A bit of a firestorm erupted yesterday after Adobe announced its transition to a subscription-only model for its creative applications, which are now part of a unified Creative Cloud offering. Some of Adobe's customers complained loudly about the move, which came suddenly and as a pretty big surprise — anyone who was paying attention knew this was the direction Adobe would go eventually, but not many expected it to happen quite this soon.
Many of the complaints are legitimate, stemming from a dislike of a "rental" model for critical software applications, a back-of-the-envelope calculation showing increased costs over the long run, or simply fears that the price could increase unreasonably over time. But others result from a lack of information about what, exactly, this "Creative Cloud" stuff means to users. Here are the three complaints we've seen pop up online most often that are not supported by what Adobe has said publicly about Creative Cloud.
1) I'll be forced to upgrade when Adobe wants me to, not when I'm ready.
Adobe says Creative Cloud members will choose when to install application updates. They will not be pushed to the user's system automatically. In fact, Adobe says you can stick with current versions of products, if you like, as long as your membership is active. In addition, all versions of the Creative Suite products, beginning with CS6, will remain available for the purposes of backward compatibility, and it will be possible for you to keep Adobe Premiere Pro CS6, for example, as a separate application from Premiere Pro CC.
2) The Creative Cloud requires an "always-on" connection that will make it tough for me to work remotely.
You do need to be online to install your software, so you'll have to install the programs you need while you're connected and before you hit the road. But the applications run locally, on your machine. In its FAQ, Adobe says users with an annual memberships will be expected to connect to the web to validate licenses only every 30 days, and products will work offline for 180 days. (Actually, an Adobe blog post about Photoshop CC says it's only 99 days. We're asking for clarification on the apparent contradiction.)
3) The Creative Cloud requires me to store my media and project files online, where they'll be insecure and a pain to access.
Creative Cloud users are not required to store anything online, though the cloud becomes an optional save location. Once your applications are installed, you can use them with local files and media, the same way you currently work. Again, Creative Cloud subscriptions will include online storage, but its use is optional, not mandatory.
For more on the Creative Cloud, read Adobe's FAQ on the subject: www.adobe.com/products/creativecloud/faq.html
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As I have been telling people for years, sooner or later EVERYTHING will be done through the internet. BUT who will have sole copyrights on the graphics modified by the online service, Adobe™ or the customer? As you are modifying your graphic will someone at Adobe be monitoring what the content of it is? A Corporate Big Brother if you will. And will Corporate BG tattle to Gov BG? If there is a privacy within the LAW will it be there? This why I do not like this thing called the “cloud”. You will still have to agree to and abide by their Licensing Agreement and will that include copyrights as well? And, remember, once on the internet, always on the internet.
Regarding the grace period for being offline: It’s currently 99 days, but we’re in the process of upping that to 180 days.
no one is making those points. I’m geting irritated at publications picking the points that can be swatted away. I don’t want to rent my software, I want to buy it. I refuse to be on a perpetual rent with adobe. Its a disgrace basically. They are gone mad trying to figure out how to wring more money out of the same number of people.
Agreed totally. These points are just red herrings. I don’t want to make credit card payments automatically EVERY MONTH (or annually for that matter) for the rest of my career. I want to be in control of when I buy software. Period. And I’m somebody that has paid for just about every upgrade since CS2. I’m a loyal Adobe user, but this has me giving serious thought to alternatives
The Adobe executive who approved the cloud and renting/subscription should be fired. I’m now actively looking to buy a competing editing software with this announcement. Thanks Adobe – well done. Adobe – Keep sticking your head in the sand and telling yourself and issuing press releases on how great the cloud is while your customer base exists in reality and don’t want to rent/subscribe to your software.
hi
Look at “light works ” I ran across in an article inone of my trade magazines. It was the FREE editing software used on Hugo and The Kings Speech.
I couldn’t agree more… what responses is this article referring to?
Can I make a one-time payment for cloud-access to “own” the software?
Once I upgrade to the new cloud-based software, if I stop my monthly payment will I still have access to the version of the software that was active when the payments were stopped or will ADOBE be able to turn my software access OFF?
It sounds like if the software isn’t periodically verified… the software deactivates!!!
They are also making it nearly impossible for small educational institution to use their products under this new model. It is also a great burden on our students who now, instead of buying the Creative Suite once and using it all 4 years have to pay upwards of 1600 dollars for our curriculum needs.
It’s amazing to me the amount of positive press that is coming out about the CC change. The only real dissenters is see are actual users. Are people so stupid to believe this introductory low price will remain -like a drug pusher, the first is bit is a low priced buy (in this case rent). Once you are “on the hook” you have to stay on the hook. You have no backward compatibility – that is the biggest hook there is.
Think of it this way, each of the CS are/were about $1,800. If you were to keep up with the yearly upgrades, after ten years you’d’ve spent $18K. With CC you’ll spend $6K and you have access to every program (if you were to need them) plus storage space. Buying those extra progz (and keeping up with the upgrades) would increase the previous $18K, depending on how many you wanted.
i want to be buried with my boxed version of adobe photoshop CS4.
LOL, freakin’ hilarious!
The enormous misnomer here is that this is “subscription”.
This is SOFTWARE RENTAL, plain and simple.
The uproar isn’t over that you can now rent the software. The uproar is that you can never, ever buy it.
“all versions of the Creative Suite products, beginning with CS6, will remain available for the purposes of backward compatibility, ” ahhhahahaahahah — yes, there’s the rub, isn’t it. Creative SUITE. Not CLOUD.
It’s vitally important to understand something here.
Creative Cloud is a NEW PRODUCT.
Photoshop CC is Photoshop CS 7 is Photoshop 14. You will never, ever be able to BUY Photoshop 14 outright. You can only RENT Photoshop 14. You can also NEVER, EVER KEEP version 14.0.1 (if you need to, for some compatibility) as well as download and run version 14.5 when that comes out.
I think Studio Daily should make this specific point known instead of copy/pasting from Adobe’s FAQ.
Agreed. Studio Daily stock just went down in my mind
I agree. Studio Daily is clearly Adobe’s bitch-whore. This is pathetic. I’m done w/Adobe.
As a freelancer, there have been times when the projects are coming in hard and fast. At those times, sure, I’ll put my money towards upgrades and new equipment. At other times, when things are slow, I like to conserve my money until the next job. This is where a continual subscription fails.
That was exactly my concern. A freelancer has to be able to survive when the cash flow doesn’t and resurrect again when opportunity returns. Monthly payments don’t help there.
I upgraded to After Effects cs6 35 days ago and since I was in the middle of a project have never installed nor activated the product. I tried to have Adobe refund my money and since I was 5 days past the 30 day cut off too bad. I upgraded with the plan on saving when the CS7 came out thinking they were going to announce at NAB but they totally blindsided me with the subscription plan. I use to use AVID Xpress Pro and I will be taking advantage of their still in effect upgrade.
Adobe is on the bottom in my book for playing hardball for 350 dollars.
These are points that have been clarified repeatedly.
“I’ll be forced to upgrade when Adobe wants me to, not when I’m ready”
This is really not the burning issue. It is that even if we decide not to upgrade we would then keep paying for the same software over and over again. I have CS5.5 Master. I could upgrade to 6.0 for $525.00 but the new pricing would have me pay more than that for a year (yes, I know one year of promotional pricing) But the promotional price should be the premium in my opinion. Yes, drop the price, give us a 6 month grace period at the end of our year before you shut down the software on our box. Right now with 2 programs lets say Photoshop and Illustrator you have to pay close to $600/year. Having the rest of the Master Collection is only great if you need it otherwise this is like bad cable TV channel bundles. Please lower the price, Ala Carte more stuff, lengthen the grace period before Adobe “Forecloses” on your installed software.
#1 misconception is by Adobe – thinking that their users will want to spend $ to never own software rather than having a choice between having the cloud or owning the boxed versions. As a happy “switcher” to Adobe for the last two years who had plans to always upgrade – I will never upgrade with Adobe again and I will never use the Cloud. Time to “switch” companies since they no longer want my business or care about their customer base. Adobe is making the same mistake by not listening to it’s customer base that Apple made with FCP.
IT IS about the money, have you look at Microsoft Office and the annual plans. This will be the way of the future, so just pay up.
the “cloud-rent-thing” is the best idea that ever came about in the production/creative software industry… in my opinion – technology moves at the speed of business…what you use today may not be, and probably will not be what you use tomorrow…No serious production folks freak at renting a lens, jib or the like?…. so if you really use the same software like it is as a tool…then you should be fine with the last version you purchased from Adobe…no more updates, no more new software….just use what you already have…me? i like having the latest and greatest…and paying basically the cost of a really nice meal every month to have it at my fingertips…constantly available….constantly updated…constantly supported. Come join us on the cloud! it’s a great view from up here!
“then you should be fine with the last version you purchased from Adobe…no more updates, no more new software….just use what you already have..”
Please understand that Adobe has chosen not to sell Photoshop CC. Photoshop CC = Photoshop 14. You can only gain access to Photoshop CC for $50 a month. You may not One Time Buy Photoshop CC for ANY price. If you stop your monthly $50 a month rental of Photoshop CC, you lose access to Photoshop CC.
Similarly, their stated plan is that there will never be a CC2. The versioning of Photoshop, however, will go up. This means that in 6 or 8 months when Adobe releases Photoshop 14.5.. or Photoshop 15 your version will be overwritten when you choose to upgrade. The plugins that you DID buy (some are expensive, I might add) might then break. You will not be able to go back to Photoshop 14.1 – you will be stuck with Photoshop 14.5 because you downloaded the upgrade. There will be no provision to download and run Photoshop 14.1 concurrently with 14.5.
If you think there is no precedence to this, all you have to do is look at how Apple runs the App Store. There is no facility given to roll back any upgrade of any of their apps to a lower revision. I fully expect Adobe to do the same.
The renting model is fine if that’s just an additional option to owning. But making it the only option seems like a money grab.
Also, your analogies don’t work at all. If I rent a lens or a jib for a shoot, I still leave that shoot with my footage. I don’t need that lens or jib anymore. However, .psd, .ae, .ai, etc. files are living documents. Once I stop paying for CC, they are useless.
Please respond to comment prior to yours. Who will own your content? When you stop paying the monthly fee who controls your content? I read elsewhere that the program will no longer function on your computer once you stop paying the monthly fee. How could you go in and rework old projects if you don’t keep paying? Sounds more like extortion than a subscription plan.
CS6 will do me just fine. I won’t be participating in this madness. I have better things to do with my $600.00 a year fee.
Who cares if it’s 180 days grace. The concept still holds one hostage to whatever Adobe wants to charge……i.e.’ pay up or else we disable the software’. It’s like being a carpenter and having to rent your hammer fromt he hardware store on a monthly basis or the hammer stops working. This is driven by pure greed.
Let’s face it, the cloud storage option is a joke, nearly every project I edit is a minimum of 100 GB’s in size, so that is useless for me. This is a money grab pure and simple, since many migrated away from FC due to Apple mishandling their own software, Adobe now feels secure enough to limit the availability of the product and dictate how the user can access it.
Maybe I should start a Computer rental/subscription company… I’m sure Everyone would jump on board with that!!! Adobe had better re think this one… They think they’re gonna make a ton of cash, but not if they’re customer base disappears… They should at least give us the option to buy or subscribe & I think that will make everyone including Adobe happy!!
The vast majority of comments and reactions to this announcement are NOT about the 3 points made in the article. Please address the real concerns of designers/producers/editors/photographers/schools/non-profits. Maybe something good will come of this mistake; maybe some creative developers will come up with a new suite of tools for our trade.
The vast majority of comments recognize the article as what it is — Adobe propaganda drivel. We won’t put up with this outrageous BS. Publications that defend Adobe these days are whoring.
+ I think it is very good plan. I have been a freelancer for a while…economy hasn’t been so good lately and competition has been so fierce — basically it is hard to stay updated with current versions. I relied on OEM individual product rather than complete suite which I can’t afford. When Adobe started the subscription, I signed up immediately because in long run, I save much more than buying full version then upgrade products so forth… I now have full suite plus some “extra” products… $50 a month and it would take me to “pay it in full” about 4 1/4 years — Man, it is dang good deal! because I would get new full version of all products basically almost for free. In long run, it would be much worth it! I am very glad that I can subscribe and stay updated with current versions to help me stay competitive with other freelancers or studios.
Why? I was stuck to CS1 and CS3 for a long time and lose opportunities because of time constrictions because I miss out time-saving features that are in newer versions. At last I am catching up quickly as possible on those champ time-saving tools, especially Premiere Pro, After Effects, and Photoshop!!
Do the math…you will see it would be very beneficial for many small-time freelancers like me.
Many don’t doubt that it’s a viable avenue for some, but to take the other option off the table seems ridiculous to me. Besides, the idea behind this being a “money saver” is disingenuous. If you’re in this business for the long haul then you’ll end up paying more over time. Sure, a lower monthly payment seems attractive at the time, but any responsible freelancer should surely be stashing away a small chunk from each job to account for future hardware/software needs.
People also need to stop referring to the $50 as a monthly payment. To get that price you need to commit to a year. So it’s $600 a year, or $75 for the monthly plan. It may seem like semantics, but it’s a little more honest.
The money isn’t even the issue for me. The cost doesn’t seem outrageous to me (despite it being an increase). It’s the fact that I’m renting. I’ve seen people compare this to a car lease. It’s true that car leases appeal to lower income customers and those who always want to be driving a newer model. But here’s the difference… When my lease is up they give me the option to buy. Or, if I had the means in the first place I could have just saved more money by buying up front in the first place.
This is a socialist idea from the core. How can you not own the paint brush & canvas you use to paint w/? It makes no sense. Please don’t buy into this terrible idea, choose a different product. Avid recently lowered the price on their entry product, Sony Vegas is a viable option and FCP X is half the price of Adobe’s yearly software rental. Why rent, when you can buy! ( Have you heard that in the real estate industry before? I wonder why…)
This is a buncha crap. Adobe is being stupid with this. Why would they screw up a perfectly good thing? GREED, that why… Final FCP/Apple sucks, Avid has lousy support. I don’t like Avid Sony Vegas. Now what???
learn to like FCPX, because once you use it you will understand how amazing of a program it is.
This move by Adobe has familiar undertones to me, Apple’s iOS specifically. Activation required or not, there will always be code crunchers out there that find a way to circumvent the system (like jailbreaking). There will be two parties who suffer from this decision: Adobe and their clients. Adobe better dig their heels in deep, because if the constant battle between jailbreakers and Apple has proven nothing else, it’s that this is a very, very long and hard road for a company travel down.
If you can’t afford $50 a month to have the most up to date software suite, you obviously are not a creative professional, and either just dabble with these tools for fun, or have a pretty pathetic business model. I bet most of you pay twice that much for your cell phones and don’t think twice – and that is usually not a tool to make money.
I think for most people, it’s less about the money and more about the tether.
This^ Living with month-after-month blackmail is not acceptable. Period.
It’s not the money in and of itself; it’s the doubling of the cost and for that extra money, you get nothing at the end. It’s the shabby treatment of it’s long-time customers. That’s the real issue.
It looks like Adobe hired the executives that Target fired? Adobe should give the customer a choice to buy or rent.
How
greedy is Adobe’s new pricing plan? Very! If you already have Production
Premium and pay for upgrades, over the next 10 years you’ll spend about
$1800. Under their new plan you’re going to have to pay $6000. That is a
very fat price increase
I think you mean $18,000. Production Premium typically costs $1800. Do that for 10 years and that’s $18,000.
$6,000 for CC with upgrades over the next 10 years is 1/3 of that.
So you’re paying considerably less with CC.
Not quite. You only had to buy Production Premium once at full price. Then upgrades cost considerably less ($375 I believe). That would be $5175.
You also didn’t have to upgrade every year if you didn’t want to. So if you were on a 2 year upgrade cycle like many were, then it would have only cost you $4796 over that 10 years.
And you owned it.
This new model inevitably costs more for everyone. Just because you get what seems like low monthly payments early on, the additional cost adds up in the long run.
Why would you not want to upgrade every year? Am I the only person who thinks CC is a great idea? I can upgrade without dolling out 4-500 at a clip each year to “OWN” software. Who cares about owning software anyway? Probably the same people who buy cars to run them into the ground and keep dumping money into a wreck because of the notion “it’s mine but I put so much money into it” A car as software is a divestment. Plain and simple you ONLY lose money buying software (unless you use it to make money back) outside of it you buy it and in a year it is worthless. I can get a lease and get into a new car without the headaches of owning anything every 3 years. Everything gets old, so if you own some old crappy program thats 4 years old, it is worthless anyhow…. If you are a professional in this industry you want to stay up to the minute cutting edge. The idea you actually own software is ludicrous you own a box with an install in it and after 4-6 years when new OS render your box of junk inoperable then what? Personally I would rather pay 50 or 75 a month than dropping 500 on an upgrade each year. If you are a pro, you are making money and 100 a month shouldn’t be an issue to you at all, not even a blink.
My students are required to purchase the Master Suite in their Junior year of college, and continue using it in their senior year and the first year after graduation to help establish their media careers.
If students “remain members” of Creative Cloud for these three years, I calculate a 600% increase in cost for them. Adobe is proposing an unviable solution for them.
Imagine Monet or Van Gogh paying a monthly rental for the use of their brushes. More and more software companies are going to take this route. We will no longer own the tools we need to create. ( Now granted we never “owned them” but we had a perpetual license) Now if you don’t keep up with the monthly subscription, you have lost the use of your tools.
A decade or so ago a group of Hollywood Lawyers and the executives of a consumer electronics retailer called Circuit City co-developed a DVD movie system dubbed DIVX. You could get an affordable DIVX enabled DVD player for your home and then get DIVX discs of major hollywood movies for $3 or $4. You could take the movie home and watch it but the minute you put the DIVX disc in the player the clock started ticking and after 36 hours of viewing the movie for the first time you would have to pay the $3 again for viewing the disc a second, third, or fourth time. The consuming public saw through the charade. They realized that the “movie rental” model though cheap up front would eventually mean they could never own a copy of their favorite movie to watch whenever the mood struck without paying for the right to do so again and again. The consumer backlash over the product ended DIVX within a couple of years, and the general consumer animosity toward Circuit City killed that company years after that. LEARN from history, if you don’t want to rent from Adobe for the rest of your career, DO NOT “Subscribe” to the creative cloud concept. They will get the message.
Stupid blogpost. You are spreading misinformation on misinformation.
1) I’ll be forced to upgrade when Adobe wants me to, not when I’m ready.
No one is making that complaint, but whoever subscribes might as well upgrade, as they are already paying whether they want to or not.
2) The Creative Cloud requires an “always-on” connection that will make it tough for me to work remotely.
No one is making that complaint, but some are pointing out that it might be a problem if they work in remote location. Not everyone works from plush office in New York.
3) The Creative Cloud requires me to store my media and project files online, where they’ll be insecure and a pain to access.
The problem is that whether you need the cloud storage or not, you have to pay for it.
CS6 won’t last for that long, eventually a hardware or OS update will make it unusable unless you hold on to your old computer and OS.
CS6 also won’t be able to open all the CC files with the same editing abilities as the version of CC the files were created with.
The cost of CC for many long time registered users such as myself is 300% more over a 3 year span. My net profits are not $ 1 billion like Adobe’s – that’s actually going to be a big hit on my net profit, even if I deduct the cost of it.
I’ve been using web design, video and photo/illustration software by a company called Magix. It’s pretty damn good too. I freelance in multimedia and actually got hip to Magix years ago but was one of those who wanted to stay with the big name until the company I worked for folded and I had to start freelancing. With living expenses piling up and the scramble to get work, in addition to losing my Mac and software to an unfortunate incident, I made the jump to Magix when a good paying, quick turnaround gig came up. It ain’t Adobe but it works for what I need plus how in the hell does a company figure I need their ass so bad that they can back me in a corner and dictate the relationship I have with them? I’m cool on that. This media game moves too fast and is too competitive for any one company to make and dictate the rules of the game!
If Adobe was smart they would make the newer versions of CC created files not editable on CS applications, how much you want to bet that this will be the case in a very short while.
Here’s a thought….
CC might encourage Adobe to not push out products to meet the yearly quota. Now they can make tools that are less hype and more practical. And (hopefully) not having a deadline of a new release, means that a tool doesn’t have to be pushed out until it’s ready.
There is a negative side, and it involves a lot of trust in a corporation, (what could go wrong? *wink*) but there is the potential that it will create an environment that makes adobe run a lot smoother.
Yes, it’s probably more about saving Adobe money then creating a better development environment, but the point is, the advantages are not all in Adobe’s favour.
Besides, there will always be cracked versions if you decide to take a moral stand and stop paying Adobe until they get their act together.
If you want a fail safe, every 6-12 months, find a working cracked version to keep yourself up to date, and if Adobe tries to dick us around, we can all just chill on those copies for awhile.