Truth Or Dare: Does Adobe Really Hate Macs?

I’ve used Adobe products for over a dozen years. They’re great applications, Mac or Windows.

Why does it seem that Adobe cares more about Windows, less about Mac these days?

I’m not the only one to think this way. Adobe continues to grow because of Windows growth in recent years.

As a percent of revenue and profits, the Mac side of Adobe’s house has been shrinking—until recently.

Who can blame Adobe for ditching the Mac and grabbing hold of Windows’ huge market share?

They’re just going where the money is, was, and will be for years to come.

Adobe’s seemingly lackluster release schedule for Mac products over the past few years is an indication of wavering support for the Mac, not wholehearted commitment.

My case in point is the attitude that some Adobe personnel (a Mac user at the graphics giant) have regarding Mac users.

Adobe employee John Nack recently scolded some Mac users for their overly zealous way of defending the Mac Way.

Why? It all started shortly after Adobe released a pre-release of Soundbooth, an attractive audio application for Mac and Windows.

The Mac version is not PPC, it’s Intel only. So, if you’re using an older Mac, Soundbooth won’t run. You have to have a newer Mac.

That stirred some noise among a few in the Mac community who couldn’t understand Adobe’s complacent attitude about the Mac (duh).

Why would Adobe release an application that’s not a Universal Binary and capable of running on both Mac PPC and Macintel?

In his personal weblog, unaffiliated with Adobe, John hacked away at the reasons. “It’s easier to develop for both Mac and Windows” after Apple’s migration to Intel chips.

Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t fully appreciate the argument.

It seems to me that Apple bent over backwards to include PPC Mac users in the future by creating a Universal Binary development system.

Why can’t Adobe create applications for the Mac the way everyone else does?

Because Adobe would rather see the Mac disappear altogether; vanish into the ether, as it were. Why?

Efficiency. Adobe is interested in maximizing their shareholder value, and Apple’s meager, once dying, near dead Mac market share held them back.

Worse, as the Mac hung on, Adobe’s efforts to improve their Mac products seemed to dwindle.

They must be furious that Macs are on a rebound, resurging in sales and marketshare. Now they’ll be forced to develop additional products for the Mac.

John Nack of Adobe blasted away at the Mac faithful and fearful.

Every group of substance and influence has to meet with the Bell Curve. Laggards at one end, crazies at the other, the rest of us in between.

John focuses his attention on the few but manages to upset a few others in the process.

It would have been better that he had taken the weekend off. Instead, he ranted:

It’s funny, but the questions about Adobe’s sincerity regarding the Mac as a revenue stream and profit center remain; partly because of John’s rant.

Why can’t Adobe develop applications as Universal Binaries the way that most Mac developers can? John doesn’t hack away at an answer for that. Instead:

The vast majority of Mac users won’t be able to use Soundbooth because it’s written for Intel Macs only. Apple’s applications are written for both PPC Macs and Intel Macs.

So are hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of other Mac applications. Well, Adobe, the Mac isn’t dead. Neither are Mac users. Don’t forget that.

John, you’re representing Adobe, even with a personal opinion; one that seems to reflect a shadow corporate opinion of Macs and Mac users.

Truth or Dare, Adobe? Do you love Macs and Mac users, or not?