More than a dozen Adobe products are not working properly on Mac OS X Lion, Apple's new desktop operating system, continuing Adobe's struggles to make its software compatible with Apple products.
The issues -- listed by Adobe on its website -- aren't as cut and dried as the problem with Flash on iOS, which is that Apple blocks use of Flash on iPhones and iPads.
But Adobe says many of its products are missing functionality under Lion, which was released earlier this week. In addition to the fact that Lion drops support for older PowerPC applications, the Adobe issues may be enough for some users to delay upgrading.
Software often has to be rewritten to continue working properly on new versions of operating systems, or to take advantage of an OS's new features. But Adobe and Apple have a contentious history, with Apple refusing to support Adobe's widespread Flash technology on mobile devices due to concerns about battery life, security and performance.
Adobe doesn't suggest any deliberate attempt by Apple to cripple Adobe products on Lion, but Adobe Senior Product Manager Jody Rodgers blogs, "The cat is out of the bag! Mac OS X 10.7 aka Lion is roaming the streets and you brave Mac IT admins have been deemed Lion Tamers by the public at large. Or at least by me. I've managed a few OS compatibility assessments in my past and it is no easy task to gather up all the necessary info from the software publishers that are used in your environment, run/coordinate testing, etc."
Known issues in Lion affect Adobe software such as Acrobat, Adobe Drive, Contribute, Dreamweaver, Fireworks, Flash Builder, Flash Catalyst, Flash Player, Lightroom, LiveCycle, Photoshop and Premiere Pro.
Adobe initially said, "Flash Player may cause higher CPU activity when playing a YouTube video [on Lion.] Possibly related to disabled hardware acceleration," but later retracted this issue, saying, "Lion provides the same support for Flash hardware video acceleration as Mac OS X Snow Leopard."
Still, other Flash problems remain. For example, some users may find the "Flash Player settings dialog does not respond to mouse clicks," and "custom native mouse cursors are not animating properly on Mac 10.7."
Other problems:
• Flash Catalyst CS5 does not work on Lion and Adobe does not intend to update the product for the new OS. Catalyst CS5.5, the current version, is "generally compatible" with Lion but issues that degrade user experience caused Adobe to say, "We do not recommend that [Catalyst CS5.5] customers upgrade to Mac OS X 10.7."
• In LiveCycle, "workflows that are dependent on Adobe Reader plug-in will not function."
• "Adobe Reader plug-in and Acrobat plug-in are not compatible with the Safari 5.1 browser, which will ship with Mac OS X 10.7 and for 10.6 in July 2011. Adobe Reader and Acrobat will continue to work as standalone applications on Mac OS X 10.7 and 10.6, and will render PDF documents outside of the browser."
Adobe also updated an FAQ on its Creative Suite to discuss compatibility with Lion.
Lion was unveiled to generally good reviews, with users praising the OS for trackpad gestures that allow iPad-like manipulation of applications, and new Launchpad and Mission Control features that provide more convenient views of applications.
However, some users complain that Lion has slowed their Macs down. The problem is apparently caused by the Spotlight search function re-indexing the contents of the computer, which slows down the computer for a few hours after installation. In general, Lion will perform better on newer Macs, particularly those with at least 4GB of RAM and solid state disks.
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A Mac that cannot run Photoshop properly? What is this world coming to?
Adobe has a history of dragging its feet in terms of updating its software for compatibility with Apple's OS releases. Developers who follow Apple's guidelines don't seem to have as many issues. If there is a question of who is to blame, methinks Adobe doth protest too much.
ReplyDeleteI think "follow Apple's guidelines" says it all. You would think Apple would test software it claims to be the best at.
ReplyDeleteApple gives advance notice when API's are going to be deprecated, and specifically warns against using certain API's. I'm not claiming that this is the cause of Adobe's current issues, but If Adobe breaks Apple's rules, it's not Apple's responsibility to accommodate them in perpetuity. Furthermore, It's not Apple's job to do Adobe's testing for them. Apple makes prerelease OS versions available to its developers for that purpose. Are we to assume that these problems were all suddenly introduced at the golden master stage, and that the problems were a complete surprise to Adobe? Should Apple hold up the Lion release for Adobe?
ReplyDeleteAdobe wants to deflect blame on Apple. But Anyone familiar with Adobe's history knows that they have not been giving their Mac software the same attention as their Windows software for years.
My sympathy goes out to Adobe's customers, but screw Adobe!
Dave... So Apple is supposed to test all the third-party software on its platform when it rolls out major OS updates? You don't think that's something that... Oh, I don't know... The third-party developer should with its own software?
ReplyDeleteAs for the "A Mac that cannot run Photoshop properly?" comment, did anybody actually read the article or look at the issues? Photoshop runs fine - it's one feature that's broken: Droplets. We're not exactly talking about a show-stopper, here. Same with Premiere - another minor issue that will affect a very small number of users.
Besides, once the developer (you know, the company responsible for its own software working on the platforms its sold and designed for) gets around to updating its software (which in Adobe's case will be in a month or two), these will be non-issues.
Oh, and one more thing since some of you obviously aren't capable of figuring it out.
ReplyDeleteAdobe is a software developer. They receive OS development previews from Apple just as they do from Microsoft. If Adobe software is broken when a major OS revision is released, it says everything about Adobe and how little they care about their customers and nothing about the OS/platform the software is broken on.
Why should any company depend on Adobe?
ReplyDeleteThey have caused Microsoft to stay with the 32 bit version of Internet Explorer for years, even though you have a 64 bit browser shipped with Vista & Win 8.
Adobe has to be the slowest development company that exists. They posted on their website that 64 bit Flash was being developed, but just how many years do they need to do this!!!
I say Apple and Microsoft please remove support for Adobe plugins, they are holding up progress.
Let Adobe develop stand-alone programs only, that way they are answerable to their customers and if they fail to deliver on time people are free to buy other products.
The people that hate MAC's simply can't afford one!
ReplyDeleteSo, you guys are saying that Adobe has to come out with a new release when a new OS comes out? Give me a friggin break. CS5 has been out for, like, a year or more? Lion just came out. Photoshop and Premiere are staples in design which is what Mac computers claim to be the best at. So, yes, I do think that they should test some of the leading software out there on their new OS's. They don't necessarily need to make it work but it would probably be smart to know what they might run into. Like designing a new car, you test drive it on various roads and under varying conditions that a driver might run into (and sometimes beyond that). You don't just build it, shrug your shoulders and say I guess they'll have to build a new road for our new car. Oh and Steve, the only place the applications are broken is under OSX Lion. Maybe you aren't capable of figuring that out.
ReplyDeleteLet me say this as well: Microsoft Office 2011 For Mac is having issues as well. It ain't just Adobe, but Microsoft as well.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.pcworld.com/article/236460/microsoft_lists_glitches_in_office_under_lion.html
I personally still think the update from Leopard to Snow Leopard, and people start missing some of their login credentials is one of the more "humorous" problems that happened with updates OSes. I did get a good chuckle out of that.
And before anyone asks, I'm running Windows 7 Professional (64-Bit).
Well then, it MUST be MS's fault.
ReplyDeleteNo, Apple should definitely test their new OS with current software on the market. Why the hell would anyone put out an new OS that has problems with industry standard software? Are they just trying to make MS and Adobe look bad? Well they're not, they're just making themselves look bad. Fine with me either way I run Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit and everything runs just fine under it.
ReplyDeleteSoftware behemoths Adobe and Microsoft DO look bad, and have always looked bad. They think that because they have a lock on their particular application niches that they can bully Apple into accommodating them. To some extent Apple does, and has in the past made specific changes and exceptions to Mac OS specifically in order not to break their legacy code which uses unsupported hacks.
ReplyDeleteBut Apple is aggressively moving forward with its OS architecture, and will only tolerate so much cruft accumulating in their code. Some bugs may be fixed by Apple while others will require an application update. We really don't know who is at fault and who will fix what. Regardless, eventually the dust will settle. This is nothing new. I'm in no particular hurry to install Lion or get a brand new Mac that requires Lion. As with any new OS release, let the bleeding edgers shake it out for a few months.
Haters will naturally blame Apple (as they do for everything). I expect nothing less.
I love it. I knew you would come up with a clever way to say it isn't Apple fault. Bravo! I think you only hate MS and Adobe because Apple does. All they did in this situation was have existing, working, awesome applications out on the market and along comes Apple with it's new OS. According to you, they should come out with a new version just for Apple. Is that the nonsense you're trying to dish out here? If so than you're more delusional than I originally thought. You're would be a special kind of stupid, the one that doesn't sound stupid on the surface. Think of it the other way around. If Adobe came out with a new ver of Photoshop and it didn't run properly under Mac or Windows, your mentality would say it's not Adobe's fault.
ReplyDeleteYeah, come on Brett open your eyes. I'm an Apple fan, I have a MBP and a MBA and even I know that Lion needs some bug fixes. I'm not lookin to make the switch yet either but be real. They came out with a new OS that's buggy, that's the bottom line. I'm sure they'll come out with patches eventually.
ReplyDeleteYes, I do believe that it's the developer's responsibility to support new OS versions if they wish to go along with the Mac's continuing ride to success -- providing that Apple gives plenty of advance notice regrading changes and issues that require the devs attention.
ReplyDeleteApple shouldn't stand still and stagnate in order to placate Adobe and MS.
There are loads of compelling new APIs in Lion for devs to take advantage of. Apple has been educating devs about Lion for a long time. Adobe and MS should get off their asses and produce some Lion-capable software.
If anyone doesn't like it, then boycott buying Lion, a new Mac or whatever. I really don't care. I'm fine waiting a few months for everyone to catch up. I've waited this long.
I do feel sorry for anyone who hasn't yet learned to do their due diligence on application compatibility before jumping on a new OS.
Already I'm finding a lot of articles like this one about downgrading from Lion back to Snow Leopard. Sounds like a great OS to me.
ReplyDeletehttp://tinyurl.com/437n3sy
A few people want to downgrade. So what?
ReplyDeleteIf anywhere near as many people regret installing Lion as did those that "upgraded" to Vista, then you'll have a right to gloat... and I'll join you in condemning Apple for a botched release.
But I don't think this is the disaster you all want it to be.
Well, I'll admit that Vista blew and had lots of problems. That's the difference, I can admit it. I have no problem saying that Vista sucked. Windows 7 on the other hand rocks.
ReplyDeleteI never claimed Lion was perfect. My assertion is that based on history, Adobe and Microsoft are likely to share the blame for application incompatibilities.
ReplyDeleteFurthermore I admit that I myself am not willing to immediately run Lion (aside from any app incompatibilities, I'm a bit concerned with some of the UI changes). But I don't think Lion sucks, and believe most who have installed it are happy.
I just checked the app store stats. Of the 15000 or so purchasers who left feedback on Lion, 80% gave it 5/5 stars. Less that 1% gave it 2/5 stars or lower.
u never claimed brett, APPLE DOES and crapple fans die to see their os trying to be the best, heres some news, i have windows 7 updated sp1 and mac os x lion, and you get tons of sh*t when you try to do sth new or explore with it, sure the design is quite nice but the os itself still needs time just like xp took time to become the perfect 7, i just hate idiots keep braggin on and on , its not apples fault, its the world...screw that...
ReplyDelete"crapple"? Are you 5 years old?
ReplyDeletePlease provide a citation where Apple claims Lion is "perfect". I'd be surprised if you can do that. In fact, I doubt you could even find an Apple fan who makes that claim (although there are a few nuts in any large group).
Well, they may not have used the word "perfect" but they do call it the "World's most advanced operating system". I do not believe that even for a second. I would like to see it at the next Pwn2Own contest to see if it falls first like all previous Mac OS's. It might be "the worlds latest OS" because it just came out, but that's it.
ReplyDelete