Steve Forde at Adobe

So Lion is now out.  Many users will be asking how this will impact applications such as AE.

To give some insight – Adobe engineers have been testing our applications since the first drop of Lion was available to developers.  In many cases, there has been a dialogue between Apple and Adobe about where issues have arisen and how to address / fix them.

For After Effects specifically – there are no known specific issues to report with CS 5 or CS 5.5 running on 10.7 Lion. There are however a few changes in the OS that you should be aware of in your production workflow (for installing applications, accessing prefs etc):

• Known issues with Adobe products on Mac OS X 10.7 Lion

We do know of an intermittent crash on quit with AE CS 4 in Lion that was being addressed by Apple.  We are working on determining if this was fixed by Apple in the final shipping version of the OS.

S.

I get a huge amount of email from passionate AE users asking for improvements, new features etc.  I also get several emails from folks who aren’t exactly happy with decisions we’ve made in terms of supporting this or that, or what we haven’t done right etc.

It’s a very cool thing.  You send me this stuff because you CARE.  That is HUGE.

Many also ask how to get more involved.

Here’s one way.  It’s called the “Product Improvement Program”.  (Click: Help –>Product Improvement Program from within AE)

First off – I know this all sounds very formal, and yes – Adobe is a big company.  But this information is a BIG DEAL when it comes time for us to make tough decisions.

Here’s what happens.  AE will anonymously (ANONYMOUSLY!) send data about which functions (ie – effects) you used in AE to a server here at Adobe.  It will also send info about any errors you encounter, what types of formats you export and import and so on.  There is NO information about you or your project that is collected.  If you would tell us via the form what type of work you do, and size of company – that gives us just enough info on who and where AE is being used.

Why is this important?  Myself and my peers on the AE team look at this data almost on a weekly basis as we try and make decisions that we think you will care about.  This data is a HUGE help.

Here is a link to the FAQ on what we store and how: Adobe Product Improvement Program

Therefore,  PLEASE say ‘Yes – participate!’ when you select Help –>Product Improvement Program within AE.

After that – please keep the emails, forum posts, blogs, tweets coming.  The great, good, bad and ugly – all are welcome as they help us make better software.

S.

I had an overwhelming response to my previous blog post about where Adobe stands as a company in the professional market.  Many of you commented via the blog or email that there should be some sort of incentive to switch to Premiere Pro and CS 5.5 Production Premium while moving from your current toolset.

Well – in the spirit of putting our money where our mouth is, we are now offering for a limited time – 50% off either CS 5.5 Production Premium, OR Premiere Pro CS 5.5 standalone.  This is open to anyone, worldwide, coming from either Apple or Avid workflows.

As an example, in the US store, this means a FULL license of CS 5.5 Production Premium suite can be bought for $849.50.   A FULL license of Premiere Pro CS 5.5 can be bought for $399. Again – this promo is worldwide, I’m just using the US store as an example.

Remember – you need the promo code ‘SWITCH’ and you need to click the ‘get 50% off’ icon on the right hand side of the page.

• Switch to CS 5.5 Premiere Pro or  CS 5.5 Production Premium and get 50% off.

I don’t believe that Adobe has ever had a promotion like this in history.

S.