An epic proposal for Adobe: We need an AdobeOS and AdobeTower

Question

Open letter to Adobe.
Dear Adobe,
Since May of the year 2000 I have been using your programs, first with with a much appreciated student discount, later as a working professional upgrading to a full license. In the last 13 years I personally have spent at least $20,000 on your software, from student licenses all the way to Master collection and now "creative cloud". Since that time I must also admit that 75% or more of my income has been a direct result of using your software for which I am grateful to your software developers. I fondly remember customizing the neat bouncing circle icons on my MAC, I remember when you bought Flash from Macromedia, I remember the joy of receiving my first boxed set of programs, and I remember the first time a color picker popped up in DWR on my PC when hand coding CSS.
I want you to know that today I lost 10+ hours of my life, never to return, dealing with the CC and CC2014 problem created by your failure to live up to the promise, hype and allure of "Creative Cloud". As a direct result and for the first time in my life as a multimedia professional I truly considered switching back to CS6, never updating ever again and perhaps finding alternative programs to use.
After my momentary lapse of reason reality set in.
Rather than troll your forum in utter negativity:
I would like to propose the following (which are based on observations I suspect your developers and many Adobe customers will agree with):
Develop your own hardware and OS, complied complete with every piece of software that creative professionals need to produce digital work.
Yes, that is what I am proposing: start making computers that are specifically built to run your software with the right RAM, Video cards, Monitors, and drivers. Of course, aptly named something like 'Adobe-IvoryTower' and 'AdobeWindow', on your own proprietary OS, most likely called AdobeOS [AOS]... and ship them to customers without them being loaded with garbage like 'Mcafee virus scan' and absurd things like the 'Vaio media browser' or 'iMovie'...
When you do this put together a panel made up of actual customers who have used your products for at least 5 years.
Listen to that panel and allow the democratic process to shape your product to be what it should be, what we all need it to be: proper, efficient, streamlined, and effective.
Expand into the realm of smart phones, tablets, and mobile devices using a 'paired device' structure where as the software and hardware is always compatible and able to sync.Yes, I would buy an AdobePhone that can record conversations with clients and developers, link them to a project folder and update my task list log in AdobeTimeTracker, all with 1 tap.
Compete with SkyDrive and Google Apps by releasing similar products.Yes, we want AdobeWrite where pure UTF-8 text pastes over properly between file-types when writers send over copy because cleaning incompatible formatting 'should be' extinct.
Cheer loudly as you watch your NET worth Quadruple when other software manufacturers begin to produce Adobe OS versions of programs like Rhino, Solid Works, and Pro Engineer.
Accept praise from your customers and finally forever close down the support forums because yearly updates simply auto-download onto systems which you know 100% are running properly.
Most would agree that there are 3 primary types of devices, these are:
Entertainment toys (computers and devices used in average homes simply to entertain, they come bundled with a bunch of software that every professional spends hours uninstalling)I only know about this because every time I buy a computer I spend too much time turning it into a workstation, valuable time I will want back on my deathbed.
Business workstations (Anyone who has Master collection installed and uses at least 4 pieces of Adobe software on a daily basis, 7 during a month, and nearly all during a year)I know allot about this, this is what we need you to build.
Government systems (I suspect the CIA has enjoyed Photoshop but see no place for a separate system here)I know nothing about these besides the fact they exist.
As such the need for a complete system should be evident to you, clearly it is evident to at least one customer.
For anyone reading this letter imagine the joy of the following:
Complete Hardware and software compatibility, finally.
A robust system engineered by and for creative professionals.
A unified file standard which is truly useful to everyone.
Affordable upgrades and systems, appropriately tiered to usage needs and production standards.
Not having to read through the obscure install error codes or 3 month old un-resolved forum topics.
The convenience of having a master system that really does include everything CC was supposed to.
An OS with truly useful software and productivity tools, configured, pre-installed, and always working.
Updates which we can actually click "yes" on and then go to sleep, trusting that nothing will go wrong.
Even if Adobe did not break into a completely proprietary OS and Hardware set up, it still makes great sense to have an "official subsidiary/branch" that custom builds and delivers pre-reconfigured/bundled MAC and WINDOWS systems to customer's desktops and laps...
Thank you for your consideration in this matter, sincerely,
Christian Žagarskas
- A grateful Adobe customer

Answer 1

Adobe doesn't have bottomless pockets and infinite resources.