big undertaking, claims John.

Now as I see it, there are two somewhat parallel arguments here. Adobe can either pull resources away from the future and support legacy software (CS3), or they can push people to adopt the new CS4, which aside from a few minor issues (which should be fixed up via an update), works just fine under SL. Fair enough. I recognize that not everyone is hungry for the latest and greatest (I know designers that still use CS2 on their PCs) and treat PS strictly as ROI. Again, can’t fault people for going after the dollars. Furthermore, I would be a bald-faced liar if I said I didn’t want CS5 to drop sooner rather than later with this fabled Cocoa re-write (I’ll believe it when I see it), and it seems pulling resources would cause delays (or may even alter the final version, making it filled with less Unicorns and Leprechauns). But I think I’m the only one that sees the inherent problem with these “options.”

CS5 won’t be here for at least another year. That’s not good news for people who upgrade to SL because it means those that pay for an upgrade to Ps this late in the game, will only use it for nearly a third of it’s life. If I was big on ROI, I would wait for CS5 to sink my money into, that is, if I had to update. And it looks like CS3 users are facing that conundrum. They can try to use a busted CS3 for the next year or so, or upgrade now to an already aging version and maybe forgo the next iteration altogether to recoup their losses… but that would mean spending dollars on a 1.5 year-old piece of software that won’t see a replacement for another 3+ years. Seeing firsthand Adobe’s sketchy support and commitment for it’s previous iterations of Ps, I’d say CS3 users are truly in a bind.

I don’t know about you, but I’d say CS3 users have a right to be a little miffed. And we all know from the PPC to Universal debacle, that Adobe does things whenever they want to, regardless of their loyal customers pleas. But then again, I wonder just how many of us are that loyal to Adobe. I’d have to say that I’m not all that happy with their SOPs, or their lacklustre revisions. I’d always hoped Apple would jump into the fray with a competing design program, but that’s about as likely as Adobe handing out free copies of CS4 to loyal CS3 customers.

Update

So it looks like John Nack has come out and clarified a few things. First off, he claims that they “have reason to expect that all meaningful issues of running Photoshop CS3 under Snow Leopard have been resolved.” Moreover he goes on to say that “because we have not done the level of testing that true certification demands, we need to stand by our statement that we don’t officially support CS3 on Snow Leopard.”

Some might consider this double-talk, but to John’s credit, what he says is genuine and a good stance to take. It also means that when Adobe stamps their approval for compatibility, it means something (take that with a grain of salt).

Others, however, report mixed findings. Mel Martin over at TAUW made the following comment:

Some users who have used CS3 says it runs OK with late beta releases of Snow Leopard, but others have said there are a lot of problems. I’ve heard both stories from people using it, and remember, Adobe isn’t saying CS4 is perfect either.

So it seems that things aren’t all farts and bubblegum in Adobe Land when you show up with a Snow Leopard Visa. No matter the state of CS3, John Nack has blatantly pointed out Adobe’s unwillingness to continue support, so if it works, kinda, then you are still in the same boat as above.