Adobe Systems to cut 680 jobs

Adobe Systems said today that it will lay off 680 workers, or about 9 percent of its global work force.

The company disclosed the layoffs in a regulatory filing that said the move was intended "to align our costs in connection with our 2010 operating plan." No further explanation was offered.

Adobe, based in San Jose, is known for its document- and photo-editing programs as well as software used by Web developers and graphic designers. The company had reported some decline in sales earlier this year and has taken previous steps to cut costs, including 600 earlier layoffs in December 2008.

The company said in September that it was acquiring Omniture, which makes Web-traffic monitoring tools, for $1.8 billion.

<http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_13755683>

One of the problems at the moment is that there's a general lack of innovation across the board in IT. Technology changes for the better part of the past decade have been evolutionary rather than revolutionary, which means that there's little pressing need for major service upgrades. There's nothing *new*.

There isn't much that your average image guy can do in CS3 that he/she couldn't already do in CS1. Don't get me wrong, the new features are great, but they're refinements and not really a neccessity. Ergo, people aren't upgrading the way they used to, which crimps Adobe's sales.

But I still feel sorry for the laid off workers just the same.

I have played with lesser-priced equivalents (Corel, uLead Photoimpact, et al) -- they are not the same. Photoshop allows a LOT more. (AfterEffects, Flash, and Illustrator) I've gotten used to too.

Windows = bloated.


Shame about the layoffs. But if people aren't spending, the cycle can only continue and repeat.

"I don't need to buy this right now" list. Especially hobbyists.

Like frequent crashes, memory leaks, non-standard GUI, etc.

"Productivity up!"

"Executive bonuses set record!"

"Oh, unemployment is up as well."