My Initial Thoughts on Adobe CC

When Adobe announced Creative Cloud, I understood the purpose and how the new direction could actually be a really good thing.

For our studio, we need current versions of Adobe software and we were spending a lot of money with each upgrade. So having a smaller monthly amount to have access to the latest and greatest was actually a welcome package. That is, until tonight when the Adobe CC login servers went down.

Tonight’s Service Outage

I don’t want to make this an overly harsh article. Up until now, I have had no issues with Adobe Creative Cloud. Well, actually, that isn’t true.

The only issue I have had is that on occasion I am using my Adobe apps offline while traveling. It can be quite frustrating when the Creative Cloud app decides that you need to “re-login” when you have no internet service. In those moments I have to scramble to get my computer online, just so I can re-verify my licenses.

But, I have dealt with that issue silently up until now. Tonight on the other hand is another story. Tonight, the Adobe Creative Cloud login servers apparently are having issues, and it just so happens that tonight my Creative Cloud App asked me to login to re-verify my license. The result? Well, as you can see, I get a nice error message shown below.

The result? Well, I can’t use Photoshop or Premiere which are the two apps that I currently need. Not only do I currently need these apps, I am actually working on a client deliverable that is due tomorrow where I NEED to use Photoshop and Premiere. So, it’s time to transfer to a backup machine running CS6 or another copy of CC (where hopefully it is still logged in).

In the meanwhile, I had a fruitless conversation with customer support.

My Conversation with Adobe Customer Support

As soon as the chat window for customer support opened, Snigdha pasted a message that Adobe.com is experiencing an outage. I knew she wouldn’t be able to help fix that problem, but I was hoping she may be able to direct me to some sort of offline backdoor solution to temporarily use the apps offline. That apparently wasn’t possible. You can see the chat and full text below.

Hi, we are currently helping other customers in line ahead of you. We’ll be with you as soon as possible.

While you wait, you can try our community forums where experts are online 24/7.

You are now chatting with ‘Snigdha’

Snigdha: Hello! Welcome to Adobe Customer Service.

Payam Jirsa: Hi

Snigdha: Hi Payam .

Snigdha: We are sorry but Adobe.com and related services are experiencing a login based outage. Our apologies for the inconvenience and request you to check back after a few hours as our IT/Web team is working on this.

Payam Jirsa: This is kinda crazy

Snigdha: Our IT team is working on that issue. Hopefully it will be fixed within few hours. I am very sorry for the inconvenience.

Payam Jirsa: I need my applications available now for work

Payam Jirsa: and I can’t even use them

Snigdha: I am sorry that the applications are down currently hence we are unable to check the information, I request you to please contact us back after 24 hours so that we will be able to assist you better.

Snigdha: I sincerely apologize for any inconvenience that may have caused to you.

Snigdha: I really appreciate your patience in this regard.

Payam Jirsa: So Adobe has no solution to use apps offline when this occurs?

Payam Jirsa: Seems crazy to not be able to use software we are subscribed to

Payam Jirsa: Is there any way to get the application to load offline?

Snigdha: I am sorry, you please check back after 24 hours.

Snigdha: Thank you for contacting Adobe. We are available 7 days a week, 24 hours a day. Goodbye!

Why is This Even an Issue? No Temporary Offline Mode?

So, what’s the conclusion? Well, I am stuck here at 1AM not able to finish a client deliverable that I will need to complete by tomorrow night. Hopefully, in a few hours the issue will be solved, and I will be able to complete this project in time for delivery. If not, we fortunately have other computers around the office with CS6 and CC subscriptions which hopefully are still logged in. Just in case, I am currently transferring my 500GB project just in case. Though the transfer itself will require a couple hours itself.

All-in-all, I found this issue to be rather silly. Creative Cloud subscribers are monthly paying customers. Shouldn’t we be able to use applications we are paying for in moments like this, or while traveling without internet?

There is a solution so simple it makes me wonder, “Adobe, why is this even an issue that needs to be solved?”

Why can’t we simply have a “work offline” mode when Creative Cloud is unable to verify the subscription that would allow the user some sort of 24-48 hour grace period? If traveling and Creative Cloud needs to verify my license, having 1-2 days to get myself to an internet connection, while still being able to use my apps would be a life saver.

Not to mention, when Adobe themselves have technical issues like this one, having a 24-48 hour “work offline” grace period would make major problems like this become non-issues.

Instead, I am stuck here waiting to be able to work. Fortunately, I happen to have other machines in the studio with CC and CS6, so currently I am transferring my work in order to keep on working. But, it is time consuming, and it seems crazy to even have to do this as a paying customer. The only good news is that I did just complete an article with all of this spare time =). However, I do wonder just how many professionals out there are currently stuck without another machine and license to fall back on?

My Request to Adobe

Dear Adobe, we as photographers support your company and the amazing pieces of software that enable us to create our work and art. Hence, we are subscribers and proponents of your products, including Creative Cloud.

However, as loyal customers, we feel like we are being ignored. We have pleaded and begged for Lightroom to run more efficiently, to be able to utilize advanced system resources to boost performance, etc. We have reached out to you to help in R&D and future development to help make better products. Yet it seems like nothing has changed, and we continue to be ignored.

On top of everything, right now, we are unable to even use an application that we are paying for. Please, help us by listening and supporting us customers, especially those of us who have been so fiercely loyal to Adobe throughout the years.