I installed Adobe Creative Suite 3 on my home PowerMac and my MacBook (the license allows you to install it on two computers as long as they are not in simultaneous use). The only real reason I upgraded is to get a native Intel version. I have barely started using it already and I already have peeves:

  • Bridge looks butt-ugly, is even slower than before and with a more amateurish interface than ever
  • The install procedure is incredibly annoying and Windows-like. There is no justification for an install procedure that chokes if the beta was not uninstalled officially (although I have to give some brownie points due to the fact the cleanup script is written in Python).
  • The icons are aesthetically bankrupt. What kind of credibility does Adobe think it has with creative people with such an astoundingly lackluster effort?
  • Barely installed and already in need of software updates. The widespread availability of fast Internet connections is no excuse for shoddy release management or a “we’ll patch it post-release” mentality. Speaking of which, the only proper time to interrupt users with a software update dialog is as they are quitting the application, not by getting in the way of whatever task they are trying to get done by starting up the app.
  • Don’t clutter my hard drive with legal drivel in twenty different languages. It’s called “Creative Suite”, not “Boilerplate Suite”.
  • All the tie-ins to paid add-on services like Adobe Stock Photos or Acrobat Conferencing are incredibly obnoxious, just like those for MSN or .Mac.
  • JavaScript in Acrobat is a big security and privacy risk, and should be disabled by default.
  • On the plus side, thanks for making a “Design Basic” edition without all the despicable Flash garbage in it. I would actually pay more for the Basic version than for the supposedly premium one infected with Flash and Dreamweaver.

Update (2008-01-01):

It seems Adobe has also crossed a serious ethical line by building in spyware to track on whenever a user starts a CS3 application.

As far as I am concerned, this is the last straw and I will actively start looking for substitutes for Adobe products as soon as I return from my vacation.

Update (2008-01-02):

It seems Adobe does not collect the serial number after all. The apps should nonetheless never call on the Internet except possibly to check for updates. For people like myself who have static IPs, the IP address itself could be used to correlate the analytics with personal information.