So in December when they once again reached out to Adobe and got little to no response, it was more than disheartening. But for the over $700/year one might expect better. Yes, the remaining Muse users found a very kludgy and temporary work-around. After the upgrade Muse was unable to fully boot on Mac or Windows. In what should have been a simple upgrade to the Creative Cloud application, Adobe broke Muse again.
Then in early December of 2023, Adobe’s reduced quality control attacked again. Another work-around was found, and soon Muse sites came back running Google Fonts instead! And without warning all Muse sites across the world lost all custom fonts. In the Spring of 2023 Adobe did the unthinkable: It shut down its TypeKit servers. When Muse began to crash after selecting the FTP UPLOAD command, Muse users found a work-around, and shared it on their Muse Facebook forum. Users have persevered, finding ways to keep most features working. But since it’s release in 2012 it had become PS, AI and MUSE.Įvery year Adobe has been dismantling more and more of the support systems around Muse. In other words, Adobe’s traditional and core customer.Īdobe customers of the 2010s understood how important it was to have the same triumvirate of art/graphics/publish.
Certainly for the non-programming designer. Why? Because while Adobe appeared to not fully understand it, its customers realised how much better Muse was than the competition. Many paying over $700/year just for access to Muse! It is still available as a “legacy” app to those that pay for the entire Creative Cloud subscription, so many do. It’s been five years since Muse development ended (and amazingly it still outputs wonderful and functional websites). And how discontinuing Muse would end their businesses. Thousands complained on web forums how they had based their entire business on Muse. Class action lawsuits were threatened by angry users. Petitions were signed with tens of thousands of users asking Adobe to reconsider Muse. The internet lit up with angry customers. No legitimate reason was ever given as to why, and no real replacement options ever offered. (Spoiler: Every one of those projects are now dead.)īut in 2018, at the very height of Muse success, Adobe placed Muse into “End of Life” status. Plus Flash/Director were made able to build mobile and desktop apps. To support Muse, Adobe had launched its “Business Catalyst” web hosting, Adobe TypeKit web type servers, the “Edge” line of web apps. In Muse, Adobe found a poster child for the success it had always needed in the web sphere. From 2014 through 2017 its popularity grew, spawning millions of Muse websites. Professional services like Shopify and MailChimp integrated with Muse. Muse was catching on and spawning a huge third party market of plugins and template offerings. Adobe was showing a real commitment, and it was paying off. Designers were able to produce beautiful and stunningly capable websites, without needing any code. After a couple of glitchy years and a re-write, Muse started delivering on its promises. So as an enticement for customers to move over to Creative Cloud, Adobe brought out an app that they knew everyone wanted: ADOBE MUSE, the “no-code” web layout/publishing program for traditional page designers. (Both Dreamweaver and the former Flash are still alive today, despite few customers having interest.) The demise of Flashīy 2012 Adobe had killed off many programs and was poised to kill Creative Suite. Once again, in the years that followed Adobe would either destroy or discontinue most of them. It inherited Dreamweaver, Flash, Director, Fireworks, and others. And in 2005 Adobe bought its largest competitor Macromedia. How odd the owner of the print publishing world, had no real footprint in internet publishing. But both were later abandoned by Adobe and left for dead. Yes, it did purchase the very popular GoLive web application in 1999, and began a round or two developing LiveMotion, a Flash knock-off. Netscape, Safari and Explorer were duking-out the browser wars.īut Adobe seemed largely uninterested in the internet.
The Internet.Īnd through the '90s and '00s, Google was cornering web search and online advertising. While Adobe was solidifying its control over the print publishing market, a brand new world of publishing was taking form.