Adobe Alternatives ???

[xcelprint]

Hello all wise and knowing ones...

We are a 2-man shop...

Xerox Versant 80
Mac with Adobe CC 2018
Fusion Pro for simple Var Data jobs (Addressing, numbering)

Most files come to us print-ready PDF. We do some simple file prep, proof, and print jobs.

I am having issues with FP - Acrobat and wonder is there are alternatives. The bottom line is my recent experience with Adobe Support (or lack of) has me hoping to get rid of the CC monthly fee.

Ideas / Comments ???

Thanks.

 

[Joe]

Adobe won't even try to help if the problem is with a 3rd party plug-in. It is up to the 3rd party developers to make it work correctly.

If you have the whole creative cloud package but only use Acrobat you can still just buy a non-subscription license for Acrobat DC Pro and get rid of the subscription service altogether.

But are there alternatives for the whole creative cloud? Sort of. Inkscape can take the place of Illustrator. Gimp can take the place of Photoshop. Scribus can take the place of InDesign. All three open source and free. There are quite a few free PDF viewers but probably none that can use an Enfocus or Fusion Pro plug-in...or any 3rd party plug-in for that matter. But I would give them all a thorough testing before canceling that subscription.

There also is another company trying to be an alternative:

https://affinity.serif.com/en-us/

They currently have a photo editor called Affinity Photo and an illustration program called Affiinity Designer for $49.99 each. Their page layout application is called Affiinity Publisher and has been in beta for it seems like 10 years so who knows when that will be available. And they have no PDF viewer/editor.

 

[xcelprint]

Good info. Thanks! When I really look at our prep work... it mainly consists of simple layouts that could be done on most any software.

 

[prepressdork]

FusionPro can be installed as an InDesign plugin. Perhaps generating a variable PDF right out of InDesign will solve the issue?

pd

 

[prepressdork]

Perhaps you would describe the issue you are having?

pd

 

[Schnitzel]

But are there alternatives for the whole creative cloud? Sort of. Inkscape can take the place of Illustrator. Gimp can take the place of Photoshop. Scribus can take the place of InDesign.

I love the open source community and projects, but I'm disappointed with everything related to desktop publishing or the graphic arts. Inkscape and Gimp support only RGB or grayscale color spaces, with no support for CMYK or "higher" spaces in the near future. Color management in both is sketchy at best. Scribus is a good effort, but not good enough to replace any commercial DTP software (certainly not InDesign).

I truly wish there were open source alternatives for commercial software, but in my opinion currently there aren't any.

 

[Joe]

I love the open source community and projects, but I'm disappointed with everything related to desktop publishing or the graphic arts. Inkscape and Gimp support only RGB or grayscale color spaces, with no support for CMYK or "higher" spaces in the near future. Color management in both is sketchy at best. Scribus is a good effort, but not good enough to replace any commercial DTP software (certainly not InDesign).

I truly wish there were open source alternatives for commercial software, but in my opinion currently there aren't any.

Agreed. That is why I said 'sort of'. User beware.

 

[gordo]

I'll second the suggestion of Affinity Serif: https://affinity.serif.com/en-gb/ as an alternative for photo editing, illustration, and (soon) page layout.

Their software is a serious option as a replacement for Adobe's publishing products. Inexpensive, no subscription, very responsive to customers, actually fixes bugs in updates. They've demo'd their page layout app with a teaser video (https://9to5mac.com/2017/12/14/affinity-publisher-for-mac-tease-video-2018-beta-release/). It's due out of beta this summer. Until then, trial their photo editor and vector drawing app. Or watch tutorials here: https://vimeo.com/channels/affinityphoto and here: https://vimeo.com/channels/affinitydesigner

 

[Joe]

They have been promising that beta for years now. I'll believe it when I see it.