Major problems with Adobe Version Cue CS4
We were very early adopters of Adobe CS4 hoping it would reduce some of the headaches we were having with disconnecting from projects in CS3.
While CS4 brings some fantastic new features to InDesign, Illustrator and Photoshop, Version Cue is virtually unusable and has caused us major problems including:
- Hours and hours of lost time simply trying to connect to the project through Adobe Drive which resulted in us re-installing CS4 then running the update to 4.0.1. It worked for a while but now, a few weeks later, I can not connect to the "drive" again.
- Losing files. Staff have been working for days on large projects only to find, when reconnecting, that there are no files saved at all. Vanished!
- Incredibly slow performance. It somestimes takes 5 to 10 minutes to start up Adobe Drive and/or Bridge.
Unfortunately I am not posting this article because I have a solution. I would like to invite readers to contribute their issues, suggestions and/or solutions to this nightmare.
And come on Adobe, this really is not good enough. We rely on Creative Suite for our day-to-day work and we depend on it running smoothly. To find such a major bug in Version Cue at shipping time that you needed to disable it in the release version of CS4 just is not acceptable (http://kb.adobe.com/selfservice/viewContent.do?externalId=kb407015&sliceId=2)!
“We have the same *** over here. We are really disappointed. Hope Adobe patches Drive/VersionCue soon.”
“I've had some discussions with Adobe support and they've raised the issue to a "Tier 2" status. One of the support guys basically said that if we're relying on this software to make money, we should stop using Version Cue CS4—he retracted this later but my impression was that even Adobe know that Version Cue in CS4 is not stable or reliable. The Tier 2 support technician has been very good to deal with but I have not heard back from him to see if he can actually help me. At present, we have been over a week without being able to even connect to Adobe Drive over the network and we have still not recovered a whole project's work of files that were lost.”
“I wholeheartedly agree. Luckily we haven't lost work but I have wasted hours trying to get version cue to work. The bottom line is - it doesn't. As of version 4.01 it's completely unuseable. No exaggeration. ”
“I have spent a long time on the phone to India and I've sent them screenshots, log files and even screen-shared to show them what is happening. I have finally, after a week, had an email with a few things to try but they are all things I have tried numerous times or that I did right at the beginning. I have not been told anything new in a month of back-and-forth with Adobe! This is totally ridiculous and we have given up. We are now using Apple as we filesharing on Leopard Server and, while we don't have version control, we have hourly/daily/weekly/monthly backups with Time Machine and we have the ease and transparency of the Finder which enables us to search through all our projects which you can't do in Version Cue. If anyone has any suggestions on file management on Macs for design teams, I'd love to hear them. As far as I'm concerned, I just don't trust Version Cue anymore.”
“I've spent the better part of 4 days going back and forth with Adobe trying to get it running so I can pull up past projects to get my work done and have been waiting 2 days for their Level 2 tech to bother calling. If it is true that Adobe knows that Version Cue doesn't work, they really screwed their customers by releasing CS4 without it working right. While Version Cue has always had a reputation for being problematic, it had working fine for me under CS3 and was an integral part of my workflow. Now I'm (and probably many other professional artists) stuck with no way to work with my files I need to make a living. With Adobe's reputation in continuing decline due to releasing unstable software since at least back to CS2, it's too bad they have a virtual monopoly on creative software with, aside from video/sound editing, few viable alternatives to using their broken products.”
“I would like to know the extent of this problem—is it just a few of us or is it widespread. Adobe acknowledged very early on that there were problems and were pretty quick to release the 4.0.1 update but, since then, there has been nothing mentioned on their support pages; in fact, their most recent four support docs are in French or German!”
“I have been experiencing problems with Version Cue CS4. The last two files I saved seemed to save correctly, and I was able to close the app - but when I return to the file it is an earlier version. The newest version is nowhere to be found. This is very frustrating.”
“I've now been advised by Adobe tech staff to go back to Version Cue CS3. It's too late as we've decided to stop using Version Cue altogether—we simply don't trust it anymore.”
“Version Cue CS4 is NOT WORTH IT, especially if the server is on a stand-alone networked computer. Adobe's Version Cue CS3 worked FINE, but they completely changed the CS4 methods, and now, Version Cue CS4 is so architecturally horrible and leads to lost data/time that there had better be a group of people at Adobe that were FIRED. And I can hardly believe that Adobe still ALLOWS people to install it given its tendency to lose data (sooner or later.) Version Cue CS4 continues to be pure negligence on the part of Adobe. Our studio implemented SVN to version our jobs--MUCH more stable and reliable (although version cue does allow one to view thumbnails directly from the server without the need to download the data locally first).”
“I agree: Version Cue CS4 is like a black hole for data. I'd like to know about good user experiences with it, if there are any.”
“Web Designer Depot have posted a good article titled "Intro to Git for Web Designers" which might be of interest to those looking for an alternative to Version Cue. Check it out: http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2009/03/intro-to-git-for-web-designers/”
“Same problem here. Was totally satisfied with the CS3 Version Cue/Bridge workflow. CS4 has stolen countless hours of time from my life. I will never use it again. Looking for a good alternative. It's probably worth noting that everyone is in a different physical location, opening documents and files remotely. How are people getting around this? ”
“Add me to the list of people having problems with Version Cue CS4 and/or Drive. I've been using VC since it was released and, until now, we've been fairly happy with it. I have VC running on a dedicated server (quad-core xeon) with only 2 designers connecting to it via Drive. I'd like to find the people responsible for Drive and force them to eat my CS4 media. One computer can connect via Drive on a regular basis but it is SLOOOOOOW. Navigating through projects and folders on the server can take minutes when it should only take fractions of a second. I cannot get any other computer to connect using Drive. I've never seen a client/server setup work in such a ridiculous way. Drive gives you zero feedback on what is going on with the connection (or lack thereof) and it ignores your requests to manually input an IP address you'd like to connect to (it just keeps trying to connect to where it THINKS the server is). I've spent waaaay too many hours on the phone with Adobe tech suppt on this, they act like I'm the only one having the problems and there must be something wrong with my network/computers. I guess I'll have to investigate the SVN route as others have.”
“We are experiencing many of the same issues. I have begun writing up all of the issues so far on my blog and hope to encourage others to submit feedback to Adobe. They basically told me that the best and possibly only way to get some of this fixed would be for people to complain officially. Below, is a link to my first article and I have a few more in the works. http://bit.ly/mgHLu Doug”
“Well this is very interesting? I have been using version cue for months now and have never had a single problem with it! I personally think that the software is very good and have found no ulternative with getting a shitty mac...”
“Every problem listed above is a problem I've had. The check in/check out functions have been terrible for everyone involved. I too was told I was the only one with a problem with Version Cue. It is killing my workflow.”
“We switched back to VC CS3 after encountering many problems with VC CS4. The biggest is that you cannot work off of your local drive (CS3 would download the file to your machine when you checked it out, CS4 you work off of the network...Adobe Drive) or offline. I was hoping to see that this deal-breaking issue was resolved. ”
“We have a team of thirty-some designers who all moved from CS2 and Studio 8 to CS4. The experience has been a nightmare and my head is on the block because of Adobe releasing this half-baked product. We were exploring the new Version Cue, but within one week of light use we had about a million issues. Adobe needs to stop inventing redundant apps and focus on making their core products solid again. I remember back when Photoshop was my workhorse, and I used to feel relieved when using it compared with Macromedia's relatively unpolished suite. I would actually praise the Adobe programmers for their efficient product. Now I hold my breath anytime I'm using an app with the CS4 interface. C'mon, Adobe.”
“I've just spent 2 days installing - fixing - repairing - updating - uninstalling - re-installing - deleting files - updating - uninstalling... and still no closer to a working Version Cue & Adobe Drive workflow (and in the process lost a weeks work). My guess is that if you're looking for a solution to this, it'll come in the form of CS5 with a hefty price tag. Adobe has all of us by the short and curlies - we've invested too much time and our workflows in their systems to pull out now.”
“We've now moved to Dropbox and, while it doesn't have version control as such (although it does keep a history of file saves), it is fantastic. Especially for teams working remotely. From first impressions, there are also now two very good Mac desktop clients for Subversion, Cornerstone and Versions. We've often considered using something like Subversion or Git but, for now, are sticking with Dropbox.”
“Same problem. And in this moment after 3 days of test I'm backuping all projets...”
“Thank you to allfor sharing. You have saved ,me from a nightmare before installing VC CS4. We will not use it.”
“I went to the Adobe Max conference this past October. Spent the entire time trying to establish what Adobe is going to do about this very problem. Came back with the following. They don't seem to have any plans to resolve the Version Cue problems. They do appear to have plans to develop Drive so that it is more compatible with other products like Subversion. Not one person I spoke to from Adobe actually uses Version Cue. Since I upgraded to Snow Leopard, I've finally lost all functionality with VQ. Happily, I have abandon it's use and am simply versioning manually until I can come up with a new solution. Leaning toward Subversion.”
“Same here. CS4 VC/Adobe Drive has been a nightmare. We've lost countless hours of productivity due to the blunders of CS4. Is it just me or is the Creative Suite getting worse with each version? I spent 2 hours on the phone with Adobe yesterday only to end with a case number that, "can now be escalated to the next tier of technical support." Since at least September 2009, the official Adobe Snow Leopard FAQ states: "Adobe Drive used with Adobe Version Cue® CS4 Server: At this time, Adobe Drive does not run on Snow Leopard. For customers that are dependent on Adobe Drive and Version Cue, we recommend they do not upgrade to Snow Leopard at this time." Entirely unacceptable Adobe. Please fix the mammoth short falls of CS4.”