Some of you commented to my Soundbooth post saying Adobe has no plans to support Macs equipped with PowerPC's (PPC) and because you are right, I rant. One of Adobe's Bloggers claim because Soundbooth is a new application and PPC users should not complain because they had nothing to begin with. The logic basically boils down to: if you didn't have it then, you won't want it now and should not be bothered if others can use it but you. Beggars can't be choosers. And you PPC users are the beggars. Following with this logic, you Mactel users should not bother trying out this software or bother to offer suggestions because, you know, you had nothing to begin with.Adobe is claiming Apple is treating PPC as a dead platform. If this is true, shame on Apple. They will have swindled its customer base because during the transition to Intel they claimed the opposite. Again, if this is true, all the people who bought PPC Macs in the transition should be reimbursed. But even more than that, this is a dumb move by Adobe. There are millions of users on PPC. Why abandon the present for the future with a new app, it has no customer base to rely upon, a small pack of Mactel users to act as foot soldiers for the app. I hope Soundbooth fails. I hope Soundbooth gathers no foothold within the Mac community because they choose to abandon users like me.
Sheila says it best: "No development from Adobe for the PowerPC anymore. But power users of Adobe's flagship product, Photoshop, can't upgrade from the PowerPC platform because Adobe is taking their sweet time going universal. Users were told early on they would have to wait until the 'next normal product cycle' (which is probably still months away). So go buy the Intel Mac for their new products, but don't get rid of your old PowerPC until they are good and ready to provide the update professionals really need."
I believe Adobe is just being cheap. Working on making their apps compatible costs money. They can place the blame elsewhere but in my book, they are responsible for they choose to abandon a large group of users. I am getting so tired of Adobe's policies in regards to compatibility, this Soundbooth issue indicates how little they are willing to stretch themselves to satisfy their customer base. This is the first time I have heard of a Mac developer chosing to abandon PPC users. The day will come when this will surely happen but the time isn't now. Adobe can do it now because they can, they will just wait you out till you are forced to upgrade. I hope they pay for such arrogance.
1. A good rant it is indeed...I'll add my two cents...
Alas we are dealing with two companies that care nothing for their users and all hail the great share holder....!
Apple are just as guilty of screwing very loyal mac users as Adobe are. Apple gave little or no warning to the shift to Intel and moved the Mactel's into market way ahead of their own schedule. Thus making the G5 PPC from the moment they announced Mactel a dead platform. And then continued to sell PPC systems, even putting out a new one (the quad) which was little more than an attempt to shift remaining stock from IBM out off the factory floor. I pity the poor suckers who bought one. Sure they run well, very well, but in spite of that still a dead platform as far as Apple and the developers were concerned. And by 'dead' it is deifned in purely tech industry terms - a technology with no future. PPC is exactly that. Apple and Adobe have made it so. (that and the fact that IBM screwed up, couldnt come good on their speed promises and the G5 just wasnt and isnt up to scratch)
Adobe for their part, having built their massive empire on the back of the Mac, now live in a market where the overwhelming bulk of their business revenue comes from the likes of Acrobat and business tools rather than their traditional creative tools (photoshop et al). Thus to Adobe the monolithic corporation (a corporation that could swallow Apple many times over) the Mac is but a measly
Posted at 4:57PM on Oct 30th 2006 by Mike Jones