Adobe's Alien Invasion Continues Not on all Cylinders

Where is the Weak Link? Dammit!

Just to preface this, I am trying to stay positive as hell regarding Adobe and their Alien Tactics. But it is getting a bit old... rewind.... Just to preface this, I am trying to stay positive as hell regarding Adobe and their Alien Tactics. But it is getting a bit old... rewind...

That is how the average user feels when they try to contact Adobe's support, whether it be through online chat or via telephone. In a nutshell, Adobe's customer service/support is going awry and to put it bluntly, royally sucks.

I know. I know. I promoted the positive side of the Creative Cloud in the last video, but that did not cover the "what if something goes wrong with the installation or launching of app" issue.

To be honest, I had a couple of issues with Photoshop CC initially. Then with Premiere Pro. And yes. Both of those issues were resolved fairly quickly. But the pattern continues... Now it is with Dreamweaver.

Hey! I Really Mean No Harm

Yes, we are now running at about a 25% "oops, this Sh^t ain't workin' right". I am sure that this will all be resolved soon, but in the mean time, and for those that are impatient... well. Adobe's take is very laid back and we don't give a Sh^t at this point. They lack in any sense of customer service that makes any sense. It seems they had "How to say you're sorry class 101" for all their employees. But that phrase does not a problem solve.

It is so bad, that their peeps can't even do simple telephone transfers anymore. I was on hold for about 20 minutes after being told in the chat session that this problem was beyond them and that I needed to talk to the "real" tech support people. Come again? The "real"???? what???

So as a loyalist, I called. By the way a number that is nowhere to be found on Adobe's ginormous site. Was on hold as I said... then after going through the whole verification of me being a valid CC subscriber, and having stated my case, the fellow with a strong accent told me that he will have to put me through and connect me to technical support. What? I thought this was technical support!

So he politely asked if he could put me on hold while he connects me to the proper people. I agreed. Several minutes went by. He got back on the line and said "Okay, I am going to connect you now." Remember, this was about half an hour in now...

"Thank you for calling Adobe. Our office hours are from... blah blah blah... Please call back during these hours.'

End Game

At this point I am fantasizing about having the CEO of Adobe in my office, tied to a chair and making him experience the total crap his people are doing. Yes. It's a fantasy that I am sure many have had.

But this simple fact about lousy customer service is starting to nibble away at the giant. And it is unfortunate. You see, Adobe can not use the excuse of "growing pains" at this point. They are too old and experienced for this even happen. It shouldn't period! But the money people are on this simple issue already. And by money people I mean the investment community. You know. Those guys on Wall Street.

They are publishing some not so nice headlines:

It's Time to Go Sour on This Software Company

The Motley Fool Blog Network

Sell Adobe: Potential 25% Downside

Seeking Alpha

Adobe's Candy Coated Earnings Report

The Motley Fool Blog Network

and on a more positive note and perhaps a bit optimistic. Hey! 1 out of 4 ain't bad. Right?:

Adobe Systems: A Huge Upside in Creative Cloud

The Motley Fool Blog Network

As a side note. I am still very optimistic that all will work out eventually. I remember the same issues when CS 5 came about. Troublesome installations, apps crashing etc.. But man, they better get their act together quickly. It is frustrating to say the least.

Adobe Creative Cloud Installation Issues and Solutions (Windows 7)

Installing Adobe Creative Cloud's Application Manager

If you subscribe to Adobe's Creative Cloud world, and you will sooner or later anyway, and you happen to run into some issues during installation, then you might want to read this. I will be posting resolutions to various issues as I run across them during the entire upgrade process of all my apps. Predominantly I focus on the Production Suite formerly known as CS6 Production Premium Suite, as that is where I am upgrading from.

The Infamous Adobe Application Manager - Install

This seems to be the "heart" of the Creative Cloud mechanism. Without AAM you can not install or use any apps from the ACC (love acronyms!). Of course it would also help if you actually owned a subscription as well. Yes, you can try it all out for 30 days if you wish to test everything first. But you still need to have login credentials to make even that work. So sign up one way or another. Otherwise what I will be writing about won't make any sense at all.

Once you have gone through the sign up process, upgrade process or whatever you want to call it, you will be prompted immediately to download the latest version of AAM. Even if you already have the CS6 version, you will get a new one. And this is where stuff may blow up on you. It has happened twice for me already. I first installed the AAM just a little of a week ago and it failed miserably, or so I thought. Then again today and once again, fail. The reason for yet another install today you ask? Updates! Yes, it was just 48 hours ago that Adobe released all new versions of their apps now named with a "CC" on the end. For example; instead of After Effects CS6, the new version is After Effects CC. And so the story begins...

Recovering Adobe Application Manager's Install Failure

Of course I am always weary when I get ambiguous messages along the lines of "installer failed to initialize blah blah". Come again? What? I always thought Adobe was bug free? Actually, this error seems to be quite common from what I have found, but no one posted a clean and concise fix for it. So I proceeded to once again do a "chat" thing. This is what I got (posted this on Facebook to keep all my fellow artists apprised):

So I am sitting in Adobe's support chat window now for at least ten minutes and this is what it keeps repeating: All representatives are actively assisting other customers. Your estimated wait time is 0 minute(s) and 47 second(s) or longer. Thank you for your patience.

Hey Adobe, I just want install the damn Applications Manager and it keeps bombing out! Creative Cloud? Yes, creatively clouding our minds...

Yes! After the prior experience, I wasn't expecting much this time around either as this was the message I got about every 5 minutes or so:

info: All representatives are actively assisting other customers.  Your estimated wait time is 0 minute(s) and 47 second(s) or longer.  Thank you for your patience.
info: All representatives are actively assisting other customers.  Your estimated wait time is 0 minute(s) and 47 second(s) or longer.  Thank you for your patience.
info: All representatives are actively assisting other customers.  Your estimated wait time is 0 minute(s) and 47 second(s) or longer.  Thank you for your patience.
info: All representatives are actively assisting other customers.  Your estimated wait time is 0 minute(s) and 47 second(s) or longer.  Thank you for your patience.
info: You are now chatting with 'Vijendra'



It obviously took a lot longer than 47 seconds to finally get going with an agent, but to my surprise, this agent knew exactly how to resolve the issue. Have a look and do the steps in the transcript if you encounter the same issue:

Vijendra: Thank you for the details.
Vijendra: May I know from where you downloaded Adobe Application Manager?
Andreas: creative cloud! Where else???
Vijendra: Please click here to download Adobe Application Manager.
Andreas: stand by..
Vijendra: Please download Adobe Application Manager from the above link and try installing.
Vijendra: Sure, I will stay online.
Andreas: almost there = stand by
Vijendra: Okay.
Andreas: extracting files now
Andreas: says it's updating
Vijendra: Okay.
Andreas: nope... installer failed to initialize blah blah... now it wants me to get the "support advisor"..
Vijendra: Okay.
Andreas: should I?
Vijendra: May I know if you are logged in as Administrator to the computer?
Andreas: I am
Andreas: It is inspecting now
Vijendra: May I know if you have a 32 bit or 64 bit operating system?
Andreas: 64 bit
Andreas: win 7
Vijendra: Please do not download Adobe Support advisor.
Andreas: ultimate
Andreas: 32 gb ram I7
Vijendra: Please navigate to C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Adobe
Andreas: hang on please, the instpector is still working and now has come back with:
Andreas: cpsid_82829s1: "A restart is pending," bootstrapper error has occurred. Click here for details and corrective actions related to this issue.
Andreas: However this is not the case - no restart is pending
Vijendra: Please ignore the Support Advisor message, let us go ahead and try resolving the issue you have.
Andreas: System Information : Operating System = Windows 7 Ultimate Locale = en
Andreas: Yes please.. going to the directory now
Andreas: am there now
Vijendra: Inside Adobe folder do you have a folder called OOBE?
Andreas: yes
Vijendra: Please rename that folder to OOBEold.
Andreas: done
Vijendra: Now please go ahead and try installing Adobe Application Manager and check?
Andreas: stand by please
Andreas: okay - no error this time.. now what?
Andreas: shall I try to get an app from CC
Vijendra: Please go ahead and launch Adobe Application Manager.
Andreas: doing so now
Andreas: signing in.
Andreas: to adobe CC
Vijendra: Alright.
Andreas: accepted agreement
Andreas: voila! So cool.
Andreas: me happy.
Andreas: :)


Save your Support Chat Transcripts for Later Use!

 I referenced this again today to fix the upgrade failure. And yes, it worked again. So the moral of this story is:

1. Have faith. Sooner or later an agent will come into your chat session.
2. Email the transcript to yourself after you are done. This is of course a very cool feature (little button at the top of the chat session with Adobe) and might/will save you enormous time in the future when the same error or failure occurs.

Stay tuned for more fun with moving into the Creative Cloud.