back to article Photostopped: Adobe Cloud evaporates in mass outage. Hope none of you are on a deadline, eh?

Adobe technicians scrambled on Wednesday to restore multiple cloud services after a severe outage left customers stranded. Starting around 0600 PDT (1300 UTC) Adobe's status board began lighting up with red outage notifications. At the time this article was written, 13 major issues were ongoing and five had been resolved. By …

  1. ITS Retired

    Everybody rush to the cloud.

    So you can work from any and everywhere.

    Never mind the cloud is someone else's computer, located somewhere else. A computer that you have no control over. Especially if the company falls over.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Everybody rush to the cloud.

      I agree with your sentiment, but it doesn't apply to Adobe because Adobe's software still runs locally!!! What you say, how can that be "cloud" software? Well... "flexlm" was already trademarked.

      1. Alistair Dabbs

        Re: Everybody rush to the cloud.

        Only some of Adobe's software can be run exclusively locally, such as PS, AI, ID etc. The bulk of Creative Cloud services and apps require cloud access simply to launch. That can mean no fonts, no content libraries (e.g. across your team) and none of the mobile apps. Educators were complaining yesterday that their Spark coursework was dead and were frantically trying to come up with Google app alternatives for their classrooms.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Everybody rush to the cloud.

          It appears I'm saving more than just money then using Affinity's products, even though I didn't even buy them at the current major discounts.

          Good :)

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Everybody rush to the cloud.

      Yeah. Ya just can't tell some people.

      I turned down a contract to transition a small org to The Cloud. Gave them all the reasons why it wasn't a great idea. "There is an IT budget that had to be spent, and The Cloud is shiny." They went with it using another contractor.. Now IT costs more than it would to keep me around. Oh well.

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    The Cloud

    The place where you upload your documents so that everyone in the world except for you can access them.

    1. amanfromMars 1 Silver badge

      The Cloud ..... Not a Safe Space Place for Wannabe Vamps and Practising Charlatans

      The Cloud ..... The place where you upload your documents so that everyone in the world except for you can access them. .... Anonymous Coward

      Actually, AC, the Cloud Space is much more like a bank place which has all of your human capital stock to put at risk whilst the remarkable source of their own is never to be questioned?

      They both, the Cloud and banks, appear to strictly adhere very much to the same old formula/modus operandi et vivendi ...... And it 's gone ........ although unparalleled success for second rate, third party renegade rogue robber barons in those fields is nowadays too almightily dependent upon ignorance reigning supreme in simulations where arrogance stimulates dumb captured markets trying to captivate novel virgin sectors ........with the next great things ....... to be thought of as anything worth saving for implementing in the future in its current criminally negligent and wilfully corrupted forms?

      I wonder if they have any viable and easily accepted Plan Bs to seamlessly and secretly operate and offer their exclusive elite executive administrative skills to in order to ensure and insure and assure responsible heads their continued attachment/engagement for survival?

  3. karlkarl Silver badge

    "Adobe's servers are currently down," wrote Element Animation on Twitter. "If you pay for any of their software, you can't use it right now. Remember when we used to own our own software?"

    Well Element Animation... hate to tell you but us professionals, still do own our own software.

    Only absolute amateurs would stake their livelihoods on the cloud ;)

    1. Morten Bjoernsvik

      > Well Element Animation... hate to tell you but us professionals, still do own our own software.

      How can you own closed software like Photoshop Creative Suite, AFAIK CS6 (2017) was the last that could be bought traditionally without the subscription model.

      For professionals there are not that many alternatives to Illustrator and Photoshop.

      As a simple programmer I manage with Krita and Inkscape.

      1. karlkarl Silver badge

        Well, we buy licenses to ensure compliance...

        ... and then we crack the hell out of it.

        How else do you own software in 2020?

        1. Strahd Ivarius Silver badge

          it reminds me of what happened with 3DS4 in the '90.

          You bought the box to get the dongle, then you used the cracked version because it was more stable than the one trying to use the dongle to validate the license...

          1. CountCadaver Silver badge

            Bit like Pixelogic's Zbrush - You think Windows can be unstable? Zbrush takes it to whole heights for £700+ (and now some scary subscription price) The interface also is also a car crash, file menu being in the middle rather than the left hand edge and other stuff being here there and everywhere.

        2. Version 1.0 Silver badge

          Please check the small print - you don't "own" the software, you have only purchased the right to use it if the manufacturer permits you to use it.

      2. Jellied Eel Silver badge

        For professionals there are not that many alternatives to Illustrator and Photoshop.

        Might be time to start looking. Adobe sucks donkey balls, especially given they're supposedly trade. Like listening to them try and answer boring questions when they switched to the cloudy subscription model. What to do if/when you're on location? Pray?

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          A plan B (or G)

          Bought PShop elements March 24. Installed. It would not accept the password the Adobe Gods sent. Three times i have spent escalated hours on escalated help chats and it STILL won't accept my password. I can login, my accountIs there, my purchased software and receipt is there but yes we have no Adobe. It's a bit of a pain but Graphic Converter works and I can go from scratch and start my project again. Aggggghhh!

          1. Terry 6 Silver badge

            Re: A plan B (or G)

            Using Elements 2009. Obviously I'm not using it as a pro user would use full fat Photoshop. Having a "licensed" copy is owning in the same sense as having a long lease is owning your home - maybe more so, no one from Adobe tells me what colours I can make my pictures.

            But using subscription software is like renting a short let flat in a development area.

      3. Snapper

        How many alternatives do you need! Why not go for the one that is really making headway?

        Seriously, check out the excellent and compatible alternatives (Photo and Designer) from Affinity https://affinity.serif.com/en-gb/ and https://is.gd/PxCKKR and https://is.gd/So4rEQ

        Modern, well-coded alternatives for macOS, Windows and iPad that use your computer's power to the full. No subscription, just a one-off low price. They do a 90-day free trial and at the moment a 50% discount to support the design community.

        Since last year, along with their InDesign compatible Publisher app, you've been able to take advantage of

        I was under the impression that Photoshop and Illustrator had not been considered 'Professional' for several years.

        1. The Sprocket

          Yup. And as an independent designer, I use Affinity too with no problems. Admittedly, things can potentially get murky if you work in a collaborative environment where some are still using Adobe. Thankfully, that isn't my situation.

          1. CountCadaver Silver badge

            My wife is an illustrator and designer and she's went to Affinity Photo recently and has had designer for the last couple of years. She likes them both and found the transition from Adobe reasonably easy.

            A few things are different and some have slightly convulted ways of doing things (I'm guessing to side step a software patent or similar for example you can't import Indesign files directly into Affinity Publisher)

            She's also now looking at inkscape (which is now "industry standard" due to it being mentioned in a growing number of job advertisements alongside the usual mentions of adobe products)

    2. Cederic Silver badge

      I'm still on the desktop version of Lightroom but I haven't bought a new camera since 2016.

      While there are other photo editing options available none of them offer the mix of library management and processing in bulk that Lightroom gives me. Processing an entire wedding's photographs by tea time the next day isn't something I'd want to give up.

      Similarly while I use paint.net for things like book cover design, I'm not doing a dozen book covers a day. The Adobe toolset is actually superb, even if their business practices are shoddy. I can easily understand professionals compromising on software ownership in order to retain access to highly productive tools.

      I am though hoping that this issue causes enough backlash for Adobe to realise they need to assure offline working is viable. I lack hope that it'll lead to a new desktop version of Lightroom, even though they'd get an upgrade payment from me even before I buy my next camera.

      1. mistersaxon

        You should really try Capture One - the workflow is very powerful, the quality is high for the output and boy is it fast. And the software is stand-alone though there’s a subscription model available if you want to help their cash flow at your own risk.

        1. ICL1900-G3

          Capture One

          Amen to that.

    3. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

      "us professionals, still do own our own software."

      Those would be the professionals who were professional before it went cloud-only. What do younger professionals do? Buy 2nd hand copies? Or is it professional in the graphics industry to use cracked copies?

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    May The Revenge of the GIMP begin!

    1. BenDwire Silver badge

      No. It's good, but it ain't photoshop. Years of muscle memory make swapping an uphill struggle, which is exactly why Adobe can continue to gouge their customers.

      1. Gene Cash Silver badge

        No, it's not good, and I've used GIMP for decades. GIMP is pretty clunky.

      2. RAMChYLD

        You just need to let go of the memories of Photoshop. Start from scratch. I was the same when moving from Photoshop 6 to GIMP (biggest beef was that there was no Text FX feature in GIMP which allowed for quick drop shadows and outlines on text). The moment I let Photoshop go GIMP became way easier. Sure, it's still 5 extra steps, but it doesn't matter anymore, I can do that as quickly as it takes me to invoke the functionality in Photoshop now.

  5. Hollerithevo

    Yep, that was me stuffed

    Luckily, I could turn to my own trusty PC with an ancient version of Photoshop, and was able to pull some images off pages from our own website to crop and colour-change, so I muddled through. But I kicked myself once again for not getting Photoshop CS 5.5 in a box when I had the chance.

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    A dopey cloud

    Few service interruptions have hit Adobe so far. I'm sure many will use this to promote goinng back to fat-client use. With more info on fat-clients the effects of disasters will more frequently entail data-loss. And may result in higher average down times *though less concentrated).

    1. Richard 12 Silver badge
      Mushroom

      Re: A dopey cloud

      Backing up and confirming restore is much easier when the backup is in your stocky paws, and not some vague promise by someone else.

      Especially when that someone else has no real skin in the game.

      If my backups fail, I stand to lose a huge amount of valuable work. It might even kill my business.

      If Adobe destroy my work, what does it cost them? An apologetic mass email?

      1. CAPS LOCK

        "If my backups fail"

        Err, that's not how backups work. You may need to rethink your 'backup' process...

        1. Richard 12 Silver badge
          FAIL

          Re: "If my backups fail"

          A backup that can't be restored is usually said to have 'failed'.

          What term do you use?

  7. Hoss_Cartw

    Affinity

    When Affinity had their 50% Corona sale that got me sold. I haven't looked back and I am very lucky to be out of the Adobe subscription hell.

    1. DemeterLast

      Re: Affinity

      I jumped on Affinity as well. There are a few things I miss from Illustrator, but all in all I've been happy.

      I noticed the outage when I went to set up a new user to Acrobat Pro. While I'm happy to switch to Affinity for design, unfortunately in this industry (AEC) not using Acrobat can lead to some weird issues when contractors use Adobe toolchains to put together PDF submittals. It's really annoying, but the other PDF options aren't workable or are more or less just as expensive.

      I'd like to force everybody to use LaTeX, but I don't think I could weather the fury.

      1. jason 7

        Re: Affinity

        Yeah we've all switched to Affinity here too. Been that way for a while.

        So much less hassle...and cost.

      2. Bob9911

        Re: Affinity

        Yup me too - bought Affinity Designer half price which included some free extras too, and now use it whenever I want and am delighted with it. Good job Serif!

        1. CAPS LOCK

          "Good job Serif!". Harumph...

          ... WebPlus users won't agree...

          1. The Sprocket

            Re: "Good job Serif!". Harumph...

            Pinegrow.

            1. CAPS LOCK

              "Pinegrow" Thanks for that, I may well take if for a spin...

              ...although it might be a wee bit too different to WebPlus. Time will tell...

              1. The Sprocket

                Re: "Pinegrow" Thanks for that, I may well take if for a spin...

                It depends on your situation. You owe it to yourself to at least check it out. I am finding it, yes different, but once I understand their line of thinking, it is pretty darn simple, and seems to me to be very full-featured to craft up a pro job. I also like the way they do the 'behind the scenes code' options. Really useful. But check it out—it just may not work for you.

      3. RAMChYLD

        Re: Affinity

        I'd like to introduce you to LibreOffice Draw...

    2. The Sprocket

      Re: Affinity

      Yup. I knew this day would come, so I jumped the Adobe ship too. And I was a loyal, paid, legit user since 1994. I hope arrogant and tone-deaf Adobe likes this. Buh-BYE!

    3. arthoss

      Re: Affinity

      pixelmator pro is what I use... and it also has a vectorial drawing mode.

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Compliance

    "Adobe Analytics, Experience Manager, Social, Target, Audience Manager, Cross-Cloud Capabilities, Campaign, Platform Core Services, Data Science Workspace, Experience Cloud Home, Data Foundation, Query Service, and Journey Orchestration."

    So many buzzwords, so little work. They just need "AI" and "blockchain" in that lot and they'll have the full set.

    Coloured pencils anyone?

    1. CountCadaver Silver badge

      Re: Compliance

      Nah this situation is beyond coloured pencils, so I've broken out the emergency crayons

  9. Pascal Monett Silver badge
    Trollface

    "people can't use some of its stuff in the cloud nor access their documents"

    Ah, progress.

    You pay through the nose to not be able to access your own documents when someone else's server is feeling iffy.

    Once upon a time, we had Personal Computers. We now have Someone Else's Platform, and we pay royally for the privilege.

    Well, those of us who can't avoid it, that is.

    1. jason 7

      Re: "people can't use some of its stuff in the cloud nor access their documents"

      Like these people that think just having one USB port on a laptop is moving forward.

      Well I guess when you spent £2000 on such junk you have to convince yourself you made the right decision.

      1. The Sprocket

        Re: "people can't use some of its stuff in the cloud nor access their documents"

        Yes, agreed. Products that come out of the 'New Age of Stupid' really deserve to fail. This just demonstrates that some businesses are too full of arrogance, and themselves, to do market research—and take it seriously.

    2. CountCadaver Silver badge

      Re: "people can't use some of its stuff in the cloud nor access their documents"

      So basically we have gone back to the 70s with mainframes and terminals then essentially?

      Just you don't own the mainframe and your terminal is a bit less dumb?

  10. Dwarf

    If only

    If only there was a way to run things locally without the need to depend on things outside of my machine, then perhaps these sort of issues could be avoided..

  11. GraXXoR

    I have CS 6 licensed on about 6 computers at my school. But they can’t update to Catalina or they can no longer use CS without using a VM.

    Have one educational license of CC on my iMac 2019 which came with Catalina oreinstalled. And to be honest the difference between CS 6 and CC2020 as far as Photoshop, Illustrator, Lightroom, Bridge and Acrobat are concerned are SO minimal that I’m debating whether to install CS6 in a High Sierra VM and quit the $360 per year subscription.

    Will say I got my money’s worth out of those CS6 boxed licenses!

  12. Jon Etkins

    Just another reason why I hate being forced into a subscription model. I would still be happily using the Lightroom I bought and paid for years ago, if it wasn't for the fact that it doesn't support the latest cameras and Adobe have quit issuing updates for anything except their pay-as-you-go portfolio.

    1. RobThBay

      Adobe have a free product called DNG converter that gets updated once in while. It converts raw files (even the from newest cameras) into Adobe's DNG format which can be read by old versions of PS and Lightroom.

  13. Ken Moorhouse Silver badge

    Pear-Shaped

    I thought Photoshop was used to remedy such problems.

  14. Miss_X2m1

    Best Photo Editing Software.....

    DxO!!! Try it, you'll love it, AND.....you get to keep it....LOL!!

    1. A.A.Hamilton

      Re: Best Photo Editing Software.....

      "Try it, you'll love it,..."

      You sure ? Even though my camera has an X-Trans sensor? No, thought not.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Best Photo Editing Software.....

      Darktable is much cheaper

      1. ICL1900-G3

        Re: Best Photo Editing Software.....

        Darktable is good, but it's not outstanding. Sadly, Light room is much easier to use.

  15. AliBear

    Little Fluffy Clouds...

    ... that get whisked away in the wind just when need them

  16. FuzzyWuzzys

    Sorry but I love my CC photo software

    Never had an issue in 18 months of using CC, that includes several weeks spent caravanning in the highlands photographing landscapes with absolutely no data access, had to use a public PC in a local library to check my emails. Had PS ( with over a dozen plugins ) and LR installed on my laptop and they worked perfect for the whole time I've been away from home. With CC I'm getting PS/LR for around £100/year, there's no way I could afford the boxed edition as that would come in around £750 up front, assuming it was still available and it would only have updates for current version unlike CC where I can have any version I want all running simultaneoulsy. Plus I can install PS/LR on two machines at the same time, also something boxed never allowed without dicking about with license transfers.

    Call me an Adobe shill if you like but I love CC as I get to use the pukka photo software I could never otherwise afford to buy.

  17. Strahd Ivarius Silver badge
    Trollface

    Is it related...

    ... to the end of support for Adobe Flash and the fact that nobody cared to inform the Adobe Cloud Team that they needed to update their backend?

  18. jbeech

    No offense to those saying it would be nice if we still owned our software but we never 'owned' our software. We had a licensed copy running locally. I'm sure plenty of folks know the difference.

    In any case, count me amongst those who preferred running my own local instance versus depending on the cloud. To the point I give up updating to the latest version from Adobe. These days, I purchase simply licenses of CS5 (version 12 of PS) because I cannot depend on working through the cloud (due to my miserably slow internet connection). Thus, Adobe hasn't seen one single US$ from my business in about ten years. Yes, I know this is a drop in the bucket to them - but - it amounted to a couple thousand dollars a year in upgrade fees. Is what it is, eh? Fortunately, an alternative for Premier was very easy to obtain and while there are very acceptable open source replacements for PS and AI, I'm perfectly satisfied working with the CS5 version.

  19. rwill2

    It's all about DRM and monthly revenue

    It's all about DRM to protect their software and charging you reoccurring fees, then again Photoshop 6.0 still runs perfectly offline for me!

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