I’ve been working on moving my copy of Adobe Creative Suite 2 to my new Mac, and boy has it been a pain in the butt. For most Mac software, you just drag the application from the mounted directory to the applications folder and your done with it. Even Microsoft with their Office install wasn’t able to foul things up too bad. With Adobe, it’s been a nightmare.
First, do not try to the copy the appications directly from one computer to another. That works for most things, but it didn’t for Adobe. I missed some Library files and that didn’t work so well, and then when I got those, I had to fight with the activation transfer. That was running into all sorts of errors (probably from the direct app copy) so I gave up and decided to do a reinstall (I couldn’t find the install CDs initially, but by this point I had located them).
So I go to do the reinstall, but it won’t let me install more than the version cue software. It thinks that the other applications are already installed, and there’s no option to reinstall them. What’s worse, I can run the normal uninstall utilities (or the license deactivation) because it’s complaining about missing support folders and that the copy isn’t activated. After one failed install, I manually deleted all of Adobe’s stuff, and tried again.
This time the install actually worked. Things went in, and everything was peachy-keen. I then went to do an application update. I wish I was exagerating when I say that the updater asked for my password 20 times. Could they have just asked for sudo priveleges for the overall installer app and then launched their sub-installer apps from that? Oh-no. They have to ask for authorization for each individual installer application. One of those managed to fail, so after the whole process was done, I went back in to try again, but strangely it was listing all of the updates as available for download – even the ones that I had successfully installed. It was nice enough to give me a list side-by-side of the updates that were installed, but instead of taking the ones out that were already installed, it just left them there. Regardless, the update failed a second time, and I just gave up on it.
Adobe’s problems go beyond just the install process for CS2, their applications take forever to launch. In an informal test to launch Illustrator, it took ~45sec. This is on my new Intel Core Duo MacBook Pro with a 7200 RPM harddrive and 2GB of RAM. I understand that this is doing emulation, but please. On my old Powerbook the load time was on the order of minutes. What’s worse is when you install CS2, Adobe wants you to use their Acrobat Reader for opening PDF documents. They change the file associations (without asking you) automatically on install. Again, their product takes ~5 sec where the default (Preview) takes 1-2. Even the people on Windows have to agree that Acrobat Reader is slow as all getout to load. It’s also really annoying when it loads directly in your web browser, which in my opion is more distracting (and slower) than it’s worth.
I’m not sure I have the latest version of adobe reader, but about 10 minutes after I have purposly closed it it pops up with an error that it isn’t responding. EVERY TIME!
Just a side story to add to your dumb acrobat stuff.
Okay, I have the same complaint! Only worse results. Got a new G5 computer, copied all old files and newest version of CS2 (previously registered). Same types of issues with folders and copies. Spoke over 8 hours with 12 different customer service people from Adobe. Had managed to get open and activate InDesign and Acrobat, but not Illustrator. Finally told that the only way was to re-install. But, it would not recognize my CS2. I could re-install by getting an unlock key. I have been using Adobe on the old computer at this company since year 2000. The original programs were installed before that. The customer service rep-(lucky #13). told me that I would have to buy a full new version of CS2, that she could not give me an unlock key as both my CS1 and CS2 were upgrades. DUH! Adobe must have given me upgrades from something that I already had a full version of, something to upgrade from! On the old computer I have Acrobat 4, 5, 7; Illustrator 9, 10.3, CS, CS2; Pagemaker 6.5, CS; Photoshop 5, 6, 7, CS, CS2. I am not going to pay $1200 to buy anything! And I am not going to reinstall all of these old versions to upgrade from… how far back would I have to go? I don’t even have OX9 on this machine to work with those programs. Now I can not get my work done. And she tells me that it will be 24 to 48 hours before I am contacted by her supervisor. WHAT A MESS, AND AM I ……
I had the same experience with CS2 and my new G5. I have been running Adobe programs working with this company since 2000. Tried to copy across all my old files and programs. Everything works except CS2. Spent 8 hours today working through problems on the phone with Adobe Cust. Ser. Finally got InDesign and Acrobat up and activated. Photoshop runs with some error messages and Illustrator won’t start at all. Told to remove Illustrator and try re-installing from the original disk. No success with the serial number. Called again and was told that I could get an unlock key. Then customer service assistant (lucky #13) tells me that my CS1 and CS2 are upgrades and she can not do that. I will need to buy a full version of CS2. DUH! Adobe must have given me upgrades from something that I already had a full version of, something to upgrade from! On the old computer I have Acrobat 4, 5, 7; Illustrator 9, 10.3, CS, CS2; Pagemaker 6.5, CS; Photoshop 5, 6, 7, CS, CS2. I am not going to pay $1200 to buy anything! And I am not going to reinstall all of these old versions to upgrade from… how far back would I have to go? I don’t even have OX9 on this machine to work with those programs. Now I can not get my work done. And she tells me that it will be 24 to 48 hours before I am contacted by her supervisor.
UNBELIEVABLE!
It’s not just CS2:
* Acrobat viewer, especially the earlier versions take forever to load
* Acrobat professional 7 installs a horrible license monitor that slows down the entire
machine, which you can’t remove easily.
* Acrobat professional, all versions, are very S-L-O-W and VERY buggy
* PDF reader for Palm is a total disaster. Bloated, slow and useless. Can’t hold a candle
to even the free ebook readers.
* Acrobat Designer does not support fpdf (a good technology) because fpdf is free. The
disowned their own free technology in favor of a commercial one.
I can only say, among its peers, Adobe is the WORST software maker I have seen.
My experience with Adobe acrobat readers (5, 6, 7, 8, 9) on windows XP (Intel pcs) is enough for me to declare that Adobe is the worst POS (piece of shit) software maker on this planet. If I was a dictator, I’d put all the adobe staff before an execution squad.
If I was rich, I’d buy Adobe and burn down the office.
Totally agree. Adobe is the worst piece of shit on the market. So unfortunate they are still in buisness.
Oh so its not just me then. Just rebuilding my machine and reinstalling cs2 which was an upgrade. even though photoshope is installed and the photoshot CD is in the drive it cant see either. And Acrobat reader pro was a bitch about licence numbers too. Really really must abandon Adobe and use Gimp and other progs. sad – but they are shit, only word really