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The road to the clouds: yesterday and today Adobe



Since its founding in 1982, two Xerox natives, Adobe Systems, has come a long and arduous path. At first it was a project of two enthusiasts who firmly believed in the commercial prospects of the PostScript page description language. Today, we know Adobe as the world leader in publishing and design software.

From shopping ...


Now it’s hard to say whether Adobe Systems could grow into a large company if Steve Jobs hadn’t turned its attention to it in 1985. He sought to expand the publishing capacity of the Macintosh computer and invested $ 2.5 million in a PostScript controller for the Apple LaserWriter printer. Part of the funds went to Aldus, who developed PageMaker, the first desktop publishing system.

In 1991 and 1998, Adobe Systems subsequently released the second and third versions of PostScript. But by this time, the interests of the company were by no means limited to such a specific area.

The first major acquisition of Adobe Systems in 1994 was that same Aldus company and its main product, PageMaker. Adobe has concentrated in its hands both the interpreter of the page description language and the publishing system. And then ... again went to the market for shopping.

Over the years, she has absorbed: Frame Technology (1995), GoLive Systems (1999), Accelio (2002), Syntrillium (2003), Macromedia (2005), Business Catalyst (2009), EchoSign (2011) and Allegorithmic (2019). Standing apart in 1988 is the purchase of a prototype graphic editor from independent developers Thomas and John Knoll. A few years later, he became the legendary Photoshop .

Since 1993, Adobe began to develop its own Portable Document Format (PDF). Initially, it was intended for the correct display of printing mock-ups in electronic form, however, after the release of the free Acrobat Reader PDF viewing tool, the format “went to the people”, having gained worldwide popularity over time.

Developed and PageMaker. Within 10 years, all new versions of the program were released. But in 2004, Adobe announced the termination of support for the program, releasing it to replace the "ideological heir" - Adobe InDesign .

... to the ecosystem ...


By 2003, the assets of Adobe Systems formed a set of software packages integrated into a single ecosystem - Adobe Creative Suite. Its main components are Illustrator, InDesign and Photoshop. And the premium version also included the Acrobat Professional PDF editor , as well as two HTML editors - Dreamweaver and GoLive. The third version of Creative Suite added tools for working with video and audio - Premiere Pro , After Effects and Audition .

... and the cloud


By the time Creative Suite 6 was released, Adobe had a strong understanding of the need to bring its products online. The proliferation of high-speed Internet and the growing popularity of the subscription model for providing services have led to the fact that the sixth version of Creative Suite is the latest. The offline product bundle was replaced in 2012 by the cloud, Adobe Creative Cloud .

Today it includes more than two dozen applications covering most creative tasks:
  • Photoshop is a graphical editor that needs no introduction. He has no serious competitors, and is de facto recognized as the main tool of any artist, designer or photographer.
  • InDesign is a professional environment for typesetting printing mock-ups or digital media, in common language - “workbench”.
  • Illustrator – , CorelDRAW.
  • Acrobat DC – PDF-, .
  • Premiere Pro – . , , « » «», Premiere Pro.
  • Adobe XD – , , , , ..
  • Many more specialized applications that expand and complement the capabilities of the six above.

Interesting fact: Adobe, launching its own “creative cloud”, was so sure of its success that it posted on its website open distributions of the programs that were part of Creative Suite 4. The company, however, specifically indicated that these products were no longer with it supported, and you can use them only at your own peril and risk.

At the same time, Adobe did not encourage freebies, and they did not post any link to the page with the laid out programs. But the earth is full of rumors, and outdated, but free versions of Photoshop & Co then spread widely enough.

What the Adobe cloud gave to users


The most important advantage of Creative Cloud over all previous versions of Adobe products is its connectivity. In the Creative Suite, a special Bridge application was created to move working materials between different tools. In its capabilities, it resembled a file manager. But the cloud made it possible to achieve true "seamlessness."

Creative Cloud not only provides a bundle of all Adobe tools. It has become a workspace for users. It is possible to store projects in it, exchange them (veterans of printing and journalism remember how to use a ZIP-drive to deliver the layout from the agency to the editorial office), organize joint work. And that made Creative Cloud also a cloud for creeitors.

By 2020, Adobe had embraced virtually all digital-compatible creative industries with its solutions. And there are simply no analogues to many Adobe Systems products. A student, an independent artist, a working group or a company can only choose the right license for their tasks. The cycle of webinars of the System Software company, which you will find here, will help you understand them .

The economic performance demonstrated by Adobe in recent years confirms that the company has taken the right course, and the popularity of its products in the world is only growing. In 2019, Adobe received a record revenue of over $ 11 billion, which is 24% higher than in 2018. If you look at the stock price, then since 2012 they have risen in price from $ 25 to almost $ 350. Starting with PostScript, the company became a trendsetter in digital design. And it’s unlikely that anyone will be able to take away this role from her.

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