As someone who’s been a long-time user and investor, I’ve watched Adobe seemingly lose all motivation to improve the tools I rely on, like Creative Suite. They still haven’t fixed longstanding issues or added basic features people have been asking for forever.
I’ve tried reaching out to them over the years, but it’s nearly impossible to get a meaningful response. The one time they did reply, they just told me to submit suggestions on their platform. Useless.
The numbers today reflect this stagnation. Adobe needs a serious leadership change.
Adobe started to go downhill when they realized they could make way more money by charging a subscription fee every year instead of a one-time purchase price.
Lennon said:
Adobe started to go downhill when they realized they could make way more money by charging a subscription fee every year instead of a one-time purchase price.
Yeah, they’ve fully transitioned to being a company that milks their monopoly instead of actually improving their products.
@Dale
Why does editing a simple PDF require a Creative Cloud license? Adobe’s strategy is great for short-term profits, but if competition shows up, they’re going to struggle big time.
Shiloh said: @Dale
Why does editing a simple PDF require a Creative Cloud license? Adobe’s strategy is great for short-term profits, but if competition shows up, they’re going to struggle big time.
I left the design industry partly because of this. Adobe keeps focusing on stuff like replacing designers with AI instead of improving their tools. On top of that, they keep charging a fortune for software that’s getting buggier by the year.
They offered me a discount to stay, but if they don’t extend that next year, I’m done with them for good.
Shiloh said: @Dale
Why does editing a simple PDF require a Creative Cloud license? Adobe’s strategy is great for short-term profits, but if competition shows up, they’re going to struggle big time.
Yep, and if you’re looking for answers, don’t expect them from the CEO. Here’s proof.
Lennon said:
Adobe started to go downhill when they realized they could make way more money by charging a subscription fee every year instead of a one-time purchase price.
Exactly. Why innovate when you can just lock everyone into subscriptions? They know most professionals have no choice but to use their software. That $700 Photoshop license turned into a “small monthly fee” that ends up costing way more over time.
I finally canceled my Photoshop subscription after using it for about 20 years. The alternatives aren’t perfect, but they’re worth learning if it means avoiding Adobe’s bloat and constant background processes.
I miss the days of CS6, where everything ran locally and just worked. Now it feels like they’ve turned the whole thing into a circus.
@Rey
I came back to Photoshop after years for a project and was shocked. Basic stuff like adding a light source is broken. Their 3D tools are practically abandonware. It’s like using a zombie version of what Photoshop used to be.
Yeah, and it’s about as half-baked as you’d expect.
And let’s not forget how they’ve pissed off artists by using their work to train AI models without proper compensation. Adobe’s attitude is basically, ‘It’s fine, there are always more artists to exploit.’
Adobe’s success is running on pure inertia. People use it because others use it. But as more people switch to alternatives, they’re not coming back. Adobe seems to only act when they’ve upset enough users to lose them for good.
They rebranded Flash as Adobe Animate, but it still exports Flash files. Meanwhile, animated SVGs and other formats are passing them by. Classic Adobe move.
They’re still growing revenue 11% year-over-year and maintaining a crazy high gross margin. Sure, their AI stuff isn’t impressive yet, but this reminds me of when everyone was doubting Google after they slipped with their AI rollout.
@Weston
Except Google has a massive moat and was never in danger of losing it. Adobe, on the other hand, is scrambling to hold onto market share and even tried to buy out Figma for 100x revenue. Totally different situations.