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Well...I will agree that they were a great software company. I haven't seen too much innovation coming from them, outside of their traditional bread and butter

Well...I will agree that they were a great software company. I haven't seen too much innovation coming from them, outside of their traditional bread and butter (and that innovation is incremental at best). However, I do agree that many software companies do this - but I disagree that it is in their own self interest. I think it is in the management's short-term self interest because they are rewarded with stock options that mature in the short term that they can then cash out. So they might make additional revenue from advertising in the short-term, but what does that do to their loyal customer base in the long term. I did encounter something similar (not as grotesque) with Sun when I installed Open Office....but for some reason it never rubbed me the way this one did. Also...much to my surprise, when I was installing Avast Free A/V, I was shocked (and disappointed) to see a screen prompting me to install a 'free and secure web browser from Google'. The last time I saw that, was for their desktop search product, which also annoyed me then....as it did annoy me this time. I guess it is something that these companies go through, but it doesn't negate the fact that it annoys some customers.

iamelgringo 17y ago
I haven't seen too much innovation coming from them, outside of their traditional bread and butter (and that innovation is incremental at best). I suspect you haven't used their flagship apps much. I've used the Adobe Creative Suite on a regular basis for 10 years, and it's simply great software. There are always a few rough edges, but over all, it's wonderful. Premiere CS 4 as far as I'm concerned is the best ProSumer video editing app on Windows (It's been a while since I've used Final Cut. I got fed up with Apple years ago.). After Effects has been nothing short of a phenomenal application for years. I did an animation project last year with my wife who produces Video, and their Puppet Kinematics tools are really, really cool. After Effects can be entirely GUI driven, or you can script procedural animations in javascript. I've just started using Adobe On Location for shooting live video, and it's really pretty amazing. I'm proficient with both PhotoShop and Illustrator as well, and frankly, they are a joy to use. Every new generation of the CS suite, they add more and more features that I've read about in graphics research papers the previous couple of years. I know that Adobe has been getting a lot of crap recently for it's run ins with Apple and the problems that Flash has running on Apple hardware. But I suspect that might have a bit more to do with Apple than with Adobe. So, I rather disagree with your assessment on Adobe.
- Locke1689 17y ago
  I know that Adobe has been getting a lot of crap recently for it's run ins with Apple and the problems that Flash has running on Apple hardware. But I suspect that might have a bit more to do with Apple than with Adobe. You would be wrong. There is no convincing reason why Flash should perform so poorly on POSIX operating systems.
  - sketerpot 17y ago
    The reason is complacency. For a long time, Flash was the king of its niche, so they didn't bother to make it perform better on systems other than Windows. Adobe needs a kick in the pants. It's the same way with Acrobat Reader. How many people use alternative PDF readers? Bear in mind that HN is a very biased sample.

iamelgringo 17y ago

I haven't seen too much innovation coming from them, outside of their traditional bread and butter (and that innovation is incremental at best). I suspect you haven't used their flagship apps much. I've used the Adobe Creative Suite on a regular basis for 10 years, and it's simply great software. There are always a few rough edges, but over all, it's wonderful. Premiere CS 4 as far as I'm concerned is the best ProSumer video editing app on Windows (It's been a while since I've used Final Cut. I got fed up with Apple years ago.). After Effects has been nothing short of a phenomenal application for years. I did an animation project last year with my wife who produces Video, and their Puppet Kinematics tools are really, really cool. After Effects can be entirely GUI driven, or you can script procedural animations in javascript. I've just started using Adobe On Location for shooting live video, and it's really pretty amazing. I'm proficient with both PhotoShop and Illustrator as well, and frankly, they are a joy to use. Every new generation of the CS suite, they add more and more features that I've read about in graphics research papers the previous couple of years. I know that Adobe has been getting a lot of crap recently for it's run ins with Apple and the problems that Flash has running on Apple hardware. But I suspect that might have a bit more to do with Apple than with Adobe. So, I rather disagree with your assessment on Adobe.

Locke1689 17y ago
I know that Adobe has been getting a lot of crap recently for it's run ins with Apple and the problems that Flash has running on Apple hardware. But I suspect that might have a bit more to do with Apple than with Adobe. You would be wrong. There is no convincing reason why Flash should perform so poorly on POSIX operating systems.
- sketerpot 17y ago
  The reason is complacency. For a long time, Flash was the king of its niche, so they didn't bother to make it perform better on systems other than Windows. Adobe needs a kick in the pants. It's the same way with Acrobat Reader. How many people use alternative PDF readers? Bear in mind that HN is a very biased sample.