Designer ES2

[Iakov_Qvaz]

According to this link  -  http://www.adobe.com/devnet/livecycle/articles/lcdesigneres2_whats_new.html  -  Acrobat Extended 9 owners should be able to obtain Designer ES2 as an update,  but the Customer Service of BOTH LiveCycle and Acrobat don't know how I can upgrade my Designer ES1 (v8.2) to ES2.   My Designer came with my Acrobat Extended 9 purchase.  Has any Acrobat 9 user upgraded to Designer ES2?  How?  Thank you.

[Adobe_ejs]

Designer ES2 is available as a paid-for upgrade ($29) to Acrobat 9 users.    It should be on the Adobe store shortly (it's not there yet, I checked).   We just release this week and it will take a little bit of time before it's posted.

[Iakov_Qvaz]

Hmmm. I thought products and services were supposed to be available on the date of announcement.

You are the only person to my question. I had asked several Adobe sources. Thank you.

[Iakov_Qvaz]

What is the status of Designer ES2 updates for Acrobat users?  What's going on?  Do you have a SPECIFIC link I can go to?  Thank you.

[Adobe_ejs]

Iakov,

We made a mistake in our set-up of Designer on the Adobe store and are fixing it.   The delay has to do with the time it takes to setup our internal systems to allow for the upgrade purchase.    You can download the trial version now at this link -- http://www.adobe.com/devnet/livecycle/?view=downloads

Sorry for the delay.

Jeff

[Iakov_Qvaz]

Well, at least, you do reply to inquiries so that's good.  Thank you.

[Iakov_Qvaz]

Is this update coming before 2010 or should we (non-Workbench users) just forget it?  The trial version cannot be used for production work.  Thank you.

[Adobe_ejs]

I just got the go live date on Friday.   The upgrade will be available on January 11th.

Thanks for your continued patience

[Iakov_Qvaz]

Thank you.

To the best of your knowledge,  are there any plans for the near or distant future for an OS X version of Designer?

[Former Community Member]

Highly unlikely.

Paul

[Iakov_Qvaz]

Because?...

[Former Community Member]

Lack of demand .....I suspect!!!!

Paul

[Adobe_ejs]

The upgrade for Designer ES2 is now available on the Adobe Store -- https://store4.adobe.com/cfusion/store/index.cfm?&store=OLS-US&storeRegion=US&nr=1#view=ols_prod&cat...

Thanks for your patience.

Jeff

[Iakov_Qvaz]

Thank you.

[RF-SC]

Lack of Demand?  I am a Mac owner and bought Creative Suite CS4 because I was led to believe it was in there by Adobe sales staff.  Only to find out it is only available in the PC version.  If the gurus at ADOBE read this - Please give us a MAC version!

[aidrice]

Don't rely upon anyone at Adobe to give you accurate information on their products. Just a warning.

I just now spoke to a Sales rep via Chat through the Store, who assured me that Acrobat Pro 9 for Mac includes LiveCycle Designer:

"Adrienne: Just to clarify, the Mac version of Acrobat Pro 9 does have LiveCycle designer included?
Randy: Yes."

I am tempted to make a report to the FTC. I have run into this problem of "misinformation" being given out by Adobe customer service and sales reps.

Message was edited by: aidrice

[lc-pdf]

> Lack of demand .....I suspect!!!!

After a long time investigating this topic I found this thread and have to state, that I'm a bit puzzled about your post.

May I be so free to quote and link the following statement of one of your colleagues:

"One of the most requested features that we have in the LiveCycle community is to run LiveCycle Designer on a Mac."

The information on the linked site are in strong contradiction to your information and have been set up more than three years prior to your post in this forum. I suppose Adobe got a clear statement from the customer-base a long time ago already, that there IS a strong demand for LCD from the growing MacOS X-user-base.

Is it a 'politically' driven decision not to publish one?

I'd be willing to buy more Adobe-products, even the full Master Collection for MacOS X since they have a good reputation. But how can I do so, when one of the most important tool to me is missing? I'd love to have the full equipment for designing and creating PDF-Forms from one vendor since they are supposed to have a better integration. The only reason I can't, is that the vendor doesn't want me to spend my money on it. It's a pity ...

Regards, Jan

[kingphysh]

Hi

2 things:

#1 I believe it is possible to run a Windows OS on your Mac using Bootcamp (right?).  I have seen several individuals doing this. Well, not being a Mac user, I don't know the details. I assume you could then run LCD on a it. ...saving your work often   LCD is bundled with the Win version of Acrobat Pro, so it would obviously require an investment on your part.

#2 The LCD software was originally developed by a different software company (the product was named Indigo Forms and was rebranded as JetForm).  Eventually, the JetForm product was acquired by Adobe from Accelio (the software company had changed its name from JetForm). Accelio (JetForm) had developed the XFA (XML Forms Architecture). When Adobe acquired it, there wasn't a Mac version. Adobe probably doesn't want to make the investment of producing a Mac version--most likely not for political reasons. It is for economic reasons. It would be very expensive and require hiring a lot of new people and then laying off most them when the project was finished. They wouldn't need nearly the number required once it was developed, just to work on ongoing upgrades. Don't look for a Mac version anytime soon, if ever.

Stephen

[lc-pdf]

Hello Stephen,

Thanks for your reply, but pls let me comment on it.

#1 Of course. No problem (in general) to run an Windows Environment using Bootcamp. On one hand.

On the other hand it urges you to accept a lot of disadvantages.

a) Seperate partition necessary.

b) Reboot before usage of Windows necessary.

c) Windows licence necessary.

d) Additional and ongoing administration efforts.

e) No direct interaction with Mac-Applications.

f) No LCD-licence when bying/using Mac-version of e.g. Master Collection

g) Additional costs for separate LCD for Windows-licence.

h) plus, plus, plus ... :-(((

#2 Fine. That's kind of an explanation. At least for quite some time after acquiring/taking over a company/a product.

But,

a) LCD, at least, looks like an Eclipse-Application, which would be (in general) a multi-platform-product.

b) How many years does a company like Adobe and with this standing plus experience in the Mac-Market to build a Multi-Platform-Version of such an crucial application?

c) Your argument about the justification of the costs sounds like a good explanation. But, wouldn't it be a valid explanation for all the other Adobe products too?

d) Direct justification of costs might be short-sighted sometimes, cross-calculations are every day business. I'd be willing to by the whole Master Collection, if the Suite would be complete. In germany it means an ~€ 3.500,- investment. Given the "crippled" Mac-Suite I deny to buy anything. No turnover, no revenue.

e) plus, plus, plus ... :-(((

Don't get me wrong, I'm neither impatient nor a greenhorn with no understanding of market-decisions or the IT in general with an upcoming 25th anniversary running my own company.

So I need to repeat: It's a pity!

Best regards

lc-pdf

[kingphysh]

Hi,

Congrats on your 25 years! That is a great  accomplishment.

Perhaps, I was a little cavalier about suggesting that you setup and use a multi-boot environment. It sounds like it is probably easier to have a Windows box nearby! And, I think Adobe should at the very least, throw-in an Win LCD license with any package that includes Acrobat Pro--it is only fair!

Big, corporations are very short-sighted in achieving their profit goals. If a manager invests too far in the future, they will surely lose their job.

Your comment:

     "wouldn't it be a valid explanation for all the other Adobe products"

I believe there is a difference in maintenance of an existing product and maintaining it while developing a Mac version. Now that there will be a 0.5 upgrade every year, Adobe has its hands full adding great new features to the CS product line with each release. I would like to think that Designer is part of the CS family, albeit the stepchild, it would seem, and Adobe will continue to improve it at the same rate as other CS products. (Incidentally, releasing a new version every year is another example of being shot-sighted, in my opinion.) Adobe appears to be late in releasing Designer ES3--Acrobat Pro 10 ships with ES 2.5. I personally skipped upgrading to CS 5.5--had Designer 10 been part of it I, would have made the CS 5.5 upgrade. Heck, if Acrobat Pro10 shipped with Designer 10, I would have upgraded to Acrobat Pro 10. I'm still on the 9.0 that shipped with CS 5.0.

Anyway, my point is, Adobe has laid out an ambitious schedule and perhaps Adobe has failed to meet that schedule with regards to Designer. If that is true, I think that puts another nail in the Designer/Mac coffin.

I feel your pain and I hope I am wrong.

Stephen