Why do people not prefer adobe anymore?

[u/Mahendra_20]

The whole time I've had a PC I've only used Adobe the open PDFs and now since Microsoft Bing has introduced PDF reader in Microsoft Bing. What's the use of Adobe. (Edit: it is Microsoft Edge, i see bing most of the time on the screen hence my confusion and I bought a pc and started using it fully 3 years ago, I'm just learning.)

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[u/KiryuMiyazawa]

Pay us and own nothing

[u/The-Grave-Horde1998 → u/KiryuMiyazawa]

And they charge you a cancellation fee just to stop renting their software. It's insane.

[u/Bug0 → u/The-Grave-Horde1998]

They don’t charge monthly subscription fees, they charge an annual fee but it’s billed monthly. When you cancel, you owe the remainder of the annual fee.

What sucks is how they advertise the monthly amount first and foremost, fooling a chunk of their customers into thinking they can cancel any month they like with no further charges like with every other service with monthly payments.

[u/pabloiswatchingyou → u/Bug0]

When you cancel, you owe the remainder of the annual fee.

There are ways to circumvent this, though. If you're ever caught on that, try changing your subscription to a different kind. You'll have like a week to cancel your news subscription without having to pay for anything, and the you're free.

[u/_Gobulcoque → u/pabloiswatchingyou]

There are ways to circumvent this, though

My bank let's me create virtual cards and deposit an amount into them.

Any time I need Adobe software (which is rarer these days), I create a card number, put a quid in it, sign up, and then delete the card.

[u/deathnomX → u/_Gobulcoque]

Pirating is cheaper and more ethical (than supporting adobe) though.

[u/ThreeDog2016 → u/_Gobulcoque]

Then they come after you with debt collectors when you don't pay

[u/_Gobulcoque → u/ThreeDog2016]

I assure you, they don't. For a bunch of different reasons.

[u/3dforlife → u/ThreeDog2016]

Good luck in Portugal.

[u/CombustedPillow → u/pabloiswatchingyou]

lol there's no way.. this would've been big news and patched out asap, they're not stupid

[u/Valatros → u/CombustedPillow]

Nah, it works. The kind of customer who's going to find and utilize this kind of loophole is also the kind of customer who is otherwise going to burn CS hours and/or do a chargeback. Most people just cancel without thinking about it anyway and then it's too late.

[u/Majestic_True_Lilly → u/CombustedPillow]

The real trick is adding a prepaid or one time use card with zero bucks and deleting your real card, then letting them suck it

[u/JackahBee → u/Bug0]

I was paying for creative suite until I got a job where the company provides it for me, and then they demanded a £70 cancellation fee when I tried to cancel my personal sub. I had my bank block the payment and surprisingly absolutely nothing has happened. That was five years ago.

[u/wolfannoy → u/The-Grave-Horde1998]

My memory might be getting mixed up. I thought someone sued them for this.

[u/CarnivalCassidy → u/The-Grave-Horde1998]

That's because people purchase an annual subscription billed monthly because it costs the least, then totally forget about the annual part.

[u/Hageshii01 → u/KiryuMiyazawa]

When I finally got adult money, and was looking to dip my toes into making a name for myself on the Internet, I excitedly went to get a legitimate copy of Photoshop, Premiere Pro, etc. “No more pirating Adobe for me, oh no! Gotta have a legitimate copy for non-personal stuff. Plus it’s programs I like and taught myself to use over the course of years, of course I’ll pay the people who made it! It’ll be a big purchase up front but so worth it in the en- why do they only offer a yearly subscription?! And it’s over $100 a year?!?!”

Killed that expense real quick.

[u/phi1_sebben → u/Hageshii01]

We used to be able to buy perpetual licenses of AutoCAD, 2020, Office, Sage, etc…then came the subscription model.

Now for just 2 users I am over $10,000 per year for software. It’s outrageous.

Imagine being a carpenter and not being able to own your table saw. It’s fucking criminal.

[u/MyDishwasherLasagna → u/phi1_sebben]

If they could, they'd put chips on the saw blades so the motor won't spin without authorized parts. The same kind of shit printer manufacturers are doing with ink cartridges. Which is weird because printer ownership is probably declining now that everyone under 50 probably just emails PDFs or uploads coursework.

But it all comes down to the fact these companies make more from the few willing to pay high prices than the many who want to pay low prices. And I hate it.

[u/GARSDESILES → u/KiryuMiyazawa]

You own nothing Jon Snow

[u/jeremebearime → u/KiryuMiyazawa]

I use PDF Gear. Free for now. Once it gains popularity they'll probably start charging or some shit.

[u/SushiBump]

[u/vewfndr → u/SushiBump]

Still do, but I used to too

[u/extinct_cult → u/vewfndr]

Even if I become the richest graphic designer in the history of the universe, I'm still not paying a cent to adobe.

[u/checock]

Adobe stopped selling software as a one time purchase on 2013, and "perpetual" licences will stop functioning in December 1, 2026. So that is a big middle finger for people who wants to buy software, instead of paying Adobe a monthly fee for their rest of their lives.

Adobe reader is free software and works OK. I always use Sumatra PDF on my Windows partition tho.

[u/14Pleiadians → u/checock]

perpetual" licences will stop functioning in December 1, 2026.

My unlicensed copy will work until the end of time

[u/AstroPhysician → u/14Pleiadians]

easy as ever to get a Chinese AI model like GLM 5.2 to crack photoshop for you, i was having bunch of problem with the firewalls and updater being blocked for a long time until I thought to use an agentic AI, and it did it so effectively

[u/The_Dukes_Of_Hazzard → u/AstroPhysician]

unfortunately some will refuse the request because 'it breaks terms of service'

with more big money getting fed into AI these days it's more important then ever to invest, contribute, and use open weight models providing you have the hardware and it meets your needs

[u/AstroPhysician → u/The_Dukes_Of_Hazzard]

I specifically mentioned Chinese and GLM 5.2 since they don’t care and it’s the one I use for this sorta stuff

[u/14Pleiadians → u/AstroPhysician]

Every time I self host LLM I end up being annoyed by how slow it is, my 3070 isn't enough

[u/AstroPhysician → u/14Pleiadians]

No need to self host. I ran it through cursor, you could do openrouter or any other solution like litellm, etc.it was blazing fast. Way faster than frontiers

[u/bombjon → u/14Pleiadians]

This, if buying isn't owning then pirating isn't stealing. Autodesk shut down their perpetual license servers for over 10k in software for me. I refuse to ever pay them a dime, same with Adobe and Maxon for Zbrush (bought from Pixologic switched to subscription)

[u/Comfortable-Cod3890 → u/bombjon]

Crack these bitches and save a fuckton

[u/Supergold_Soul → u/checock]

The problem with adobe products previously were that they were prohibitively expensive to even start. The creative suite could be 2k plus. If you wanted to stay updated you'd probably have to pay another 500 per year on top of that. The sub model is probably cheaper overall if you're using it consistently and staying updated.

[u/taxable_income → u/Supergold_Soul]

Thank you! You are the rare person who actually remembers how unobtainable the products where back in those days.

Adobe has always been priced as professional software, and back then it was only affordable if you ran a studio. At least today with subscription it's affordable to freelancers as well.

[u/mtron32 → u/taxable_income]

You never needed to buy the suite, photoshop was a few hundred

[u/nemesit → u/mtron32]

that was still more than half a decade of subscription and for a single version

[u/JayCDee → u/Supergold_Soul]

The subscription model was a godsend for small businesses and self employed people. The CS6 master collection was prohibitively expensive at almost 3K€ like you say.

[u/WizardClick → u/JayCDee]

Yeah, I could not imagine owning a genuine adobe license in those times without being a working business that absolutely needed it. Now to pay a little bit per month to have access and some cloud functionality, its one of the only things I think adobe as a company did right.

[u/TYGRDez → u/Supergold_Soul]

Yeah, they were prohibitively expensive.

Which is why we used pirated copies until we could justify paying for it as a business expense.

[u/Namtaru420 → u/TYGRDez]

And a fun tinfoil hat theory is that adobe let us get away with for all those years to solidify their position in the market

[u/Myrtylle → u/checock]

I can’t believe I had to scroll that deep to find that answer. You should have more upvotes.

That’s actually the only right answer I see.

Since version CS6 they jumped to a monthly subscription (adobe cloud) for every Art apps like photoshop, illustrator, inDesign, Lightroom, and more. So photographers, graphic designers and everyone in the field needs to buy a monthly subscription to work and since Adobe doesn’t have much competition we’re all obliged to pay them.

[u/fehr19]

Adobe PDF reader has always been crap, havent used it in decades. Foxit or CutePDF are better.

[u/MasterOfPipettez → u/fehr19]

I just open them in firefox.

[u/CaptOblivious → u/MasterOfPipettez]

FF can even edit them now.

[u/Vergonhalheia → u/CaptOblivious]

Libreoffice also can edit them.

[u/CombustedPillow → u/Vergonhalheia]

I work in tech support and I wouldn't recommend LibreOffice ever, just lacks basic features and performs terribly

[u/OldheadBoomer → u/MasterOfPipettez]

Or Thunderbird if it's an email attachment.

[u/juanjodic → u/OldheadBoomer]

this has been fantastic for me.

[u/SkollFenrirson → u/fehr19]

SumatraPDF. Quickest reader around.

[u/mpg111 → u/SkollFenrirson]

exactly. it sometimes open before I click it

[u/Helmic → u/fehr19]

Okular. No reason to use a closed source PDF reader these days. Fast and it just works.

[u/turdas → u/Helmic]

I love Okular on KDE and it's probably the best PDF viewer I've used, but I'd hesitate to recommend it to Windows users, because unfortunately often the Windows ports of KDE apps are not exactly first class citizens.

[u/LordDeath86 → u/turdas]

It is also nearly 800 MB on Windows because it has to bring all of its KDE/Qt dependencies. A nice example that native compiled code doesn't automatically mean lightweight.

[u/fehr19 → u/Helmic]

True, although I've never used Okular in Windows only Kubuntu so I'll have to try that out!

[u/CV90_120 → u/fehr19]

BlueBeam to rule them all.

[u/30K100M → u/fehr19]

Didn't Foxit became bloated already?

[u/UnholyDemigod → u/fehr19]

Why do you need a pdf reader at all when you can just open them in a web browser?

[u/LonelyNixon → u/fehr19]

Yeah, if you needed some proprietary secure Adobe feature then sure, I guess you're stuck with it but people have been complaining about Adobe PDF Reader for like over 20 years now.

[u/Gorostasguru → u/[deleted]]

And Autodesk sadly.

[u/Dima_Ses → u/Gorostasguru]

I use fusion 360 for my hobby projects. When my main PC broken, I tried freecad on my Ubuntu laptop. It is barely usable. At the end I modeled a simple part that I needed. But It took too much time fighting the freecad.

[u/Green_Ad5186 → u/Gorostasguru]

and ms office. and any serious work app doesn't work on linux(ignoring programming work )

[u/DarkGamer → u/Green_Ad5186]

They're making the same mistake Adobe did. Since MS office has moved to online subscriptions like Adobe has, a lot of people are sticking with the 2007 version or finding alternatives like LibreOffice or Google Docs/Sheets. It might make Microsoft more money short-term, long-term they risk losing users.

[u/Ecstatic_Wheelbarrow → u/[deleted]]

They don't care about the average users leaving. They have the enterprise license that accounts for almost all of the revenue generated by MS Office and that's a subscription. Good luck moving a company from MS Office to Google Docs too.

[u/Kniferharm → u/Ecstatic_Wheelbarrow]

The issue is, the more people are used to another product, then the more they will push for it. And eventually those people will get to a point where they are making enterprise level decisions. But in the short term it won’t hurt them too much.

[u/Whammjam → u/Kniferharm]

Exactly that. The bottom line of these companies looks great, until it suddenly doesn't anymore. Since they are basically monopolies it just can take a long time till it happens...

[u/EASam → u/Whammjam]

You think? I remember Apple being everywhere for higher production level stuff. Then it seemed there was a shift to Microsoft. Then again I remember floppies and dot matrix printers. So... maybe it has been a long time.

[u/xfreesx → u/[deleted]]

I imagine 99% of MS Office license holders are corpos

[u/hokie48 → u/[deleted]]

Be in a position at work where you need to pick something like Microsoft vs Google Docs. Okay so you can try to be a hero and save some money for the company or you can go with what works and you won't get a nasty email from some VP at night because something has changed. Now you have a lot more work, some VP wants you fired and you have less time to play with your kids at home. Don't be a hero, don't get fired, you won't get promoted because you saved some money that most people at a large company don't even care about.

[u/Neuchacho → u/hokie48]

Yeah, it's this. The only reason I was able to switch tenents from M365 to G-Workspace was because it was an order from management. Accounting and HR lost their fucking minds when they lost Excel and Word and they barely knew how to use those tools in the first place. Can't imagine it with "super" users in the mix.

[u/CATDesign → u/[deleted]]

It's not even exclusive to software either. I am an IT guy and I got a guy that keeps coming back to me to ask for help with his HP Printer subscription. It's a terrible design for home users, and I hope they don't monopolize the market.

[u/ViddlyDiddly → u/[deleted]]

Only person that I know that loves Google Docs, also uses everything Google. and loves it. And doesn't comprehend how people have been suspended, denied, banned by retroactive punishments from updated TOS.

[u/DreamWeaver2189 → u/DarkGamer]

I read somewhere that some governments are moving to LibreOffice because MS can't be trusted with their private data.

[u/RizzwindTheWizzard → u/DreamWeaver2189]

Europe in general has started moving away from American big tech. France for example is moving from Windows to Linux (with open source replacements for stuff like MS Office) this year. It's not so much that MS can't be trusted with data (they can't but that's not the point), it's that Europe's tech is ultimately under the control of the American government. If Trump decides that tariffs aren't enough and that Meta should ban every European leader from Facebook or Microsoft should create a list of every government worker in Europe, how can Europe respond?

This isn't even just a "what if", the US Supreme Court made a ruling in June that Trump can fire the head of the FTC at will. Due to America's lax data protection laws, the only reason American companies can do business in the EU (well, technically it's just storing data on EU customers but there's a whole bunch of reasons why that effectively makes it impossible to do business at all) is because of an agreement that relies on the FTC acting as an independent body to police American companies. Now that Trump can hire and fire the director at will, that independence no longer exists and the agreement is being challenged in the EU courts. Unless they can figure out another agreement, there's a very good chance that Windows will be illegal in Europe next year. No government wants to have to scramble to move away from a product last minute which is why some governments started the process long before this issue existed.

[u/Pancakes1741 → u/DarkGamer]

Most corporations now can only see short-term. I think its a big reason why VALVe is as amazing and massive as it has become. They are still privatized and can afford to set long term goals. Most corporations like Microsoft only care about the short-term and what the next quarterly earnings report says, which leads to a lot of really really stupid fucking decisions.

[u/rjfrost18 → u/Green_Ad5186]

I'm so glad I'm in a profession where latex is the default.

[u/trickn0l0gy → u/rjfrost18]

Oh you kinky

[u/SaintOrJannikSinner → u/trickn0l0gy]

But have you met the GIMP?

[u/montroller → u/Green_Ad5186]

Couldn’t you just use Microsoft 365 in browser

[u/Round_Credit_5158 → u/montroller]

The online apps don't have the same range of features as the desktop versions.

[u/pasta-9709 → u/Round_Credit_5158]

Sure they have few extra limitations in the browser, For 99% of employees they don't need anything outside the browser and you can find better alternatives to install locally such as only office. The only thing I've ever needed from Microsoft to do my job was email and teams.

[u/countdonn → u/Round_Credit_5158]

True, but that only effects a small portion of users who need mail merges etc. That said, I am not a fan of doing productive work on webapps.

[u/Jack1101111 → u/Green_Ad5186]

seriously? i find Libre Office better than office.

[u/Round_Credit_5158 → u/Green_Ad5186]

It feels like Google Docs is a lot more popular these days, MS Office must be kept only to more advanced works.

[u/No-Channel3917 → u/Round_Credit_5158]

For personal use

Company wise folks don't trust it with how often it fucks up and cancels tools

[u/FromTheIsland → u/Gorostasguru]

For myself, it's because I play some games that require anti-cheat.

[u/Plaston_ → u/Gorostasguru]

The only thing i like about autodesk is they made the .fbx format.

[u/MasterOfPipettez → u/[deleted]]

Affinity was a great alternative but then they sold out to Canva.

[u/MeltingDog → u/MasterOfPipettez]

Although nothing major has changed, as of yet, I felt very dissapointed when Canva bought it and made it free.

Originally the Affinity suite was about $100. Excellent price for something 95% the same as Adobe CC. But Canva buying it and making it free? What's the catch?

And even if the only catch is that they're using it as a tool to get people to sign up for Canva then I'm sure they're not going to put effort into maintaining it or adding new features.

I feel enshitification coming. I would urge anyone who's bought the original Affinity 2 software to keep a download handy.

• https://store.serif.com/en-us/update/windows/photo/2/
• https://store.serif.com/en-us/update/windows/designer/2/

[u/Turbulent-Design1161 → u/MasterOfPipettez]

It is free though

[u/MasterOfPipettez → u/Turbulent-Design1161]

Thats usually when you become the product. Id rather pay personally. Im still using the latest version of affinity so I can avoid the canva version.

[u/Mr_StephenB → u/[deleted]]

Funnily enough Blender is making pretty great strides into video editing. It's not on par with the likes of premier or other paid applications but it's pretty close.

[u/SelloutRealBig → u/Mr_StephenB]

Until they get a new simpler UI they will never compete with Adobe. One thing this thread doesn't cover is Adobe's GUI's are top tier. Simple enough to not be cluttered while also having everything you need in an easy location or menu. Adobe vs Blender feels like the difference of a GUI made by graphic designers as opposed to a GUI made by an engineer.

[u/MadeByTango → u/SelloutRealBig]

One thing this thread doesn't cover is Adobe's GUI's are top tier.

Theyre really not. I USED to think that, but now I prefer krita and inkscape's workflow to illustrators. There is a lot of small stuff that adobe doesnt do that other apps have advanced on they cant follow becuase of their legacy choices.

[u/GCU_Heresiarch → u/Mr_StephenB]

Davinci Resolve runs on Linux (I run it on Arch (eta: BTW)) just fine. There's a free version and a paid version that's just a single purchase instead of a subscription.

[u/LectorFrostbite → u/GCU_Heresiarch]

\btw

[u/GCU_Heresiarch → u/LectorFrostbite]

Oh, you're right. I forgot that bit. 

[u/Choice_Potato_6279 → u/Mr_StephenB]

I liked it more over 3dsmax, Sony Vegas and Blender were my softwares to go, felt more intuitive.

[u/Nuraya → u/[deleted]]

Procreate need to get their act together and get on this

[u/Waffler11 → u/[deleted]]

Affinity is a worthy competitor now, although I have no idea if they support Linux. But, they are most definitely not subscription-based save for a few features that some may want (namely, ai tools). In fact, the app is free.

The drawback? Requires a Canva account, but that doesn't particularly bother me. I work in Adobe apps every day at my job and found Affinity to be sufficient for my needs at home. It's not perfect or deep as the Adobe stuff, but it gets the job done, and all in one app under different modes, which is kind of neat.

[u/cool-- → u/Waffler11]

I work in Adobe apps every day at my job and found Affinity to be sufficient for my needs at home.

This is exactly it though. Affinty just isn't good enough to use at work. It's great for weekend warriors, but when I'm collaborating with a bunch of other professionals it's all Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, InCopy, Acrobat...

My printers will only accept PDF, and packaged InDesign folders. If I sent anything from Affinty, they'd be like, "what is this?"

I used to use procreate on the ipad for personal stuff, but it was always a pain getting it to my computer. Adobe made fresco and added that vector brush and that got me off procreate immediately.

[u/Ange1ofD4rkness → u/[deleted]]

I tried to switch to Affinity, and it just didn't work. There was some functionality it lacked I really needed, like scripts. Even more, some commands were missing Photoshop hand (like keyboard commands), but the big killed, was Bridge. The Bridge/Photoshop integration is a must have for me, and Affinity had no replacement.

(Oh and also I paid for it and it was supposed to be a 1 time payment, then they go an release a new version and are like "okay, pay up")

[u/Due-Blood-9874 → u/Ange1ofD4rkness]

That's the normal / old way of doing things. A new major version means a new payment. The Affinity suit upgraded from version 1 to version 2 which meant paying for 2 or staying at 1. Unlike subscription models, no one is actively preventing you from just using the old version, though.

[u/TheTeaSpoon → u/[deleted]]

Fucking make user friendly UI. That is it. There's nothing more to it.

I want to use blackmagic or vegas, but I do bot want to spend 20 hours learning what I can already do in Premiere. I want to edit this photo but holy shit I do not want to use GIMP...

I want alternative, same with autodesk. But since adobe and autodesk invested heavily i to intuitive UI and UX, if I need to just make a 3d model in 15 minutes, I choose fusion. If I need to cut 12 hours if vacation footage into highlights, I choose Premiere Pro. The shortcuts make sense, the tools are in logical place and many things I take for granted just work and I do not need to fish for a plugin or a guide on where a cut tool is.

[u/specter_in_the_conch → u/[deleted]]

It's not easy, after years of projects and several assets you're basically married to them as you cannot simply migrate one project like in the old but not so distant Macromedia flash to adobe animate.
I think what's probably going to happen first is a more stable Linux support

[u/lord_pizzabird → u/[deleted]]

We just need a competitor to exist first.

[u/Lopoloma → u/[deleted]]

I read on some post about the matter that professionals have no other choice as only Adobe uses some standards that keeps the file consistent over all platforms.
I don't understand the details, but there are lots different people working on the file and reviewing it and if everyone used different pdf creators the contents would change in miniscule ways that might be ok for you and me, but not for a professional work.

[u/TomTomMan93 → u/[deleted]]

As one of those people, its hard and frustrating. Overhauling workflows is a tough ask. Partially cause, yeah its a lot of effort, and partially cause it's an unknown. Doesn't help that their software suite works well together as opposed to having multiple different programs that werent designed to be connected (very fair) and thus adding some extra steps. Also doesnt help that its such a standard.

That being said, the day I dont use it, cant afford it, or something thats better/i have the time to learn it, adobe is gone.

Edit: also meant to add that Windows would be gone with it as long as the alternative was linux friendly.

[u/_Lucille_ → u/[deleted]]

The big fear is probably piracy; Linux and DRM traditionally do not mix well.

Besides Adobe, I think there are a whole lot more reasons that people don't want to switch because everyone has those niche uses. Take a text hooker for example: will it work on Linux when I use those to play non-English games? How about that niche plugin I use to work with ebooks? That communication software that offers no Linux support which my client uses? Will my 15 year old printer+scanner be fully supported?

Fr a lot of people, Windows isn't broken, and you don't go fix what isn't broken.

[u/JosebaZilarte]

Not enough weights.

[u/Mahendra_20 → u/JosebaZilarte]

You definitely have a bad experience

[u/AppropriateOnion0815 → u/JosebaZilarte]

Yeah, that guy basically ruined everything because nearly all companies started copycatting Adobe because they saw the constant flow of money.

[u/-777JKL777-]

ehem DaVinci Resolve, Inkscape, Blender and LibreOfice is free :)

[u/Character-Extreme535 → u/-777JKL777-]

Krita as well

[u/MadeByTango → u/Character-Extreme535]

I love krita.

[u/rt590 → u/-777JKL777-]

Photopea is Photoshop in a web browser and will probably be all that 90% of people need.

Even matches up with Photoshop short keys but you might have to go full screen on your browser for them to register properly

[u/Qweedo420 → u/rt590]

At that point just use Affinity, it makes no sense to use a web app for something like photo editing

And I tried Photopea once, it has a slight input lag which gets extremely annoying after hours and hours of skin retouching

[u/May-Eat-A-Pizza → u/Qweedo420]

I recently switched to Affinity. I'm a Photoshop and Illustrator user for some 25 years.

Affinity is amazing. Perfect for my needs and not needing to switch between applications (vector + pixels) is a BIG plus for my workflow.

Still need to find my way in some functionality, but the switchover isn't as bad as I thought it would be.

I would not be surprised if Affinity took over a large chunk of the Adobe users in a (relatively) short time.

[u/tailnin → u/May-Eat-A-Pizza]

When affinity gets enough market share Canva will lock it behind a subscription, just a matter of time.

[u/CombustedPillow → u/tailnin]

right, BlackMagic is the only company I can think of that offers a competitive free version of a premium product (Davinci Resolve) out of the goodness of their (CEO's) heart, like he said himself "I know what it's like to be poor". The rest are just doing it as a tactic.

[u/extinct_cult → u/CombustedPillow]

Um, Blender? Not only is the free version competitive, it's the only version lol

[u/MeltingDog → u/rt590]

The only thing I'm a bit sus about with Photopea is if they do any data collection. Feels weird uploading, say, scans of personal documents (or even personal photos) to a free service like this.

[u/TylerDurden1985 → u/-777JKL777-]

The entire concept of open source is basically "Oh yea? Well well we'll make our OWN software. With blackjack and hookers."

https://giphy.com/gifs/cYhhUmbtbneb6

[u/asodfhgiqowgrq2piwhy → u/-777JKL777-]

Resolve is so good and I'm kicking myself for not buying the lifetime license when it was on sale a few years ago.

[u/Master_Bayters → u/-777JKL777-]

And recently we got RapidRaw for Lightroom Classic Alternative

[u/GrouchyCranberry8982 → u/-777JKL777-]

LibreOfice

I can get by in university using this, but being able to dual boot into windows is better. I'm a Linux stan, too.

M365 native > m365 web = google docs >= libre office, IMO.

For some reports, with complex design, you can't beat Microsoft. And I'm a comp sci person.

I'm happy enough just writing papers in it.

[u/Tower21]

If your only opening PDFs, you don't need a subscription, well before the pdf reader in ?"Micrsoft Bing"¿ 

Regardless of the flame of hate that burns so very brightly in my heart for Adobe, I thought I should point that out.

[u/trollsmurf]

The last picture is wrong. It's the users that are thrown off the boat. The guy is applauded by management, and might have received a gold watch or something.

[u/ConfusedGamer63]

It's especially egregious what they do to college kids. It's 'required' for several 'art' classes. And there is a 'student rate' for the semester. But the semester is not negotiable. They ended the subscription a week before Finals. So you had to renew in order to finish your projects.

My daughter literally changed her major after the second time she got screwed by Adobe. She was like.. "I do not want a career that requires that I deal with this POS software everyday for the rest of my life"

[u/overdosingOnPie1313]

Oh man. This post is chock full of "tell us you don't know anything about computers, without telling us you don't know anything about computers".

1. It's Microsoft Edge. Bing is the search product.

2. All major browsers have been able to open PDFs for decades now.

[u/waigl → u/overdosingOnPie1313]

3. When people talk important software by Adobe they cannot easily switch away from, they're talking Premiere, AfterEffects, Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator, stuff like that from the CreativeSuite. Nobody has been seriously hung up on Acrobat Reader for like 20 years now.

[u/BluePrincess_ → u/waigl]

and maybe a hot take - asking for a subscription for the updates/features they provide with that suite of applications is totally fine!! it's an existing service they keep providing to you with constant updates. the issue with adobe isn't that they ask for a subscription, it's that they're scummy with not allowing you to cancel your subscriptions cleanly or switch operating systems.

[u/14Pleiadians → u/BluePrincess_]

and maybe a hot take - asking for a subscription for the updates/features they provide with that suite of applications is totally fine!

We don't want updates. The older version worked fine.

The updates exist to justify the subscription

[u/MadeByTango → u/BluePrincess_]

Nah, the problem is that you dont need 99% of the updated stuff they offer. The vast majority of customers have a specific workflow need for the product. They force you to rent a seat, and the moment you stop paying you lose the ability to work with all of your files. They TRAPPED the entire creative industry in an ongoing subscription using their de facto monopoly over the work streams.

FUCK Adobe. They ABUSED their market position to force an industry into a significantly more costly arrangement for everyone else, pushed along by a self-feeding ouroboros of forced consent.

[u/knighttim → u/overdosingOnPie1313]

I think it might just be engagement bait...

[u/overdosingOnPie1313 → u/knighttim]

Possibly. But I work IT and let me tell you I wouldn't be shocked at all if he was just this ignorant. I sometimes worry that my coworkers will accidentally strangle themselves with their mouse cord.

[u/meneldor_hs]

Lmao, you think the main purpose of Adobe is to open pdfs? Do you really think a multibillion dollar company is surviving on pdf tool alone?

[u/Calm_Ad308]

https://giphy.com/gifs/eKlLWI4Nf3gsVHAfrB
The guy that made WinRar open license

[u/Creative_atom0406]

https://giphy.com/gifs/10X22vzgNamaiI

[u/eppic123]

Sometimes I wonder how many of those people complaining about the subscription would be willing to shell out $1000 for Photoshop or $3000 for the Master Collection. That was the retail prices of CS6, and with inflation it's probably closer to $4500 today.

[u/TheRabidDeer → u/eppic123]

My parents did back in the day. They probably still would today. The CC suite is $100/month right now for business licenses. That's $1200 in a year for what used to be a $2500-3k one time purchase. I know typical hardware lifecycles are ~5 years, so if software had a similar lifecycle it'd be cheaper to buy a license outright compared to subscribe for 5 years. Even if it cost $4500 today (subscription is $6k over 5 years).

[u/Mahendra_20 → u/eppic123]

yo that's crazy😭

[u/KingSpanner → u/eppic123]

And also you had to buy the new one if you wanted to open a PSD with the new version's features, like layer grouping etc

[u/Fun-Aside3990]

Dexter made mistakes but he wasn't as bad as Adobe executives.

[u/a_wascally_wabbit]

Power pdf looks like office, 70 percent cheaper and you own tbe software (yes I sell it lol)

[u/dungorthb]

I tried canceling the week before and got the run around, I tried every day until my renewal date and got the run around. Then my subscription renewed it self and they told me I should have called and canceled earlier.

Fuck adobe.

[u/ThatMerri]

I've said it before and I'll continue to say it at every opportunity: FUCK ADOBE.

I have a fully licensed and legal version of Photoshop CS2 that I've been using for ages. After Adobe initially dropped support of that specific software suite for new versions, they released the whole suite on their official website for free - installers, license codes, everything, totally free of charge. At some point they de-listed the page but it was still findable with a direct link, and later after that they completely deleted it. I'd already downloaded all the installers and saved the license codes Adobe provided for free, so I didn't think much of it.

A few years back, whenever I opened the software I started getting a pop-up from Adobe saying that it was an unlicensed pirated version and I would need to uninstall it immediately, subscribe to their new suite, or face legal consequences. I simply edited my registry to block contact with the Adobe servers, which prevented the pop-up from triggering. I continue to use CS2 without issue and also continue to wave the "FUCK ADOBE" flag at all times, because fuck Adobe.

[u/EdinKaso]

Everything is becoming subscription based because companies realized what's better than selling a product once is selling that same product forever and never letting the customer have ownership.

It's just greed above all else, and I'm so sick of it tbh

[u/HabenochWurstimAuto]

I still have my 36 Megabyte Photoshop 5 portable stick somewhere.

[u/pseudonominom → u/HabenochWurstimAuto]

Same. Lightning fast and does most of what I need. Still use it.

[u/Annual_Contact1886]

Thank God they weren't allowed to buy Figma, in my work every client it's switching to it for digital advertising, the use of components it's a game changer in the production of banners en mass.

Illustrator and Photoshop are basically the same app they were 20 years ago now with AI tools slaped on (Figma is better at this than Adobe as well, with a built in AI custom plug in and agent creator).

[u/Low_Swordfish879]

Meh photoshoped is no longer a word ... Its now called AI slop. Adobe will be dead and buried soon...

[u/Barf_The_Mawg]

Burial at sea too good for em. Feed em to the pigs. 

[u/morbihann]

The adobe guy probably has a lot bigger yacht.

[u/traumadog001]

Adobe can go suck it, IMO.

I purchased a full retail Photoshop Elements 9 back when you could still do so - and Adobe shut down the verification servers for that generation so I can't reactivate the software that I bought at full price.

It wasn't because it didn't work anymore, but a new Windows install/backup on the same machine caused it to not want to start up anymore.

Their answer to me was "uninstall it on the old machine, and it may run". Obviously, this works well when your old drive craps out and doesn't exist anymore...

[u/CarpenterFederal]

That is because they saw the streaming services requesting money every month by doing nothing yes, doing nothing more than just publish and MKV file because they dont even make movies (at least when they start, now they do shitty shows)

[u/Cybrknight]

Couldn't give a shit about them anymore.

Affinity is MORE than powerful enough for my photography/design work and it's now free. Not to mention the fact that it also supports pantone out of the box with no subscription.

[u/royinraver]

Because they suck

[u/Forward-Switch-2304]

I have tried to stick with Adobe Reader for years, but in recent times it has become unbearable. When I open a PDF, it takes longer than it should to open a one-page file. One page! Then it keeps asking "Do you want AI for this?" "AI can help you with that." "Filling this up can be done by AI."

I don't want AI to help me with anything. I just want to view a file.

So I proactively deleted all the Adobe Reader in my work area laptops and desktops a d replaced them with PDFGear. Silence. No more asking for AI help. No more unnecessarily long periods of opening a single-page PDF file.

Use a different viewer. Heck, use Firefox's internal browser PDF viewer. Anything but Adobe Reader.

[u/Iamyous3f]

How about the guy who decided to make the " early cancelation fee " ?

[u/0Tezorus0]

Basically adobe tools are still very efficient but their economic model is far from being pro consumers. With the subscription model you basically own nothing. There's also a series of events where Adobe used your creation to train its AI and add detail in the user contract to partially own your creations for exemple. To that you got to add that there's a lot of other tools now that are very efficient but you can't have them integrated in the workflow at the same level adobe products can. A lot of companies are then locked in the Adobe ecosystem. So Adobe is kind of in monopol position regarding a lot of softwares and tool they propose and using it to milk the consumer base.

[u/Lurker_Zee]

Adobe is the amazing counter-example to consoles.

Where consoles managed somehow to stay in the market even as they became deprecated due to relatively equal cost PCs, when Adobe had the monopoly, it thought it would rule forever, so doubled-down on bad PR instead of trying to try to retain its place in the market as the best product. Now that browsers have integrated PDF reading, Adobe is left both without a market and without any goodwill to keep it viable.

They (and Blizzard) should have heeded the wise words of King Menethil:

But they never lear.

[u/Miserable-Role9555 → u/Lurker_Zee]

Equivalent pc's never cost the same as consoles. What are you even talking about?

[u/F1EV]

Doesn’t adobe also steal your work to train AI on anything you do in their applications?

[u/DkoyOctopus]

oh, but i DO love adobe, its a great free software.

https://giphy.com/gifs/Q7j4Isybzvsm8mJJHV

[u/GenTenStation]

Haven’t used adobe anything in over 10 years. They’re not essential to anything these days

[u/lawndartdesign]

For me there literally is not other option than after effects for a professional workflow. So I’m stuck.

[u/VinnieONeill]

It's not about Acrobat Reader. The hate comes from their Creative Cloud, which replaced all standalone versions of things like Photoshop and Premier. It's now all a cloud based program that only offers a yearly subscription. They'll offer to let you pay monthly, at a higher rate, but it's technically still a yearly subscription billed monthly. If you want to cancel you have to pay for all the remaining months left on the yearly subscription.

[u/GrandWizardOfCheese]

Most of us abandoned adobe once they started with subscription models. So their boat money is from the one time payment versions.

I havent used their products in ages.

[u/MeltingDog → u/GrandWizardOfCheese]

Yep. Before the subscription model a journalist here in Australia discovered it was cheaper fly to the USA, buy a physical copy of Creative Suite there, and then fly back home rather than to buy the same software locally.

Adobe was charging Australian customers $1,400AUD ($1,950AUD in today's money) more than what they charged for the same software in the US.

He confronted the Adobe CEO about this at a press conference. It's actually impressive how he simply avoids answering the question by just talking about Creative Cloud: https://youtu.be/mnrMhbWG0Pc?si=hEVNYGFWAglfD8Et

[u/playr_4]

The only adobe product I use is photoshop and I still have the free cs5 I got at college that my friend cracked so I don't need a login anymore. So you need a subscription to use things like photoshop and illustrator or can you still buy those separately?

[u/Phewelish]

must sign up for a year sub

[u/properwaffles]

I bought the Master Suite 5.5 and it definitely paid for itself. I still have it around somewhere if I need to use any of it.

Was glad that I switched gears to programming, there's no way I'd give them money now. Figma takes care of any design/wireframing I need to do now.

[u/vonroyale]

Some of us have no choice but to use it.

[u/ProduceNo1629]

https://www.sumatrapdfreader.org/free-pdf-reader

Use open source software.

[u/GravyPainter]

Im sick of predatory subscriptions

[u/Squirty42069]

I manage around 1,000 Adobe license deployments at my work and Adobe can slurp my taint.

[u/prancerbot]

It's called techno feudalism and it should be broken up, destroyed and cast into the depths.

All these companies that want to charge you a monthly fee just for access to a basic framework need to be stopped.

[u/Individual-Praline20]

Joining the other tech CEOs at the bottom of the abyss. Well deserved.

[u/iceseayoupee]

who came up with the apparent cancellation fee that cost a month of subscription should kick the bucket atp

[u/jrlamb]

Too expensive. And i switched to Linux to get away from Windows.

[u/HangryBeard]

No. Way too easy. Giant vat of weak acid make it last. I'm sorry but the dude needs to suffer for the hell he released into the world.

[u/CrispyCouchPotato1]

I routinely need to process RAW photos. I wanted to buy a lightroom license, just like I would buy any software.

Why does a photo editing software need to be a subscription?! I don't even want any updates or cloud.

I just want the software. But No.

So I switched to using open source image processing tools. Adobe can get bent.

[u/RCKTJMP]

I have a theory that Adobe originally did this because they know everyone pirates anyway, so corporations and creatives that could afford would offset the massive piracy issues

[u/ameandehqan]

For me It started when they switched from pay once to subscription.

Then it got worse when you had to pay a fee of binding time if you wanted to cancel your "monthly" subscription which in reality was yearly, but was still more expensive than yearly subscription.

Then it got even worse when the announced they are training their AI with our works. I was like, I'm paying you a lot of money on a monthly basis and you are stealing my work to train your AI and replace anyone who is using your software.

Then it got even worse when they started selling AI generated stock images. I mean, If I can generate that with a prompt, why should I pay you for it?

[u/ryuujinusa]

I mean, first of all, fuck adobe. But ‘monthly subs’ was not their invention.

[u/Sidways_Duck_]

Adobe also used to have Lifetime subscriptions

Which at the time miraculously disappeared when you updated to the newest versions or updated your OS.

Forcing customers to subscribe to the new system.

[u/rbartlejr]

Adobe is the reason they invented throw-away credit cards.

[u/MrPhi]

Xournal++. It allows you to write anything.

[u/Flaky-Low-2262]

Play stupid games, win stupid prices 👌

[u/Destroid-]

Charging someone to cancel early is a big reason why people have soured on them.