Adobe Intel Support: October at the Earliest || The Mac Observer

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Adobe Intel Support: October at the Earliest

by , 7:35 AM EST, February 2nd, 2006

Adobe has detailed its road map for Intel-based Mac native support, and it won't be releasing Universal Binary (UB) updates for its current applications. Instead, UB versions will be released as part of Adobe's regular 18-24 month product cycle. Since Creative Suite 2 (CS2) was released in April of 2005, that means October 2006 is the earliest we can expect to see upgrades that support Intel-based Macs.

In an FAQ that lists Adobe's plans, the company stated that is is committed to supporting Intel-based Macs with most of its existing Mac products, and that it is transitioning its code development to Apple's Xcode so that it can build UB compliant applications.

Adobe's document states "Adobe does not plan to re-release current products as Universal applications that can run natively on both Intel- and PowerPC-based systems. This applies to Adobe Creative Suite 2 and Studio 8, as well as individual applications such as Photoshop CS2, InDesign CS2, Illustrator CS2, Acrobat 7.0 Professional, Dreamweaver 8, Flash Professional 8, and After Effects 7.0. Instead, we are focused on delivering the next versions of these products as Universal applications that will run natively on the new Intel-based Mac computers."

The applications that Adobe is currently working on, or evaluating transition plans for includes:

Based on tests in January, Adobe feels that its applications are Rosetta compatible, which means they will run in Apple's PowerPC emulation environment on Intel-based Macs. Performance, however, is an issue. The company states that you may see a noticeable performance hit, but that installing at least a gigabyte of RAM on your Mac does help.

The one exception to Rosetta compatibility is Version Cue Workspace (Server). It does not run under Rosetta, but Intel-based Macs can connect to a Version Cue Workspace. If your workflow relies on this tool, be sure to keep a G4 or G5 Mac to use as a Version Cue server.

Adobe is offering limited Rosetta technical support for its current applications, stating that it may not be able to "address installation or compatibility and other issues that arise from running under Rosetta."

In fact, the report recommends that you run the current crop of applications on a PowerPC-based Mac, and wait for the UB versions to ship before upgrading to an Intel-based model.

Another problem for CS2 users involves plug-ins: Adobe has not tested any third-party plug-ins for InDesign CS2, Photoshop CS2, or Illustrator CS2. Even if these core applications function acceptably in your environment, the plug-ins that enhance your workflow may not. That means users need to contact plug-in developers to confirm Rosetta compatibility.

The Adobe Technical Support Knowledgebase is the resource that Adobe is referring its customers to for additional information about Intel support. As new information arises, it plans to update the online articles available there. If you encounter bugs while using Adobe's applications in Rosetta, you can report them through the bug report system.

Although Adobe is committed to supporting Apple, the product cycle time frame could be a problem for designers transitioning to the new Intel-based Macs. If you are using a PowerMac G5, the performance hit when switching to an Intel model might be more than you want. G4 users, however, may not notice the degradation, since Rosetta may run the CS2 applications at the same speed they are already accustomed to.

Adobe's 18-24 month product cycle usually makes it easy to plan for hardware and software upgrades, but this time around it's a bit more difficult. Apple's early Intel release may be good news for most users, but it has put Adobe, and designers, in a tight spot.

Observer Comments

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View Name:Guest
Thu Feb 02, 2006 10:47 am Subject: Retaliation?

Close Name:Small White Car Posts: 1960 Joined: 02 Jul 2004
Thu Feb 02, 2006 11:15 am Subject:

Quote
Guest wrote:
Could this be Adobe's answer to Apple's agressive entry into their "turf" with FCP, Motion, and now Aperture?

Probably not since this is ALWAYS how Adobe handles these things.

This is exactly how the OS 9 to OS X transition went, so no big surprises here.

Given the complexity of Photoshop I'd much rather wait for an update then get some buggy patch quickly that has all sorts of problems with it.

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View Name:Guest
Thu Feb 02, 2006 11:58 am Subject: Open source for InDesign

View Name:Guest
Thu Feb 02, 2006 11:59 am Subject:

Close Name:dux5 Posts: 109 Joined: 02 Jul 2002
Thu Feb 02, 2006 1:32 pm Subject:

Quote
Guest wrote:
As long as it runs under Rosetta just fine, happy.

Not according to the MacWorld tests.

Comparing Photoshop on the most-recent iMac G5 to the Intel iMac, the Adobe app ran at about half speed under Rosetta.

If you're upgrading from a G4, you probably won't notice a difference. For those on an older G5, you're not going to be happy ... at least that's the early report.

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Close Name:Small White Car Posts: 1960 Joined: 02 Jul 2004
Thu Feb 02, 2006 2:56 pm Subject:

[quote="dux5"]

Quote
Guest wrote:

If you're upgrading from a G4, you probably won't notice a difference. For those on an older G5, you're not going to be happy ... at least that's the early report.

Yeah...it depends on who you are. My dad's using a 667 MgHz G4 Powerbook. I'm betting Photoshop at half speed on a Macbook Pro will STILL be a step up for him!

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View Name:Guest
Thu Feb 02, 2006 4:03 pm Subject:

View Name:Guest
Thu Feb 02, 2006 4:05 pm Subject:

Close Name:deasys Posts: 269 Joined: 08 Apr 2003
Thu Feb 02, 2006 4:34 pm Subject:

Quote
Guest wrote:
Could this be Adobe's answer to Apple's agressive entry into their "turf" with FCP, Motion, and now Aperture? Also...Photoshop Elements

Could be.

My answer to Adobe is to adopt FCP. Motion, Aperture, iPhoto, and Quark among others.

Fsck 'em...

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Close Name:Small White Car Posts: 1960 Joined: 02 Jul 2004
Thu Feb 02, 2006 4:45 pm Subject:

Quote
deasys wrote:
Quote
Guest wrote:
Could this be Adobe's answer to Apple's agressive entry into their "turf" with FCP, Motion, and now Aperture? Also...Photoshop Elements

Could be.

My answer to Adobe is to adopt FCP. Motion, Aperture, iPhoto, and Quark among others.

Fsck 'em...

Go for it. Seems like most others have. (Well, except for After Effects and Photoshop...they don't have replacements.)

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Close Name:DrGroove Posts: 1 Joined: 02 Feb 2006
Thu Feb 02, 2006 6:31 pm Subject: Have G5, going to 'trade up' to an iMac???

Come on guys; what sort of pro is going to go from a G5 with huge monitors to an iMac anyway?

Apple breathe a sigh of relief because now they've got months to sort the G6 (??) and their pro apps - no point releasing an intel tower till Adobe are sorted, and not many pro pros are going to bother with an iMac anyway.

OH no! We've got a year of solid, dependable work ahead without buggy hardware or x.0 version Adobe releases!!! what a tragedy...

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View Name:Guest
Thu Feb 02, 2006 7:16 pm Subject:

View Name:Guest
Wed Feb 08, 2006 1:50 am Subject:

View Name:Guest
Mon Feb 13, 2006 7:13 am Subject:

View Name:Guest
Tue Mar 07, 2006 4:48 pm Subject: THANKS!!!!

View Name:Guest
Thu Apr 20, 2006 5:45 pm Subject: G4 vs. intel/rosetta

Close Name:dux5 Posts: 109 Joined: 02 Jul 2002
Thu Apr 20, 2006 7:29 pm Subject: Re: G4 vs. intel/rosetta

Quote
Anonymous wrote:
I have been operating CS2 suite professional on an old 550mhz titanium powerbook and on a new intel core duo 1.66ghz with rosetta. The performance is in fact far inferior on the intel right now. Usual features don't operate properly at all and opening more than one app at a time is futile because the other justs quits.
Such a shame...

Just for sake of comparison, CS2 runs worse on my G5 than it does on my PowerBook. I have yet to isolate the problem, but I wouldn't be so quick to pin it on the Rosetta layer.

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View Name:Guest
Sat Apr 22, 2006 11:56 am Subject:

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