E36: Adobe is Legacy Software. What Does The Future Look Like?

Check out my Free Brainstorming Workshop: https://mightyartisan.com/worldbuilding Learn to silence your inner critic. Ignite creative ideas. And watch a live demo of these techniques in action. --- This is The Thirty Sixth Episode of the Visual Scholar Podcast - With Tim Mcburnie. Let's talk Adobe... There is a lot of drama and outrage aimed at Adobe. I normally stay away from this stuff on the Visual Scholar... But people often ask for my opinion as I do use Adobe products, and teach people how to use them. So this episode is dedicated to my thoughts on the future of Photoshop. But as you know if you have been following this show, it won't be simple, and I will weave in some more interesting topics. I want to walk though: 1 What we should expect from Software as artists 2 What can we learn by looking closer at Adobe Inc 3 What Ethics, Morality, Publicly traded companies... and AI say about the future of Customer/Product Symbiosis. So yeah... This is a long form essay. That no one really asked for. But if you want to rise above the noise and outrage FUD... strap in! CHAPTERS: 00:00:00 Intro 00:03:03 Welcome 00:03:28 What's My Take On This? 00:07:07 What Good Creative Software Needs To Be... The Dangers of Switching 00:08:45 That Time I Gave Up Photoshop For Corel Painter... 00:14:56 Reliability... 00:15:33 Learning & Community 00:16:55 Different Artists Need Different Features... Pro Vs The Rest 00:19:06 Professional Features (That Most People Don't Care About) 00:20:06 Production Integration 00:21:16 Chameleon: Photoshop Can Be Many Things 00:23:27 Extensibility 00:26:51 Real Professional Reliability 00:30:03 Speeed 00:32:03 TLDR: Bugs And Tech Hurdles Can Ruin Your Art Flow 00:33:11 What About Adobe As A Company (Evil INC) 00:33:50 The History... Aggressive Monopoly 00:35:22 Adobe The Dinosaur (Legacy Software and Legacy Attitude) 00:38:19 Adobe Is Struggling To Be A Modern SAAS Company 00:39:15 Publicly Traded Companies Can't Take Care Of Their Customers. 00:39:58 The Silicon Valley Hype Cycle 00:41:17 Symbiosis: How Good Software Is Made 00:43:24 The Protopian Ideal 00:44:58 Incentives: It's Not A Matter of Good Or Evil. 00:50:37 What Does The Future Of Software Look Like? 00:52:51 The Community Matters 00:53:58 The Photoshop Interface Built Adobe 00:55:06 Piracy Helped Build The Monopoly 00:56:00 No Free Version = No One Uses It... Or Cares. 00:58:57 Adobe In Trouble? 01:02:40 Has Adobe Forgotten How To Make And Promote Software? 01:03:32 The Street Price Of Creative Cloud 01:05:58 Adobe Actually Has A Great Deal... 01:09:10 The Traps Large Companies Fall Into 01:10:58 Business Models And Functionality Are Linked! 01:14:03 Photoshop IS Unique 01:17:34 The Real Issue? (AI) 01:19:25 The Hype Train 01:22:11 If AGI and Superintelligence Are Coming... Why Is Adobe Putting AI In Photoshop 01:24:51 The Double Speak Of Generative Imagery and LLMs 01:25:59 The Real Reason I Want OFF The Adobe Train Now 01:29:17 Takeaways! 01:30:14 The Analytical Takeaway 01:35:15 Marker 3 01:35:26 The practical Takeaway 01:37:27 The Philosophical Takeaway --------------------------------- --- The Visual Scholar Podcast is designed to help you demystify the world of Art, Productivity, and Creativity. So you can get better faster, and enjoy your Art Journey. We discuss Drawing, Painting, Illustration and Entertainment Design. Along with Productivity and Career Advice. You Can Find The Visual Scholar Podcast In These Places: Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-visual-scholar/id1678505411 Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/6VbdwbiZqy8nqb90ruKQCX?si=21b9c1d02c85419f YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@MightyArtisan Show Homepage: https://visualscholar.mightyartisan.com Where To Find More About Tim Mcburnie: Learn Drawing and Illustration at The Drawing Codex: www.thedrawingcodex.com Take Your Career and Productivity To The Next Level: www.mightyartisan.com The Drawing Codex Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@TheDrawingCodex Mighty Artisan Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@MightyArtisan Portfolio: www.timmcburnie.com www.artstation.com/tim-mcburnie www.instagram.com/timmcburnie x.com/timmcburnie