Snow Leopard and Adobe Creative Suite Compatibility (Updated)

Wow, today has been a very busy day. Getting ready for Snow Leopard is not as easy as it appears.  I've been corresponding back and forth with David Howe (http://www.twitter.com/dhowe) from Adobe and he assures me that Adobe Photoshop CS3 WORKS in Snow Leopard (10.6).

David Responded to a post I put on my Twitter, after testing with an older version of  10.6 Build that CS3 was crashing.  I was being perhaps too pragmatic with posting that CS3 didn't work in 10.6 but it is better to be safe then spend allot of time reinstalling 10.5.  The Adobe FAQ release didn't give any real light on the subject but implied that CS3 Would not work in 10.6 (But it does).  Please read the twitter correspondence below.

DH: "Which CS3 product is crashing on SL for you? And what build of Snow Leopard are you using?"

TT: " Snow Leopard 10A261"

DH: " Photoshop CS3 works based on the testing we've done. And we worked with Apple to fix any issues we did find."

 TT: "Based on your twitter post I can take it everything will work golden? On some of the last builds I did have a few crashes."

TT: "The CS3 Crashes were working with files over 1 GB in size running blur and sharpen filters. (large format print stuff)"

DH: "There were many builds of Snow Leopard after 10A261. There were issues with earlier ones that have been since been resolved."


 TT: "I am going to test CS3 this weekend once it comes out to make sure so people don't upgrade prematurely, I'll let you know if I have any issues"

DH: "If this still happens with the GM build of Snow Leopard, let me know." 

So there you have it "Adobe" themselves may not have said anything and the FAQ may have left allot of people thinking CS3 was not going to work but Quoting David Howe: 

"Photoshop CS3 works based on the testing we've done. And we worked with Apple to fix any issues we did find."

So go ahead and upgrade to Snow Leopard.  David says it will work and until I get my own testing done; that's good enough for me.  I have to also say it is really good of David to come out and let us know what is really going on.  After all Adobe should have just come out and said it works it shouldn't have come from David, who was good enough to tell us.


Thanks David.


Trevor Tye

UPDATE
List of software supported by Snow Leopard

http://snowleopard.wikidot.com/

Adobe CS3 & Snow Leopard

UPDATED Please See August 27th Post!

Well with only 2 days to go Mac users everywhere are freaking out! They are really excited for the new snow leopard operating system and they want their old software to work! We have to keep in mind Snow Leopard is what Leopard should have been in the first place; it is a re-write on pretty much everything Apple has done until this point. When Adobe was asked about older Adobe Software (CS3 in particular) here was their response



"Q. Will older versions of Adobe creative software—such as Adobe Creative Suite 3 or Macromedia® Studio 8 software—support Mac OS X Snow Leopard (v10.6)?"

"A. Older versions of Adobe creative software were not included in our testing efforts. While older Adobe and Macromedia applications may install and run on Mac OS X Snow Leopard (v10.6), they were designed, tested, and released to the public several years before this new operating system became available. You may therefore experience a variety of installation, stability, and reliability issues for which there is no resolution. Older versions of our creative software will not be updated to support Mac OS X Snow Leopard (v10.6)."

Adobe-SnowLeopard_FAQ.pdf



This is a very unfortunate situation for all computer users. If we have to start shelling out thousands of Dollars for upgrading our software, (I think CS3 to CS4 is around $899.00) then piracy will go up make no mistake about it. If Apple and Adobe want consumers to be continuously purchasing their software they need to make it worth our wild. Make the CS4 Master upgrade $499.00. Make it affordable so people will want to buy it. I understand Adobe needs to make a profit but the money they say they are losing to piracy would be compensated by the number of people willing to shell out $500 for the latest software bundle. Taking this approach will be easier for Adobe and the consumers in the future. If upgrade prices are affordable for everyone not just companies and businesses then everyone wins. No one pirates, no loses their job because of lost revenues. Maybe some guy upstairs doesn't get that new ivory back scratcher but he still gets to drive his BMW.

There is going to be a major issue within the next couple years and it is going to hit the web hard if we don't nip this in the butt right now. If people are going to be forced to re-buy all their software that they have all ready purchased then they may stay with the older operating systems and browsers. This is very bad. There needs to be a cost effective balance between running old software and buying new hardware. If that means that Operating Systems have to come with seamless virtual machines (ie. parallels in coherence mode) then Apple and Microsoft have to integrate it. You can't expect people to rebuy all their software because their computer died, or they upgraded their operating system. Consumers need a fix and they need one now, so who is big enough to step up to the plate? Microsoft? Apple? Adobe? More then likely it will be some poor open source guy that just wants it to work.

Trevor