# Adobe

> The company behind Photoshop, Illustrator, Premiere Pro, Acrobat and the PDF format.

- Level: Basic
- Topics: Tech companies
- URL: https://tidbit.legios.com.ar/adobe/
- In Spanish: [Adobe](https://tidbit.legios.com.ar/es/adobe/)

**Adobe** is an American software company founded in 1982 by John Warnock and Charles Geschke, two researchers from Xerox's lab in Palo Alto. Its first product, PostScript, was a language that described a page so that any printer could print it exactly. That idea of a page that looks the same everywhere led, in 1993, to the **PDF** format and the Acrobat software to read and create it. PDF later became an open ISO standard.

Adobe also makes the tools most creative professionals use: **Photoshop** for editing photos, **Illustrator** for drawings and logos, **InDesign** for magazines and books, **Premiere Pro** for video and **Lightroom** for organizing and developing photos. In recent years it added generative AI to them, through its own Firefly models, so you can fill or extend an image by describing what you want.

For decades Adobe sold its programs in boxes, for a single large payment. In 2013 it switched to **Creative Cloud**, a monthly or yearly subscription, and today most of its money comes from subscriptions: Creative Cloud for creative work, Document Cloud for Acrobat and PDFs, and Experience Cloud, software that helps large companies run their websites, marketing campaigns and analytics.

## An analogy

A gym membership for creative tools. Instead of buying each machine for your home, you pay every month and get access to the whole room, with new equipment added over time.

## Keep in mind

- Founded in 1982 by John Warnock and Charles Geschke, both from Xerox PARC.
- Created PostScript and the PDF format, which is now an open ISO standard.
- Makes Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Premiere Pro, Lightroom and Acrobat.
- Since 2013 it sells its software mainly as subscriptions.

## Go deeper

- [Adobe Inc. on Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adobe_Inc.)
- [Adobe Creative Cloud on Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adobe_Creative_Cloud)
- [PDF on Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PDF)

## Related terms

- [Generative AI](https://tidbit.legios.com.ar/generative-ai/): AI that creates new text, images, audio or code instead of just sorting things.
- [Cloud computing](https://tidbit.legios.com.ar/cloud-computing/): Renting computers over the internet instead of buying your own.