equal opportunity bummer

March 25, 2003

A while back I “took Macromedia to task”:http://www.momathome.com/viewfromhome/archives/000170.html for their site redesign and general anti-Mac sentiments. Well, now it’s “Adobe’s”:http://www.adobe.com turn.

Now “they have posted”:http://www.adobe.com/motion/pcpreferred.html a page on their site which tells readers why they should choose a PC over a Mac. Now mind you, it’s not like they say that exactly. Instead, they spotlight an “online magazine article”:http://www.digitalvideoediting.com/cgi-bin/getframeletter.cgi?/2002/11_nov/reviews/cw_macvspciii.htm which drew that conclusion.

There is so much more that goes into the user experience in graphic applications aside from raw speed. There are things that Macromedia Fireworks does much faster than Photoshop (setting type and applying/using styles comes immediately to mind) but there are times where I will use Photoshop to complete a task simply because the interface is better and/or the results are more reliable. Is Adobe saying that one should choose a PC over a Mac simply because it tests faster? Talk about biting the hand that feeds you.

*update:* Apple has responded to the article (skirting the more pertinent issue that Adobe re-published it in the first place given Apple and Adobe’s tight relationship over the years), according to a statement published by “MacCentral:”:http://maccentral.macworld.com/news/2003/03/25/appleresponds/

“Apple stands by our claims that our latest Power Mac systems perform equal to or better than competing PC systems,” Apple said in a statement given to MacCentral. “The reported tests on Adobe’s Web site showing slower performance of After Effects on a Mac than a PC is more an application test than a platform test and is not indicative of all Pro application performance on the Mac.”

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