“Ahhh…the joys of having a monopoly running your professional life,” writes reader Brian. Like many people who depend on Adobe’s Creative Suite to perform their creative work, he’s upset at the news that Adobe is abandoning the stuffy, old-fashioned software business model where you buy a program once and get to keep it. Instead, they’re going to release new versions solely through their Creative Cloud service, charging a monthly subscription price. [More]
Lawsuit Claims Technology Industry Bigwigs Had Secret Anti-Poaching Pact To Keep Employee Salaries Low
By January 30, 2012
The ability to play employers off bids from other companies seeking to snag the best in their fields is an important one. So much so, in fact, that workers in Silicon Valley have filed a lawsuit alleging that some of the industry’s biggest players were involved in a secret anti-poaching pact that kept salaries down and workers stuck where they were. [More]
New App Lets iPhone & iPad Users View Flash Video
By July 28, 2011
One of the major knocks against Apple’s iPhone and iPad devices is that their operating systems would not support playback of video in Adobe’s popular Flash format. But earlier today, the makers of the Skyfire mobile browser released an app that will give these devices that much-desired functionality. [More]
AMA Attacks Photoshopping For Promoting Anorexia
By June 28, 2011
Photoshopping is used in ads and on magazine covers to make models more “beautiful,” which often means “skinnier.” The American Medical Association says the practice needs to get reined in. “Exposure to media-propagated images of unrealistic body images” has been linked to “eating disorders and other child and adolescent health problems,” the group said in a press release. The group wants advertisers to adopt policies that would curtail altering photographs that lead to “models with body types only attainable with the help of photo editing software.” [More]
Loading A PDF Could Give Hackers Total Control Over Your iPhone
By August 3, 2010
Better not load any PDFs on your iPhone for a while, not unless you want to risk handing over total control of your device to hackers. The exploit affects all iOS 4 iOS 3.1.2 and higher devices, including the iPod touch and the iPad. [More]
Adobe Hearts Apple – But May Not Be Too Fond Of Steve
By May 13, 2010
Two weeks after Apple CEO Steve Jobs published his anti-Flash manifesto, Adobe — which makes the rich media software — has hit back. But instead of just sending out an anti-Apple rant, Adobe blows a kiss at the company, before scolding companies like Apple that “put content and applications behind walls” and “dictate what you can create, how you create it, or what you can experience on the web.” Oh, and Adobe also thinks that black turtlenecks are evil.
Adobe Takes Four Months And Counting To Process Refund
By August 9, 2009
Jeff bought a copy of Adobe Creative Suite 4 back in May during a sale promising a $200 discount. The final checkout price didn’t reflect the discount, but he double-checked the terms and conditions and confirmed that he was eligible. Adobe agreed, and has repeatedly promised to issue a refund. Jeff has been waiting for the check for almost four months, and he’s not alone. Another customer has been waiting on a similar refund for almost a year!
Vlog It! Might Be Good Software If Users Could Install It
By July 23, 2009
Vlog It! looks like a nice piece of software if you’re interested in video blogging. Now sold by Adobe, it makes putting video blog entries together about as easy as, well, iMovie.
Adobe: We Can't Activate Legacy Software, So Here's A Free Copy Of Dreamweaver
By July 5, 2009
After an iBook-death forced her to migrate to another computer, Lisa found that she couldn’t activate her legally-purchased copy of Macromedia StudioMX 2004. Adobe insisted that the software was too old to be reactivated. Too old? It’s software! It took several calls and emails before Lisa found an employee who was able to help, not by activating her old software, but by sending her a free new copy of Dreamweaver CS4.
Customer Refuses To Give Up, Convinces Apple To Give Him What He Paid For
By March 3, 2009
James almost got cheated out of CS4, the suite of graphics software sold by Adobe, when he bought a new Macbook Pro recently. He kept pressing the issue though, and his persistence and level-headedness finally, after several near misses, convinced Apple to do the right thing and send him what he paid for. Congrats to James!
UPDATE: Adobe Comes Through, Makes Dreamweaver Software Available To Customer Who Wants To Buy It
By July 7, 2008
After we posted about a reader’s frustrated attempts to buy Adobe’s Dreamweaver, Adobe sent us an email, which we passed along to the reader. Over the weekend, she wrote in and said Adobe helped her solve her problems.
![Adobe: "It Would Have Been A Pleasure To Assist You With This Issue. [Unfortunately, We're Totally Incompetent]"](http://consumermediallc.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/failwoman.jpg?w=99)
Adobe: "It Would Have Been A Pleasure To Assist You With This Issue. [Unfortunately, We're Totally Incompetent]"
By June 26, 2008
If you produced expensive, frequently pirated software, you’d probably want the process for buying it to be as easy on the customer as possible, right? If you’re Adobe, not so much. Yet another reader writes in to share her frustrations with trying to buy Adobe’s Dreamweaver.
Adobe Blames Missing Shipment On Customer For Using The Online Store
By May 9, 2008
Amy launched an EECB to Adobe, after her $2600 worth of software failed to ship on time. Or at all. No one at Adobe customer service can tell her why it didn’t ship, or if it ever will, but one CSR suggested it was her fault for ordering through the online store rather than through a sales rep. He says no one tracks the orders on the online store, which makes absolutely no sense. What’s the point in having an online store if no one fills the orders? Why the tease, Adobe? Check out her EECB inside.
Adobe Rejects Refund Request From Last Month Because You Exceeded Their 30-Day Money Back Guarantee. What?
By April 5, 2008
Edwards tried to cancel his pre-order for Photoshop Elements 6 a month before the software shipped, but was told that he would need to accept the shipment, destroy the CD, and fill out an affidavit attesting to the destruction. Edward did as he was told, which is reflected in Adobe’s notes, but they still rejected his request claiming that he “exceeded their 30 day money back trial guarantee.”
By March 27, 2008
Adobe has joined FotoFlexer, Rsizr, and Piknic to offer a free online image editor, Photoshop Express. ArsTechnica says it’s pretty good for a cross-platform browser app, although it’s got some limitations in this beta launch. (Currently US only.) [ArsTechnica]
Adobe Needs Eight Employees To Completely Screw Up CS3 Cross-Grade
By March 21, 2008
Jay wanted to update his copy of Adobe Creative Suite 2 to CS3 and simultaneously switch the license over to the Mac platform. The first sales rep he spoke with did everything right and Jay was very happy. Then that sales rep disappeared forever, only to be replaced by a comically inept parade of CSRs who can’t figure out Adobe’s own systems, who make up their job titles, give out fax numbers to call, and who—in one case—claim to be on a phone system that doesn’t connect to the outside world.
Adobe Won't Fix DRM Screw-Up Rendering E-Books Unreadable
By February 8, 2008
If you use Leopard on a Mac and plan on buying e-books, be very careful—according to the various complaints on this thread, Adobe’s Digital Editions still doesn’t work on Leopard, and yet most places selling Digital Editions e-books won’t warn you of this, leaving you with activated books you can’t return but also can’t read.
Adobe's DRM Fails "Catastrophically."
By January 4, 2008
In a stunning bout of honesty, Adobe’s licensing subsystem would like you to know that it has managed to fail “catastrophically.”
