I don't know that "obsessed" is necessarily the right term.
There are plenty of reasons why the suites were a great idea and abandoning them would be a giant leap backwards. The whole painful evolution involved in designing, manufacturing and shipping a product is just something I happen to be quite familiar with. My purpose in jumping in on this thread and a couple of others is the hope that I might help temper the vitriol with a bit of insight. There are many more constituents, and a lot more factors involved than any one product or a single group of users. The internal discussions on all these things are a long way from being finished at Adobe, based on several conversations I've had. People are still working through all the details, problems, solutions, unintended consequences and "Oh, ohhh. We didn't think of that!" Forums like this one provide great feedback, and are paid close attention to. Take a look at the thread Jeff started on what a new tool for photographers might look like. Why would anyone at Adobe ask him to do that if they weren't interested?
It's human nature that we think
our problem is
obvious, and
our needs are the ones that {insert company name here} should be caring the most about. We do that because these things are in our faces every day; it's what's most real
to us. We think, "Well, they obviously know about (x)!" No, they don't. Despite all the surveys, all the interviews, all the research, there are tons of nitty-gritty practicalities that "they"
don't know about. It's up to us to tell them.
It's too easy to forget that what we're talking about isn't a faceless entity, but a bunch of real people with the same frailties we all have. Certainly they make mistakes, we all do. It's been to Adobe's credit that even when they don't get it right the first time and even though they can't possibly please all the people, all the time, they're always trying to make their stuff better. I have to give them credit for that even when it's my own feathers being ruffled, because all the Adobe people I've met are genuine, sincere people, the kind you'd happily invite over for dinner. I've looked them in the eye, and I didn't see greed; I saw commitment, real interest in what I had to say and a desire to do great work. I'm pretty confident that the issues will be addressed and solutions that work for both sides will be worked out.
Nobody in the Photoshop team or their management ever said "Photographers? Who needs them? Let 'em rot!" If you know any of them, as surely many people here do besides me and Jeff, you have to laugh at that idea. Yet that's the impression one would get from some of the comments I've seen. I believe that's mean-spirited and wrong. By all means object, point out the error and offer suggestions. Don't demonize people who are quite sincerely trying to do the best job they can on behalf of all the people who use their products.