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Adobe Lightroom "Classic" rename is still a mess

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jackalopemaui

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It's been a few years since Adobe renamed Lightroom to Lightroom Classic and Lightroom CC to Lightroom and it's still creating problems. I'm trying to find out how to do a basic task that isn't intuitive in "Lightroom" but all the search results including Adobe's own documentation are referring to Lightroom Classic when they say "Lightroom".

How and why didn't Adobe think of the mess they were creating? Did they intend to phase out "Classic"? And why is the simpler cloud based program not simple and intuitive
 
Classic is the desktop program now, sometimes referred to as LrC.

Lightroom (without qualification) on more recent documentation is the cloud based version, some people call it Cloudy, which of course is confusing with LrC since the C is ambiguous.

Yes, Adobe made a mess of names.

But the term "classic" is well understood. If your question is about it, just ask and say it is about "Classic".

If your question is about the other, it is most clear if you say "Not Classic" even if that is not what adobe wants you to say.

There are ways that the two can work together, though that is complicated and has limitations.

I think many of us believe Classic will one day be deprecated, but there is no current indication of that happening, and a LOT of people will be seriously unhappy if it does.

So... what's your issue, or did you just want to complain that Adobe marketing was stupid? (No argument there, just nothing I can do to help)

Linwood
 
jackalopemaui said:
It's been a few years since Adobe renamed Lightroom to Lightroom Classic and Lightroom CC to Lightroom and it's still creating problems. I'm trying to find out how to do a basic task that isn't intuitive in "Lightroom" but all the search results including Adobe's own documentation are referring to Lightroom Classic when they say "Lightroom".

How and why didn't Adobe think of the mess they were creating? Did they intend to phase out "Classic"? And why is the simpler cloud based program not simple and intuitive
Click to expand...
Boo Hoo, there now that I have shed a tear for you, what is your issue?
 
Ferguson said:
Classic is the desktop program now, sometimes referred to as LrC.

Lightroom (without qualification) on more recent documentation is the cloud based version, some people call it Cloudy, which of course is confusing with LrC since the C is ambiguous.

Yes, Adobe made a mess of names.

But the term "classic" is well understood. If your question is about it, just ask and say it is about "Classic".

If your question is about the other, it is most clear if you say "Not Classic" even if that is not what adobe wants you to say.

There are ways that the two can work together, though that is complicated and has limitations.

I think many of us believe Classic will one day be deprecated, but there is no current indication of that happening, and a LOT of people will be seriously unhappy if it does.
Click to expand...
What Adobe needs to do is strike some sort of deal with Amazon or some other major cloud provider such that you could have unlimited, or several tiers (Pro, Advanced Hobbyist, Hobbyist) of raw storage in a cloud data center with a Lightroom catalog(s) that hook into it. With probably some way to manage that storage such that recent imports are kept local and rapidly accessible while your 20+ year old photo folders are in a slower access media with nothing but thumbnails or half-resolution JPEGs for browsing.
 
Frankie J said:
jackalopemaui said:
It's been a few years since Adobe renamed Lightroom to Lightroom Classic and Lightroom CC to Lightroom and it's still creating problems. I'm trying to find out how to do a basic task that isn't intuitive in "Lightroom" but all the search results including Adobe's own documentation are referring to Lightroom Classic when they say "Lightroom".

How and why didn't Adobe think of the mess they were creating? Did they intend to phase out "Classic"? And why is the simpler cloud based program not simple and intuitive
Click to expand...
Boo Hoo, there now that I have shed a tear for you, what is your issue?
Click to expand...
I am not asking for a solution. I later found a video on Youtube that inadvertently showed what I needed.

Do you understand that making a program difficult to use causing users to "consult Youtube" and poor naming convention is bad design and should be criticized? Or do you have no concept of this because your mentality is to be uncritical?

But for the record, what I was trying to do is super simple. Apply edits or a profile to multiple photos at once. That's the entire reason we use Lightroom and not Photoshop to edit our photos, right? But it's not straightforward in "Lightroom" as it is in "Lightroom Classic"
 
Last edited:
jackalopemaui said:
It's been a few years since Adobe renamed Lightroom to Lightroom Classic and Lightroom CC to Lightroom and it's still creating problems. I'm trying to find out how to do a basic task that isn't intuitive in "Lightroom" but all the search results including Adobe's own documentation are referring to Lightroom Classic when they say "Lightroom".

How and why didn't Adobe think of the mess they were creating? Did they intend to phase out "Classic"? And why is the simpler cloud based program not simple and intuitive
Click to expand...
What Adobe did, and continues to do, is demonstrate that it is out of touch with the customer base of "classic" Lightroom users.

Only half joking, I will claim that the naming decisions were made by a bunch of clueless millennium types.
 
I think they intended to phase it out, because when they renamed Lightroom desktop as Lightroom Classic and introduced the new Lightroom, they said it is the future of Lightroom.

But i guess nobody migrates to this new version (severely lacking) and probably many didn’t want to be locked in the cloud, with TBytes of photos.

So they have to continue to maintain the classic one, if they want to keep the customers…
 
Last edited:
ClaudeVoyage said:
I think they intended to phase it out, because when they renamed Lightroom desktop as Lightroom Classic and introduced the new Lightroom, they said it is the future of Lightroom.
Click to expand...
Sounds right, because I think the "marketing team" for Lightroom is not that competent, to put it politely. Just because companies with big IT budgetsare moving to the web, and online shopping is growing, doesn't mean that Joe Nikon Jane Canon, or George Sony wants to do that.
ClaudeVoyage said:
But i guess nobody migrates to this new version (severely lacking) and probably many didn’t want to be locked in the cloud, with TBytes of photos.
Click to expand...
Exactly.

Certainly not at Adobe's prices for web storage, which are outrageous.
ClaudeVoyage said:
So they have to continue to maintain the classic one, if they want to keep the customers…
Click to expand...
An "inconvenient truth" for Adobe.
 
ClaudeVoyage said:
I think they intended to phase it out, because when they renamed Lightroom desktop as Lightroom Classic and introduced the new Lightroom, they said it is the future of Lightroom.

But i guess nobody migrates to this new version (severely lacking) and probably many didn’t want to be locked in the cloud, with TBytes of photos.

So they have to continue to maintain the classic one, if they want to keep the customers…
Click to expand...
I think LR was a play for the mobile (phone) market which is vastly larger than traditional photography. Having access to all of your photos is an extremely valuable marketing resource. Just think about it? They get time and location info plus the photo and they have advanced AI to extract marketing data from the image.

Companies like Apple already have this as everything is automatically in the cloud. Adobe wanted their share.

Ian
 
IanYorke said:
ClaudeVoyage said:
I think they intended to phase it out, because when they renamed Lightroom desktop as Lightroom Classic and introduced the new Lightroom, they said it is the future of Lightroom.

But i guess nobody migrates to this new version (severely lacking) and probably many didn’t want to be locked in the cloud, with TBytes of photos.

So they have to continue to maintain the classic one, if they want to keep the customers…
Click to expand...
I think LR was a play for the mobile (phone) market which is vastly larger than traditional photography. Having access to all of your photos is an extremely valuable marketing resource. Just think about it? They get time and location info plus the photo and they have advanced AI to extract marketing data from the image.

Companies like Apple already have this as everything is automatically in the cloud. Adobe wanted their share.

Ian
Click to expand...
@Ian,

Everything you say is true, but, but, but. The "new" Lightroom Product should also have been given the second name such as name such as lightroom Foo. Calling the new product just Lightroiom created confusion that continues to the present. And I still don't understand why Adobe insists on calling like classic product Photoshop Lightroom. That name just created more confusion. To me at least this is marketing communications malpractice.


Of course if an opinion I would express it. [/sarcasm]
 
LongTimeNikonUser said:
And I still don't understand why Adobe insists on calling like classic product Photoshop Lightroom.
Click to expand...
Probably an attempt to extend "Photoshop" from the name for a particular application into the name for an entire application line. We now have
  • Photoshop
  • Photoshop Elements
  • Photoshop Lightroom
  • Photoshop Express
I'm not sure whether there's a "Photoshop Lightroom Classic" or whether Adobe is using "Photoshop Lightroom" only to refer to what people here call "Lightroom (cloudy)."

https://www.adobe.com/products/photoshopfamily.html
LongTimeNikonUser said:
That name just created more confusion. To me at least this is marketing communications malpractice.

Of course if an opinion I would express it. [/sarcasm]
Click to expand...
 
Tom_N said:
LongTimeNikonUser said:
And I still don't understand why Adobe insists on calling like classic product Photoshop Lightroom.
Click to expand...
Probably an attempt to extend "Photoshop" from the name for a particular application into the name for an entire application line. We now have
  • Photoshop
  • Photoshop Elements
  • Photoshop Lightroom
  • Photoshop Express
I'm not sure whether there's a "Photoshop Lightroom Classic" or whether Adobe is using "Photoshop Lightroom" only to refer to what people here call "Lightroom (cloudy)."

https://www.adobe.com/products/photoshopfamily.html
Tom_N said:
That name just created more confusion. To me at least this is marketing communications malpractice.

Of course if an opinion I would express it. [/sarcasm]
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Okay as a retired product management type, I did my fair share of product and product line naming. Photoshop is a specific product with a particularly well defined product style. That style from any light from is quite different from any Lightroom product.

If Adobe needs a "product line" name, it should be something like "Photography Suite." I know that's a pretty lame name, but Adobe hasn't hired me to do this naming. And anyone who has done product naming knows how hard it can be. That all said, Adobe screwed up here "bigly."
 
LongTimeNikonUser said:
IanYorke said:
ClaudeVoyage said:
I think they intended to phase it out, because when they renamed Lightroom desktop as Lightroom Classic and introduced the new Lightroom, they said it is the future of Lightroom.

But i guess nobody migrates to this new version (severely lacking) and probably many didn’t want to be locked in the cloud, with TBytes of photos.

So they have to continue to maintain the classic one, if they want to keep the customers…
Click to expand...
I think LR was a play for the mobile (phone) market which is vastly larger than traditional photography. Having access to all of your photos is an extremely valuable marketing resource. Just think about it? They get time and location info plus the photo and they have advanced AI to extract marketing data from the image.

Companies like Apple already have this as everything is automatically in the cloud. Adobe wanted their share.

Ian
Click to expand...
@Ian,

Everything you say is true, but, but, but. The "new" Lightroom Product should also have been given the second name such as name such as lightroom Foo. Calling the new product just Lightroiom created confusion that continues to the present. And I still don't understand why Adobe insists on calling like classic product Photoshop Lightroom. That name just created more confusion. To me at least this is marketing communications malpractice.

Of course if an opinion I would express it. [/sarcasm]
Click to expand...
I agree with your analysis. The naming scheme is designed to cause confusion, which it plainly does, but it does drive people to the "Cloudy " product, earning the young marketing guy his bonus.

As I am typing this you are acutely aware of how difficult it is to actually write about these products, bet it even causes confusion within Adobe 😀

Ian
 
IanYorke said:
I agree with your analysis. The naming scheme is designed to cause confusion, which it plainly does, but it does drive people to the "Cloudy " product, earning the young marketing guy his bonus.
Click to expand...
I used to think this all came from changing staff and having no single person in charge of these things (think Microsoft and all the renaming it does, along with rearranging the start menu, and deciding what shape icons should be).

But I would agree with 'designed' here, I think there was a nefarious intent to capitalize on Lightroom (original) popularity, and have some people gravitate to the new one because of simple name confusion, the path of least thought as it were. "Hey, I've heard of lightroom, I'll buy that".

They also originally purposely arranged their web page to make it very difficult to buy lightroom classic (whatever it was called at the time), and the natural navigation always landed you on the cloud version. Not sure if they still do.

Normally I am a big believer in "Never attribute to conspiracy what can be explained by simple incompetence" but this case makes me think there's more than just incompetency at work. I think it was a failed coup. ;-)

Linwood
 
IanYorke said:
LongTimeNikonUser said:
IanYorke said:
ClaudeVoyage said:
I think they intended to phase it out, because when they renamed Lightroom desktop as Lightroom Classic and introduced the new Lightroom, they said it is the future of Lightroom.

But i guess nobody migrates to this new version (severely lacking) and probably many didn’t want to be locked in the cloud, with TBytes of photos.

So they have to continue to maintain the classic one, if they want to keep the customers…
Click to expand...
I think LR was a play for the mobile (phone) market which is vastly larger than traditional photography. Having access to all of your photos is an extremely valuable marketing resource. Just think about it? They get time and location info plus the photo and they have advanced AI to extract marketing data from the image.

Companies like Apple already have this as everything is automatically in the cloud. Adobe wanted their share.

Ian
Click to expand...
@Ian,

Everything you say is true, but, but, but. The "new" Lightroom Product should also have been given the second name such as name such as lightroom Foo. Calling the new product just Lightroiom created confusion that continues to the present. And I still don't understand why Adobe insists on calling like classic product Photoshop Lightroom. That name just created more confusion. To me at least this is marketing communications malpractice.

Of course if an opinion I would express it. [/sarcasm]
Click to expand...
I agree with your analysis. The naming scheme is designed to cause confusion, which it plainly does, but it does drive people to the "Cloudy " product, earning the young marketing guy his bonus.
Click to expand...
Then his management is also complicit in this marketing malpractice. This young marketing guy probably thinks that complainers are "just stupid."

I'm sure in the C-suite, it's all about the revenue, and customer sat issues are a distant third or fourth.
IanYorke said:
As I am typing this you are acutely aware of how difficult it is to actually write about these products, bet it even causes confusion within Adobe 😀
Click to expand...
I'm sure you're right about that.
IanYorke said:
Ian
Click to expand...
 
LongTimeNikonUser said:
I'm sure in the C-suite, it's all about the revenue, and customer sat issues are a distant third or fourth.
Click to expand...
Bear in mind that, with some justification, "customer satisfaction" is measured by revenue.

Corporations do not care about people's happiness per se, only where it leads them to spend their money.

What might save lightroom classic is more maturity in competitive products. I'd love to leave Adobe behind, but the utility of plugins, web publishing (to Smugmug), and the DAM attributes of Lightroom combined with editing (including in photoshop) are just not there yet in most products. Some might even be better editing, but the complete workflow is just not there.

If it were, Adobe would be required to court happiness a bit harder.

Linwood
 
Ferguson said:
LongTimeNikonUser said:
I'm sure in the C-suite, it's all about the revenue, and customer sat issues are a distant third or fourth.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
stuff edited out.

Ferguson said:
What might save lightroom classic is more maturity in competitive products. I'd love to leave Adobe behind, but the utility of plugins, web publishing (to Smugmug), and the DAM attributes of Lightroom combined with editing (including in photoshop) are just not there yet in most products. Some might even be better editing, but the complete workflow is just not there.

If it were, Adobe would be required to court happiness a bit harder.

Linwood
Click to expand...
Like it or not, Adobe Lightroom sets the bar pretty high for competitors. All those plug-ins and presets, I would guess that most of them support only Lightrooom and not competitors.

And our "customer satisfaction" is determined by how well we can accomplish our workflow.

IF Lightroom ever gets serious competition, the Adobe will need to clean out all the deadwood in the Lightroom marketing department.
 
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