John Nack: Apples, Oranges, & Creative Cloud: My Thoughts on CC

by John Nack

I joined Adobe to make the tools that my friends & I wanted to use. I was a Web designer & animator who loved what I could do with Photoshop & Flash, but who hated all the barriers that got in the way. My whole mission was—and has remained—to hijack the brains of smarter people and get them building the stuff we (creators) need. My loyalty has always been to that mission.

Like most big changes, the move to Creative Cloud is both exciting & disruptive. So far some people love it while others are very upset. I’m not writing this post thinking I’ll change everyone’s hearts & minds. I just want to tell you how I personally have thought about the change, from the perspective of someone who deeply wants to help creative people thrive.

My overriding thought for months has been, “How can I take advantage of all this to do good things for customers—things we couldn’t do before?” If you’ve come to know me at all through the years, I hope you’ll know how sincerely I say that.

A few key points about the change:

• It marks a move towards a less app-centric & more solution-centric world.
• It marks a move away from “big-bang” feature updates & towards continuous refinements (“JDI“-style).
• It means more nimble development.
• It radically lowers the barrier to entry to creative tools & broadens access to them.

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