AdobeAdobe makes some of the best software products available for OS X, most notably Photoshop and Acrobat. While the products are top notch quality, for some reason Adobe has trouble programming efficient installation and software update routines. A simple Adobe Acrobat update weighing in at roughly 30MB lasted approximately 20 minutes to install on my 2.4Ghz MacBook Pro with 4GB of RAM and a 320GB 7200RPM HDD. If that is not the epitome of inefficiency then I do not know what is!

Although I adore most Adobe products, their installation and updates routines leave a lot to be desired. I dread installing Adobe software for the first time because it can take longer than an hour to install CS3 on a Mac. Contrast that with the roughly 10 minutes it takes to install on my Windows XP workstation. Can you say major disparity?

In addition to the deadening installation times, the Adobe installers appear to be anti-productive – they require you shut down just about every application you would consider using while awaiting the installation to finish. Just about any imagineable application is required to be closed otherwise the installer sits and stares at you dumbfounded. What? You did not know that application cannot be open during install? Pfft – you are obviously a user!

Firefox open during the installation? Better close it otherwise the installer chokes. Safari open? Ditto. iTunes open? Ditto. You name it, ditto! What on Gods green Earth is Adobe doing with my system that requires all these applications be shutdown to install a mere update to Acrobat Professional?

Apparently when I commence an Adobe install I am supposed to go take a shower and come back hours later, praying to Steve Jobs the installation completed without issue! I sure as hell am unable to use my Mac because the Adobe gods have deemed anything except their installation routine non-executeable.

What’s worse is once you begin installing an Adobe product and the installer reaches the point where it actually no longer requires human intervention, the completion progress bar rarely increases. It almost looks as if it just sits there, inching its way to the right at a rate of one pixel every minute. With a progress bar that is 300 pixels wide, guess how long that install requires!

More than anything, I just do not understand why Adobe requires so much time to install. I could deal without Firefox, Safari or whatever if the install was completed in an efficient manner. Install an update in a couple minutes similar to how Apple patches the OS and other applications in mere minutes. Maybe Adobe does not know the secret handshake?

Am I the only one on the planet who experiences the evil of Adobe installation routines on my Mac? Anyone else out there on the internets who has run in to similar frustration