Adobe discontinues Macintosh programs

[kskiska]

Looks like I'll be out of business. Everyone in my business relies on Illustrator and Photoshop for Mac.

July 7, 2003 | SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) -- Apple Computer Inc. differs vastly in many ways from longtime rival Microsoft Corp. But recently, it has found itself accused of similarly elbowing out software developers whose products compete with Apple's growing stable of applications.

In the latest case of an outside developer abandoning the Macintosh platform, Adobe Systems Inc. announced Monday that the newest overhaul of its flagship video editing program Premiere would no longer work on Macs.

Adobe said the program would only be compatible with Microsoft Corp.'s Windows XP operating system.

more…
http://salon.com/news/wire/2003/07/07/adobe/index.html

[papau]

1. MicroSoft paid Adobe to drop Mac? Anti-Trust case Bush settled?

Somehow this smells.

But I guess it is just the very efficient market place at work.

We've had media including books and TV Talk tell us Joe McCarthy was really a good guy and involved in good patriotic things, so now when the same group tells me monopoly is really a good thing and is really the way Adam Smith preferred the market place to work, I guess I'll just nod my head.

I like media monopoly.

I like software monopoly.

Where do I sign up to be a GOP Team leader?

[htuttle]

2. No, no, no...well, yes, but no.

The headline (which is the actual headline) makes it seem like Adobe is dropping all Mac programs. That is not the case. They are dropping Premiere and Encore, their Video editing and DVD burning programs.

These are the programs that directly compete with 2 of Apple's: Final Cut Pro and DVD Studio Pro.

They are continuing development of all the others, like Photoshop, InDesign, etc...

As a user of both, I think FCP crushed Premiere because FCP is just better.

[papau]

3. Thanks for the info and the corrected impression of the situation

I was just about to poke some pins into a doll.

now I'll hold off for a while.

[kskiska]

4. I'm worried that this is just the beginning

I use InDesign, too, but like QuarkXpress much better and use it more. I certainly hope they don't kill Illustrator & Photoshop. I can hobble along for quite a while with the current versions, but beyond that, I don't know. Maybe Apple will come out with clones.

[htuttle]

7. I wouldn't worry too much about it...yet.

The problem with Premiere (IMO) was really that it never grew to being a full-on, grown up video editing system. It was fine for stuff intended for the web, for instructional CDs, etc... But you didn't hear about too many people using it for television, or even movies.

Final Cut Pro, OTOH, is actually aiming for the niche that Avid fills. Google on 'Final Cut Pro Avid' and you'll find a lot of comparison articles in the trade magazines.

I'd bet Encore was dropped because it was really more of an 'extension' to Premiere. I doubt it made sense to continue it without doing Premiere.

[Robin Hood]

5. too bad

that final cut pro isn't for PCs.

[thermodynamic]

6. Good going, Apple... (NOT!!!)

What is Apple doing to discourage software developers?! :eyes: Being a minority here, Apple surely knows that "it's the applications, friend". A Mac is useless without application software to use it on and the Mac has been hyped for centuries that this is the stuff Macs are supposedly good for.

Your post sounds like it's more than just Adobe backing away from a less-profitable platform.

And I doubt it was because Al Gore moved into Apple. Al is as responsible for Adobe dropping Mac as Ralph Nader was responsible for Selection 2000 (in other words, probably not at all)... :eyes:

[alfredo]

13. final Cut Pro

was probably an act of self defense, but it was a shrewd move. It has become the tool of choice for content creators. Many independent film makers and news organizations use Final Cut Pro.

Apple is heading is into the top end UNIX workstation market. they have enen made the Panther up to Pixar's standards. If you can get an OSX workstation for a fraction of the cost of an SGI or Sun workstation, why not?

Apple had to make sure it had the tools for the market it is targeting. this doesn't mean they are not going to make consumer models, they are taking care of their most loyal customers, the artists.

Adobe did a complete re write of Premier. the cost of porting it to OSX would have been very high. The market for it is small anyway. If they would have ported it to OSX, they would have had to compete against a superior product.

[dani]

8. maybe Apple's video editing

software will actually make use of the dual processor, unlike Adobe's Premiere. That would be nice for the people who have those machines to get the speed bump (that Premiere apparently doesn't provide).

[billbuckhead]

10. Apples homegrown software is very good and works well with it's opearating

system. This is what Microsoft has always claimed about it's products but in Apples case it is mostly true. Microsoft has said it won't improve Explorer for Mac because it makes sense for Apple users to use Safari.The Gates team wants to use what is happening with software suppliers as OS X evolves to justify their future attempts to quash competition as Windows evolves. Apple always seems to be the R&D department for Microsoft on many levels. Rumor has it that Microsoft has been sent back to the drawing board several times trying to keep up with OS X. The new 64bit IBM hardware allows Apple to finally use all the advantages it has been developing on the software side. This is the only real competition the 2 companies have in years and perhaps in reality the only desktop competition the whole industry has had in years.

[Robin Hood]

15. real time is the future

because rendering sucks.

[TomNickell]

9. Photoshop and Illustrator...

are both very mature programs on both platforms. And both have been ported to OSX. And there are a whole lot of professionals who use both on the Mac platform, and who would switch to Linux (or pen and paper) before running Windows.

The video programs are hardly comparable.

[Zech Marquis]

11. Final Cut Pro is the king for video pro users

it blows everything else out of the water. No contest at all. And Adobe is actively working with Apple to have Photoshop take full advantage of the G5 when it's on sale in August/September. So no real worries. Adobe is just saving itself some money which can be used in Photoshop and other apps people actually use.

[robcon]

12. This type of thing happens all the time.

For other software developers (not graphics programs where Apple is a leader) it makes little sense to develop programs for Wintel (95% of sales) and Apple (5% of sales.) The costs of developing the software is approximately the same for each, but wintel outsells Apple 19 to 1.

[chookie]

14. You made me soil my armor!

The subject line made this sound a lot worse than it really is.

Photoshop and Illustrator on a Mac is one of life's beautiful things -- if Adobe pulled out of Macs entirely, the graphic design industry would be outside their corporate headquarters with burning torches and pitchforks calling for blood. As bad as things have gotten and as mad as the world has become, surely it has not run down so that Adobe is phasing out the Mac.... If so, Armageddon can't come quick enough for me....

I have to work on both platforms -- my preference overall is for Mac. Despite "equivalencies" between Illustrator and Photoshop on the two platforms, I vastly prefer them on a Mac, rather than clunky old Windows and its flickering screens.

On the other hand, I can't stand doing animation on my Mac, and find that my PC runs Flash and Director more stabley....

[ShaneGR]

16. Never fear, Premier sucks!!! And adobe could.....

Never afford to dump photoshop. As for Illustrator, screw em... I like Macromedia Freehand anyways.