Adobes proprietary lock-down has started

I haven’t been using Macromedia Adobe Flash since version 7, so it’s been quite a while. I am now equipped with the latest and greatest CS3 version of this application so I couldn’t help a certain anticipation when I launched Flash after such a long time of “abstinence”, hoping that the acquisition of Macromedia would have changed the application for the better. Partly because Macromedia had this reputation of being buggy and not fixing even some very alarming bugs within an acceptable timeframe.

Unfortunately I was dissappointed in about every aspect where I was hoping for some improvement. Worse, I noticed a few very alarming developements going on, when using the application for about two days. Let me note here that I’m not a Flash programmer, so I won’t be able to appreciate any improvements on action script etc. I’m merely a wannabe animator needing to create a few banners. And honestly in most cases I’d rather use Anime Studio Pro, neé Moho from Lost Marble, or ToonBoomStudio for creating animation than Flash, but I digress.

Harmless but annoying embarassing

For some reason still many keyboard shortcuts on Flash for OS X just don’t work. This has been the case several years ago, so I think it is nothing but utterly embarassing that Adobe doesn’t get their shit together to fix issues that are so annoying, disruptive to the workflow and obvious even after several years. I lost all hope already at this stage. The menu entry clearly says F6 for creating a new keyframe, alas it won’t. I’ll have to use the contextual menu for that (and yes, my Mouse has a second mouse button, not only that but it has actually 4 buttons).

Another blast from the past hit me when I once quit Flash and after relaunching several of the palettes where moved to the default location, not remembering where I put them. I mean, for FSM’s sake, that was lame several years ago, but now it’s outright sabotage of my workflow.

Tightening the iron grip

But I was nothing but flabbergasted when trying to import data into Flash. Have you ever noticed the number of vector formats flash can or should I better say cannot import? Firstly, it cannot handle SVG, although it was Adobe themselves who came up with this standard, partly to battle Flash. Now that they own Flash and all of Macromedia’s IP, it appears as though Adobe have completely abandoned SVG.

It won’t import PDF files either, nor EPS files, both formats introduced by Adobe as well, but both have the “flaw” that they are at least partially open standards, and files in those format can easily be created by 3rd party vendor applications. Oh, how desperatly Adobe want to keep you from doing just that: creating content with 3rd party applications. They know that most creators will end up with buying one of their Creative Suites including several of Adobe’s applications—and god forbid you’d get to the idea that you actually don’t like Illustrator and rather use one of the many other vector graphic applications on OS X! (Lineform, Create, OmniGraffle, Intaglio, you name it).

So in their “wisdom” to protect us from using “nothing but the best” (at least in their view), they make it really hard having any workflow using standard file formats despite the fact that they created some of those open standards themselves.

It is even impossible to cut and paste any vector data from any other application into Flash. I’ve been trying. Lineform won’t do. Create won’t do. Keynote or Pages won’t do. Graffle won’t do. Funny enough I can cut and paste vector data back and forth between any of those applications and even better most of them even support LinkBack. Not so Adobe.

To put insult to injury I can’t even copy and paste any of the vector data from Photoshop into Flash. No error nothing, just refusal and lots of silence, probably to give you that nice ghosttown ambiente. You are alone.

Party like it’s 1999

Actually Adobe software doesn’t really support anything that makes OS X what it is. And thusly their apps just feel terribly old and kludgey. They just feel like a neverending 90’s nightmare. Some visual effects have been put into e.g. Photoshop (fading of the palettes etc.), supposedly to match what Apple’s newest operating system, Leopard, is handling without taxing the CPU. But, due to the fact they don’t appear to use OS X technology to implement those effects, it looks plain clumsy and cheap, because those effects make the application quite CPU heavy and sometimes, when the application is a bit busy, you’ll have half transparent Photoshop palette artifacts on-screen, although you have already switched to the Finder. This makes Adobe and their applications look nothing but old and tired.

Illustrator still can’t handle Unicode path names properly: the English version of Illustrator still will trip over its own feet when it tries to open an Illustrator file that has placed images with Japanese file or folder names in their path. Won’t do. Not even after so many years on OS X. I’d have to switch OS X completely over to Japanese in order to help Illustrator finding those files. How broken is this? The only application I know of, which is showing similar braindead behaviour is Lotus Notes. And let’s not even start talking about Notes, you get the gist.

All of this really shows Adobe just don’t care anymore. They have the monopoly, why should they even put any effort in pleasing their customers? Now they have their own “moneypress” and that’s that. Microsoft all over again. With the sad difference that Adobe used to “care”, they used to be innovative and cool. And that’s why I’m lamenting the loss of Adobe as it were.

The Solution: ditch ’em

Yes, I mean it. Just show them the finger. If there isn’t any absolutely compelling reason for you to use Adobes software, I beg you do look for alternatives. Most private users of Adobe software or even pros who happen to use only a tiny fraction of the features offered in Adobes apps should think about what features, what functionality it is they really can’t live without and then look for alternatives. They’ll in many cases end up with less money spent and better support.

There’s so much software out there you haven’t even dreamt of. And much of it is free and open source. Alternatives that do many things actually much better than Photoshop. Alternatives that cost less. Alternatives that won’t phone home all the time. Alternatives where the developers will answer your questions personally.

Anecdotes

For example Andrew Stone from Stone software will very often within days come up with an interim version of an application to fix a certain bug or even add a certain feature that you requested on their forum. Really.

Andrew stone has once implemented certain functionality into Videator on a request by me and put that modified version on his FTP server for download. And all of this although I hadn’t even bought a license for that specific app yet! Of course I immediately bought a license. And by the way all of the Stone Software licenses include free upgrades for life.

Tech support of Bare Bones Software has been extremely patient and supportive when I had problem synching the Yojimbo data on my two Macs. Essentially it turned out that the synching technology from Apple has many bugs, and they had to help me to work around Apples bugs—but they did so with a lot of diligence. Free of extra charge. Try to call Adobe Support for free…

Bottom line

We have so much come to thinking that the so called “standard” software suites are so essential that we cannot even consider alternatives. But in many cases you do have alternatives, you’re just not considering them. Open your mind. Use new software every now and then. Sometimes it can be very freeing finding a completely different way of doing things, it can free your mind (Moho/Anime Studio Pro has freed and empowered me in many ways in regard to animation, and when I bought the first copy it was just US$ 90).

Do something different every now and then to make your brain actively think about little things. Hold your cup with your left hand. Go left where you always used to go right. These little changes activate your thinking and give you a different angle at things. This will also help you to step off the trodden path. After all you’re supposed to be creative, aren’t you?