Adobe to Stop Making Packaged Software

[unfocused]

The more I think about this the angrier I get.

Just a few thoughts:

I took advantage of Adobe's offer for a discounted upgrade to CS6 last year. Catch was, it was download only. So, while I have it on my computer, I don't own any disks. My computer crashes, I have to go through Adobe to have it authorized on the new computer. So, suppose I decide to take a pass on their "generous" offer and stick with CS6? Well, eventually I'll need to replace the computer and then, guess what, no way will Adobe give me access or unlock the software once they've gone to this system, you can bet on that.

So, unless you have a computer that will never die, don't count on being able to access your existing versions forever.

Now, they are going to sucker people in with their "introductory" pricing. So, what happens in a year when they jack up the price? Will I be able to go back to CS6 or will that have been disabled because I upgraded to "cloud?"

Main thing I'm getting at is this: even if you own disks from a previous version, don't think for a minute you will be able to reload them onto new machines or use them forever.

Others have rightly pointed out that all your images will be held hostage and if you let your subscription lapse you are screwed.

I'm not at all buying that customers like Adobe Cloud as much as the company claims. Naturally, since people have had a choice, the only people who migrated to the "Cloud" option were those for whom it made financial sense. Of course, they are going to like it, they made a choice and that's what they picked. But, you can be sure Adobe never asked people who didn't migrate how they felt about it.

I sincerely hope that this becomes Adobe's "New Coke" moment.

Finally, there is a part of me that – being optimistic – hopes this prompts some real competition in the market.

[YuengLinger]

Why is Adobe so afraid of letting customers decide?  They could still save on boxes and discs by making their products available as one-time purchases via download.

C'mon, Adobe, give us a choice.  If we want to pay full-price up front, you get a little surge of revenue.  If we want to pay by the month, you get your stream.

I just hate how Adobe keeps lying to us by saying it is better for the customer this way.

And for those Adobe apologists (fewer and fewer), what is wrong with choice?

The best comments on this thread are the ones that point out this should open the door for competition.

As for me, PS CS6 will suffice for several years; hopefully during that time, the CEO who has sanctioned this will get thrown out on his arse, as did the JC Penny arrogant fool. 

And maybe that will also be time enough for savvy competitors to come up with something as good or better than PS CS6, which, powerful as it is, still relies heavily on aftermarket plug-ins to be efficient enough for many professional photographers and photo-editors.

[dslrdummy]

what a bunch of ***??!!! <insert any desired expletive

oh well looks like i wont be changing from CS6 in a hurry
I absolutely loathe subscription software

but what real alternatives are there? seriously when push comes to shove the competition
just are not as good as adobe its pretty bad for to punish loyal customers like this
I hope it backfires and hurts them.

I have assumed with a name like "wicked wombat" you may be an Aussie, well, for the privilege of being in that far flung Country of Australia, you get to be charged 40% more than your American Cousins, Aussie current cost of CC is around $1200 bucks US equivalent. Adobe & Apple (among others), have a similar Model of charging by Country, AUD is up, so they take advantage of that, plus the fact that they simply can charge more and people continue to Pay.

We're used to it. We get charged a premium on cameras, lenses, memory cards and all mannner of accessories. Add to that any computers or other tech items you might want to mention. Why would software be any different? Somebody forgot to tell them our dollar is worth better than USD$1.02 and has been for the last year.

[Maui5150]

The more I think about this the angrier I get.

Just a few thoughts:

I took advantage of Adobe's offer for a discounted upgrade to CS6 last year. Catch was, it was download only. So, while I have it on my computer, I don't own any disks. My computer crashes, I have to go through Adobe to have it authorized on the new computer. So, suppose I decide to take a pass on their "generous" offer and stick with CS6? Well, eventually I'll need to replace the computer and then, guess what, no way will Adobe give me access or unlock the software once they've gone to this system, you can bet on that.

So, unless you have a computer that will never die, don't count on being able to access your existing versions forever.

Now, they are going to sucker people in with their "introductory" pricing. So, what happens in a year when they jack up the price? Will I be able to go back to CS6 or will that have been disabled because I upgraded to "cloud?"

Main thing I'm getting at is this: even if you own disks from a previous version, don't think for a minute you will be able to reload them onto new machines or use them forever.

Others have rightly pointed out that all your images will be held hostage and if you let your subscription lapse you are screwed.

I'm not at all buying that customers like Adobe Cloud as much as the company claims. Naturally, since people have had a choice, the only people who migrated to the "Cloud" option were those for whom it made financial sense. Of course, they are going to like it, they made a choice and that's what they picked. But, you can be sure Adobe never asked people who didn't migrate how they felt about it.

I sincerely hope that this becomes Adobe's "New Coke" moment.

Finally, there is a part of me that – being optimistic – hopes this prompts some real competition in the market.

I think you are missing the point.

I am sure a lot of people are happy with the cloud at $360 for a year.

When that rises next year to $600, will as many people be happy... probably not.

When it rises again in year 3 and year 4 and people realize they have paid $2000 over 4 years to RENT the software, and the month they stop paying the next month they stop using.

What most of the lemmings don't realize is just how big a choice they are losing.  Once you jump to the cloud, it is no longer do you stay with the version you are on or upgrade... it is do you use the software or not.

Why is Adobe doing this... because it is HUGE money and a captive slave audience. 

[unfocused]

I think you are missing the point..Once you jump to the cloud, it is no longer do you stay with the version you are on or upgrade... it is do you use the software or not.

Why is Adobe doing this... because it is HUGE money and a captive slave audience.

Maui, I don't want to get this off track, but what point was I missing? You are saying almost exactly the same thing I said.

[TAF]

People please!  You never owned software, what you always bought was a license with only a time limited assurance of support, bug fixes, etc.  Then you upgrade to the next version at semi-regular intervals and so it goes on for eternity.

No, I bought that software and I expect it to function as purchased FOREVER - on my stand-alone machine that has no connectivity to the outside world.

Support, bug fixes, etc. are options I can chose to forgo, or pay for, my choice.

The real problem is that when Adobe goes bankrupt in 5 years and the license servers go off line, every one of their subscribers is SOL.  It's happened before, it will happen again.

Which is why the cloud subscription model is a loser for anyone who cares about what they are using/doing/counting on.  A business person (eg: professional photographer) who uses Adobe is rolling the dice with their livelihood.  Bad move.  You're not a secured creditor, they owe you nothing when they fail, and your customers are not going to be amused when you tell them that all those photos you were going to have for them aren't going to show up.

Onward and upward?  More like downward to the netherworld.

[Meh]

I GUARANTEE you, that as they add features or "upgrades" you can expect $75 - $100/ month for Creative Cloud.

Guarantee? That's pretty bold.  But ok, it is reasonable to expect that prices go up over time but if that's your assumption then the cost of one-time version upgrades would also go up.  At the end of the day the financial comparison is what you're paying now versus what you'll be under the new model.

If you're a PS only user your upgrade cost every two years was $300 (do I have that right or was it $200?) so your average monthly cost was $12.50 (more if an upgrade came out after 18 months).  Now you're paying $20 per month for PS... which is more and not insignificant but you're getting constant upgrades with new features instead of Adobe having to hold them back for a full new release, some cloud storage, and the right to install on two computers.  So there is extra value.  Whether those extras are worth an extra $7.50 per month to any particular user is hard to say.

EDIT... and there are reports they are planning to reduce the single app price to $10 per month.

[unfocused]

Okay, one more thing. We can complain all we want on this forum, but please, also go to one or more of the public Facebook pages for Adobe, such as https://www.facebook.com/Photoshop?fref=ts and post a comment there.

Companies don't like public humiliation and in this era of the Internet and social media, it can be the most effective tool. Please, go post your opinion and urge others to do so as well.

[fugu82]

I may have to revisit Gimp......

[cayenne]

A couple of thoughts.

1. With the subscription only model, what incentive does that give Adobe to innovate and come up with NEW features and bug fixes? I mean, the main reason people updated was new features. If they have you the short and curlies renting the software, what incentive do they have then to come out with regular and meaningful updates on a regular basis?

2. I have pretty strong faith in the hackers and crackers out there, I"m guessing at some point, they'll have a "fix" for the software phoning home, likely have it talk to an app. locally on your computer when it needs to check in.

I think, however, it kinda blows they're doing this. Sure, it might open up room for competition, but from where? What out there is close to PS ?  There's the open sourced GIMP application, but it needs a lot of work to bring it more up to speed with PS.

Me? Well, I've been talking about it...and now I"m gonna hurry up and do it.

I"m gonna register with one of the local community colleges here, for $50, you don't even have to sign up for classes, and you can get an EDU ID, which is all you need for getting the Student/Teacher edition of CS6.

Its fully functional, and according to the FAQ and TOS of Adobe, perfectly usable for commercial, for $$ work.

I'll get that at a reasonable price, and won't worry about upgrading until someday when/if Adobe changes their tune on the subscription only model.

Just my $0.02,

cayenne

[Meh]

Onward and upward dudes!  To the cloud!

Yes. But not at $50 a month! That is a ripoff. Plus it should be configurable. Just like now to pick and choose what one wants.

Under the new subscription model you can pick and choose what you want.  Currently it's $20 per month for individual apps and if you need 3 or more apps you can just pay $49 and get everything else for FREE if you want to use them.  You just have to compare what you are paying now, for upgrades, over time and compare to paying the monthly fee.

There are reports today that Adobe said it was going to reduce the single application price down to $10 per month when CC is released.  If so, if you use 4 or less apps you go for the singles, and once you hit 5 you pay the package price and get everything.

[Meh]

People please!  You never owned software, what you always bought was a license with only a time limited assurance of support, bug fixes, etc.  Then you upgrade to the next version at semi-regular intervals and so it goes on for eternity.

No, I bought that software and I expect it to function as purchased FOREVER - on my stand-alone machine that has no connectivity to the outside world.

Support, bug fixes, etc. are options I can chose to forgo, or pay for, my choice.

The real problem is that when Adobe goes bankrupt in 5 years and the license servers go off line, every one of their subscribers is SOL.  It's happened before, it will happen again.

Which is why the cloud subscription model is a loser for anyone who cares about what they are using/doing/counting on.  A business person (eg: professional photographer) who uses Adobe is rolling the dice with their livelihood.  Bad move.  You're not a secured creditor, they owe you nothing when they fail, and your customers are not going to be amused when you tell them that all those photos you were going to have for them aren't going to show up.

Onward and upward?  More like downward to the netherworld.

Oh bollocks!

The software that you currently own WILL work forever on your machine.  No one is forcing you to upgrade to CC.

You want choice... that was part of my original point, people are resistant to change, don't like new models, demand choice, demand control over everything.

Adobe goes bankrupt?  It could, but you images are not lost, your RAW files are not lost.  You have to back them all up just like you do now.  No difference there.  Ok, so you Adobe software stops working after a while but even under the current perpetual license versions you'd eventually (and within a relatively short time) have to move to another product to stay current with features etc.   And besides, when companies fail they don't go poof in the middle of the night... you'd have some warning... you're not going to suddenly have to tell your customers their photos have been lost forever in a black hole.

Boy oh boy, THE SKY IS FALLING!

[Meh]

A couple of thoughts.

1. With the subscription only model, what incentive does that give Adobe to innovate and come up with NEW features and bug fixes? I mean, the main reason people updated was new features. If they have you the short and curlies renting the software, what incentive do they have then to come out with regular and meaningful updates on a regular basis?

That's reasonable concern.  The answer is competition.  If Adobe falls behind in features, performance, etc. competitors will rise up.

[Mr Bean]

A couple of thoughts.

1. With the subscription only model, what incentive does that give Adobe to innovate and come up with NEW features and bug fixes? I mean, the main reason people updated was new features. If they have you the short and curlies renting the software, what incentive do they have then to come out with regular and meaningful updates on a regular basis?

Good point.

[Mt Spokane Photography]

I'm thinking Adobe hired that ex-ceo from Netflix

More like JC Penney!

They both tried to change the business model, cost their companies billions, and lost their jobs.