Adobe To Go Subscription Only

[nwstudios]

End of an era maybe...

 

 

"Scott Morris, the head of Adobe’s Creative cloud and creative suite team told me last week, this will be the only way to get access to its tools. The company will continue to sell CS6 for the time being, but it’s not clear for how long."

 

http://techcrunch.com/2013/05/06/adobe-goes-all-in-with-subscription-based-creative-cloud-will-stop-selling-regular-cs-licenses-shrink-wrapped-boxes/

[studiomprd]

Creative Suite? Sayonara. The Creative Cloud is the way of the future.

http://ct.zdnet.com/clicks?t=1178402662-c26d0c6be19519c8c8c4c5a61f5cf52e-bf&brand=ZDNET&s=5

[OmahaAudio]

Yet again, Adobe sucks.

[studiomprd]

Depending on your feelings about Creative Cloud, you're either going to want to pop the Champagne or sharpen your pitchfork.

[nwstudios]

How does the cloud thing work with extremely slow upload speed caps?

 

I hate my IP but there are no other options here.

[Jim Feeley]

Check out the Creative Cloud FAQ:

http://www.adobe.com/products/creativecloud/faq.html

 

Basically, your computer doesn't need to be online all the time to use the CC apps; the apps are downloaded to your computer and run there. Here's what Adobe says in the above faq:

 

"Your Creative Cloud desktop applications (such as Photoshop and Illustrator) are installed directly on your computer, so you won't need an ongoing Internet connection to use them on a daily basis.

You will need to be online when you install and license your software. If you have an annual membership, you'll be asked to connect to the web to validate your software licenses every 30 days.  However, you'll be able to use products for 180 days even if you're offline."

 

 

Some people seem pretty jazzed about Creative Cloud. Some seem pissed off. But not sure everyone in either camp totally understands how Creative Cloud works yet. And for people who own a CS3 or later Adobe app, the first year of Creative Cloud membership will be $20 or $30 per month. After that year looks like the price will go up to $50/month ($600/yr)...at least, that's the current pricing plan in the US.

Let me disclose that I did some contracting work on release, but I'm not vested in the outcome. Interesting move and I'm curious to see how it all works out.

[Philip Perkins]

$600/yr...for Audition?  I don't use anything else.

 

philp

[nwstudios]

Looks like they have a single app price of $20/mo.

Still hardly worth it just for Audition.

 

Im still on CS5, have not seen any compelling reason to upgrade.

 

http://www.adobe.com/products/creativecloud/buying-guide.html

[Winter]

It's very expensive (read "it's a steal")! Here in Europe 1 year subscription for a single application is 300,00 euros, while a full Audition license is less than 400,00 and it will last at least 2 years before upgrading (and obviously an upgrade is not at full license price...)

[OmahaAudio]

How does the cloud thing work with extremely slow upload speed caps?

 

I hate my IP but there are no other options here.

Or if you're on-the-road and high speed internet is unavailable?

[OmahaAudio]

$600/yr...for Audition?  I don't use anything else.

Vous et f**ked.

[Winter]

Or if you're on-the-road and high speed internet is unavailable?

You won't need internet all the time, just read this: http://www.adobe.com/products/creativecloud/faq.html

[Winter]

Vous et f**ked.

No, $600/yr is for the full suite

[Henchman]

And people complain about Avid.

[Jim Feeley]

$600/yr...for Audition?  I don't use anything else.

 

philp

 

You can subscribe to a single app for $20/mo. If you have an existing CS3 or later license, it's $10/mo (though I think that price may just be for the first year). More info here:

 

https://creative.adobe.com/plans

 

 

I have mixed feelings about this whole subscription thing. But I'm OK with monthly mobile and ISP bills; perhaps over time I'll view Creative Cloud that way. Don't know yet.

[Philip Perkins]

I'll be interested to see how their greater user base (Photoshop, Premiere, etc etc ) take this.

 

philp

[nwstudios]

They said they have 500,000 paying cloud members currently.

Not sure what percentage of users that is though.

 

Very few alternatives to PS, AE and Premiere.

 

Willing to bet it won't take them long to figure out ways to drop support for CS6.

OSX users likey to be especially vulnerable with all the constant changes.

[myke2241]

i think a better question is will they continue to innovate? The associated cost of maintaining a extremely large user network that now has to up 24/7 with no exceptions of downtime with preservation of a massive amount of data is tough and very costly. I it mite cost more then their current sales model. 

 

this is the kind of thing that promotes innovation And with Adobe now having a large target on their back we will see small companies popping up to fill in the gaps.

[nwstudios]

i think a better question is will they continue to innovate?

How much innovation can they really do?

These programs are pretty mature.

Last real major updates were going from 32bit to 64 bit.

I didn't see any real reason to upgrade from CS5 to CS6.

[studiomprd]

"  I didn't see any real reason to upgrade from CS5 to CS6. "

the Photoshop instructor in our computer lab was quite insistent, and that required (forced!) an OS upgrade, which then required (forced) a PT upgrade...

[Howiecreate]

If you're in photoshop all of the time, then there was a lot of time savings in moving to CS6 from 5 in terms of getting things done. Not a lot of new features, but they allowed for my dynamic changes to be written in adjustment layers which resulted in less destructive editing and the ability to move those layers around better.

 

In terms of the Creative Cloud, we've been talking about it a lot at work, and it looks like if someone else/your company is paying for the suite then it's great for the creative workers because you're always up to date and able to read the newest files. On the other hand, most of us also do independent work, and we're not too thrilled at the fact that we are now essentially paying a yearly tax to do our jobs. It reminds me a lot of when I get a bill from my accountant that lists her time on one line and then the software fee for processing my tax return on another line. For small shops, like me, I definitely see a need to start passing some of these costs down the line, especially since if I stop paying the tax, I can no longer open your files, which are my creative property.

[geordi]

Make you a bet, this is a big play to figure out a way to stop the software pirates, besides setting up a continuous money stream.

 

There hasn't been an Adobe program YET that hasn't been cracked and all their online BS checks bypassed to keep the thing fully functional. They even started getting Apple in on it, some of the "updates" sent directly from Apple also reset the "proapps" folder where the license data is stored, if that didn't pass some kind of checking. 

 

This is another in a long line of companies that are trying to move everyone to a 'continuous revenue stream' model and at the same time, defeating (they think) the pirates. Sounds like all they are really doing is renaming the CS series and making it check the authenticity for the license more often than just at installation.

 

What will the benefit be? They no longer need to constantly provide new features to compel people to buy new versions... So why develop new features then?

[johnpaul215]

The people I have talked to said they think it will be cheaper if you are the pro user that gets the newest versions. From an accounting level it's simple to have a monthly expense as opposed to paying a HUGE lump sum every year or two or whenever the big updates come out. It's also brilliant from the software companies perspective because it ensures people will jump to new versions faster (as soon as compatibility is not an issue). If you are already paying $XX/month and can click a button to switch to the newest version, you probably will. That way Adobe can also count on a steady monthly income stream and not hope each new version sells well enough. That has to be incredibly compelling to them. 

 

Microsoft has been ready to do this for their Office suite for years. Businesses running MS Office apps are notorious for buying a truck full of computers and never really updating the OS or productivity apps, then in a few years they put out a TON of cash and buy a replacement truckload of computers with the Office apps installed. Again, from an accounting standpoint it's probably easier to have the monthly expense than those massive capital expenditures. Microsoft probably also sees that a lot of offices could really do what they need on some sort of tablet with a proper keyboard, and do not need hundreds of mini towers for email and office apps. 

 

On the other hand, a lot of ProTools users often set up a computer and when it's working right, they let it go for years. Maybe that's not as common now, but that was what a lot of studios used to do. In that sense, the monthly subscription would not be appealing, though may be the future anyway. 

[Winter]

I'll be interested to see how their greater user base (Photoshop, Premiere, etc etc ) take this.

 

philp

That's the question, IMHO. Personally I feel that the CC it's too expensive right now, especially because there's no option for using 2-3 apps without paying for the whole suite.

[nwstudios]

On the other hand, a lot of ProTools users often set up a computer and when it's working right, they let it go for years

 

Going through iLok hell might be a factor