Adobe heralds subscription-only future for Photoshop and Creative Suite

Biggest news topic on dpreview, ever!

May 6: The day Adobe makes digital photography history, in one of the dumbest business moves ever. The beginning of the end for Adobe. Even if they apologize profusely now and take it all back, I sense that it is too late for them.

Just in case Adobe is monitoring this forum I will not EVER rent software, I will use Lightroom as long as it's for sale but if it goes to a subscription model I'm going back to Aperature. I find it funny that Lightroom is the one product that is not going to this model, could it be because Lightroom is the only product they sell that is not overpriced so it is not pirated nearly as much as photoshop. Hey Adobe here's an idea sell your CS suite for the educational price and maybe you will see sales go up and piracy go down!

Watch out Adobe that the same thing that you did to save us from QuarkXpress doesn't happen to you.

You saw how fast we jumped ship and how fast Quark drowned in their own dispassion and apathy towards it's customers

Has anyone addressed the "Band Width" problem? I for one am limited to 5000mb per month upload! That isn't very many photos at all... A single file unedited from my Sony A77 is about 24mb, But edited that number goes quite a bit higher. The numbers just would not work for me at all.

Adobe is on the way to death, they try to hang themselves. Yes, there are pirated softwares on the market, but most of those are used by occasional shooters who do a few slides a year in travel or at the week-end party. Serious photographers and Pro's pay their license. Adobe will only lose those who anyway do not pay a license, but on the end make a huge free publicity for their stuff. Today, others do as well, and at lower prices. A soft reasonably priced will sell, and no need to pirate it. For sure, for some pirated soft is just a sport, not a question of any investment. For others it is a way to use something they can not afford. Microsoft knows that 50% of all windows versions are pirated, and often, Microsoft internals are those who put such soft online in news servers and Torrents, they know that this makes the popularity of windows. I would no pay a limited time license for Photoshop. As retired, i still get the soft free from my former employer who has a corporate license.

I think Adobe has over-estimated it's industry dominance, and/or underestimated the competition.

No problem for me. I just ordered Aperture and started to familiarize myself with it. As an advanced amateur, I don't need all of the power tools in PS. And Elements really seems only for beginners. I started with PS v3 and upgraded myself through CS 5. No more. Aperture will be fine until I explore the other options out there. What a shame...

My first disappointment with Adobe. I'll look for the competition.

And if LR goes the same way I will be making the move to Aperture!

Might even consider doing this when my LR4 version is superseded.

I reckon this is another reason for me to go in the direction of being a film shooter for my own photography; my nicest camera is a Nikon F6. (My employer requires my evidentiary images to be submitted as OOC JPEGs, so most of my equipment is digital.) I had recently been considering which digital post-processing system I should start using, and if this is the direction the industry is going, the answer for me might well be to remain, mostly, an analog dinosaur. I shoot so very few serious images per month, on my own time, to want to pay a monthly subscription to the owner of some "cloud."

DEATH TO CREATIVE CLOUD!

Bye Bye Adobe.
In a way, you have helped many of us with a difficult decision we have been grappling with for years: is the licence fee value for money for the use we will actually get out of it? Sure, for imaging professionals, paying a monthly fee that can be written off as a business expense will be fine, but for those of us who have used your products for our non-money making hobbies, you have made it a no-brainer: ditch Adobe and use one of your competitor's products instead. I hope you factored that into your business model calculations.
Speaking personally, I have been using Photoshop less and less, and Aperture more and more for the type of work I do as a hobby. Your announcement today makes the final break much easier- I will continue to use my licenced copy of Photoshop CS6 for as long as it remains practical on my Mac, and after that you will never hear from me again. I just hope that Apple don't go the same way with Aperture.

Goodbye Adopey.

I suspect Adobe's bean counters have foreseen that they won't have enough enticing new features to compel outright purchase of Photoshop. Also, having a steady income flow has got to look good on the balance sheet, but I think it's going to bite them in the butt for the long term - time will tell.
Looking down the road, for me, I'll be processing my raw files in DXO optics Pro and perhaps using Topaz PhotofxLab for the creative end which does have layers, masks, blend modes, better selection tools and free upgrades. I also won't be renewing my NAPP membership.

We swap perpetual license for perpetual nonsense.

Im not a Wall St analyst but is the stock price dropping???

When an imperial power becomes a dictatorship and levies an unfair levy on the populace they only invite upheaval and revolution. That's only if history is prologue. Good luck with the peasants Adobe!

Google bought Nik software and reduced the price from around $500 to $149 it would be interesting to see chart with sales results before and after this price reduction. I will bet that they have increased sales substantially. Adobe should learn from the pros.

I'm done.

Nope. I'll never take a bite. I'll continue to run with the version I have. I refuse to rent software from this company.
You know what is too bad? Adobe was the software that photographers always worked for to get. Invested time and money in. Now, it is going to cost the new guy so much more. I'm not talking the corporations, they will just pass on costs. I'm talking the guy that does this for the love. But you know, I take the picture, the software just helps me develop it. What I have now works just fine. I just saved myself $2400 over the next 10 years by not buying it. Time for another camera maybe :).

There is a petition for Adobe Systems Incorporated: Eliminate the mandatory "creative cloud" subscription model at:

http://www.change.org/petitions/adobe-systems-incorporated-eliminate-t he-mandatory-creative-cloud-subscription-model

Please sign the petition to have your voice heard.

After so many years, time to look for alternatives.

The creative suite is a mature product and important "gotta have it" features will become far less frequent. Therefore, in order to grow revenues, a monthly tax will be imposed for its continued use. Its the ubiquitous monthly lease plan. Companies do make more off of those who perpetually lease and never own, all conveniently broken down into "small monthly payments". The cost of entry is reduced, but over time you will spend far more. Most consumers are only concerned with "what will my monthly payment be?".

I will not trade in my "perpetual license" for a perpetual lease payment.

I guess that the decision of Adobe to offer a lease model for PS is just a stupid idea. I got the impression that Adobe will loose their loyal amateur base when I follow the majority of comments stating that they won't accept the lease model of CC. But for what does this amateur base stand for? Maybe only for a small portion of the annual revenue but also for the entire world of forums, free training videos on you tube, "how to" recommendations on blogs, training of friends and family. What happens if that will end soon. Students won't lease Adobe, they will not train their capabilities to use this product. No one in a forum will ask, how can I with photoshop, the editors will not write new "PS in praxis" books because they won't be sold etc. And slowly but surely Adobe will be as important for privat use as SAP ERP systems.
Corporation working on Adobe will get issues to find trained and experienced PS user. As a consequence Adobe will loose ther outstanding position in the market.

it says a coupe of things to me....
1. they must feel future innovations for products like CS7 and beyond will be too limited to drive new sales !
2. Professionals aren't upgrading as much as they used to (again issues with innovation and competition)

http://www.jeremypark.com.au/

I bet they took a look at Photographers and calculated the programs we use, which is basically two, the lose is not that great to them.
Designers will use a package, Video editors/producers will use a package etc
So basically stuff those of us that only use Photoshop and or Lightroom.
If I needed the extended version of PS I would of bought it.
How annoying will it be every time you log on having to download some minor upgrade. Having Flash is driving me nuts, constant updates.

WoP - World of Photoshop. As a gamer I enjoyed WoW for a time but HATED every second of paying subscription.

I shoot for a living I have a vast library which I manage with Aperture.
If Apple decided to go the same route, I would have to move to another program.
Many hours get invested into sorting/key-wording, to risk loosing it all because in effect you don't own the library. The statement that LR will get extra development on Cloud should be a warning to LR users.
I'm not now buying Premier or bothering with Photoshop upgrades, plenty of decent alternatives around. Cheaper too.

I am against paying for software via subscription so I will not sign up for this subscription and will look at alternatives when the time comes that I need to upgrade my current image software. I mostly use LR these days so I could not justify regular outlays on the latest and greatest PS.

ZERO plus ZERO times ZERO equals -- ZERO . That shall be how much you make from my upgrades Adobe ! NO NO NO NO NO NO up grades to CC . So what does CC stand for ?? C lueless C ompany ?? WRONG ADOBE WRONG ! -- BAD ADOBE BAD !!! SAD ADOBE SAD ! A buddy of mine sad Adobe is run by a moron,, I said I really think it is run by a MOREOFF !!

Did you know that Foxit is a nice free alternative to Adobe PDF Reader? Switch before they make Adobe Reader a monthly subscription.

For me, this subscription model marks the end of my support to Adobe. I find this subscription cloud based model absolutely unacceptable and for Adobe to force this upon its clients is also a business practice that I don't think should be condoned. I call for a blackmail of their product and will be the first to do so.

I'll continue to use Creative Suite and Lightroom for a while and will not upgrade nor license anything else from Adboe. If Adobe does not reconsider it's licensing model to be the same standalone model that I've had for years, I will transition to Apple Aperture for my digital management software and use Open source software for all my other needs (ie: Gimp for photo editing is a great alternative)

Has Thomas Knoll spoken on this?

As a hobbyist, I primarily use Lightroom, and occasionally (maybe 1x/mo) PS CS5. I can justify buying your product if I use it (remember, occasionally) for a few years. If I'm forced to pay a monthly subscription, I'll find different software such as GIMP or ACDSee. If the Lightroom perpetual license goes away, I'll use Aperture. Adobe -- you won't lose my sale immediately, but next year when I would have considered a software upgrade, I will not buy a subscription and you will certainly lose my business. My money will go to your competitors.

As a self employed graphic designer, I have paid thousands of dollars per upgrade since 1990. I still have my original cartons.

For my trouble and investment in Adobe products, I am awarded $240 for my continued loyalty ($20 per month for 12 months.)

Once I enjoy that wondrous consideration, I then become equal in status to the next new user on the block. We both pay the same price from now on. Ahhhh: Bitter Aftertaste. Loyalty: Snap Frozen.

Adobe have crawled all the way to the top on the backs of users like myself. WE are your grass roots, your backbone, your appreciators and adorers. WE LOVE your products but not your treatment of us with this one sided agreement.

This is so wrong. Consider the savings alone you will make in production costs, let alone patches and after market service becoming so generalised.

This loyalty should be rewarded - not $20 a month for 12 months - but for the years of investment in dollar terms.

Whack an unsharp mask on that.

Sign the petition against the change.

http://www.change.org/petitions/adobe-systems-incorporated-eliminate-the-mandatory-creative-cloud-subscription-model#supporters

The real discussion here is not if you get access to the program thru the cloud, thru a cd or whatever, the real problem here is that adobe is forcing us to rent the software instead of just letting us buy the darn thing.

They are trying to transform PS and etc, in a service, rather than a product or merchandise.

Here's a thought. How many people here have at least once in their lives lost their job and it took 3, 4, 8, 12 months to find a new one? Yes, I am raising my hand too.

During that dry period, did you do like I did and cancel the cable, the newspaper, and even consider cancelling all non-essential memberships, retirement plans, kids' soccer, and other subscriptions except for the electric, water, and gas services? Yep, me too.

Maybe the "pros" will consider their Adobe membership critical, and will cancel their health club memberships instead. They cost about the same, $50 per month, depending on where you live.

But I think for most people, when family finances get tight as in this example, the priority will be to feed the wife and kids, not Adobe. So the Adobe subcription model might end up hurting Adobe in down times.

But then again, I still see a lot of apathy. Most of you will probably just put your Adobe membership on the credit card even when you have no job, right?

What we are seeing here it is, may be, a generational change, a new way to understand possession and owning of things. A new understanding in which some how renting it is way better than having.

So, the way the things go, in the next future you will not buy a car but you will be suscribed to it.

Welcome to my net said the spider to the fly.
Welcome to my cloud said the lightning to the shrikes.

I work in the Photoshop/LR plugin industry doing development, support, testing, etc. I deal with professional photographers worldwide on a daily basis that use Photoshop and/or Lightroom in support. I've also done all the major trade shows numerous times and so have a lot of insight into how the average shooter uses Photoshop and/or Lightroom to process images.

In a nutshell, the VAST majority use Photoshop and/or Lightroom mainly to batch process images with a minor bit of healing/adjustment brush for retouching. They mostly use the prevalent overpriced/overhyped actions to get that 'look' and a few plugins for skin retouching or noise reduction. Other than that, most of these people have little clue about color management, printing, CMYK output or for that matter, don't even know how to use any of the basic tools.

So the overall tool power of Photoshop isn't even touched yet these people will continue to be hogtied to Adobe just to be able to run their actions & plugins.

I wish topaz Labs would take all their wonderful plug ins and create a stand alone application then I would say "bye- byeAdobe" or Corel cmon and make Paintshop Pro Mac compatible.

Google Trends on "Alternatives to photoshop". Nice spike.

http://www.google.com/trends/explore#q=%22alternatives+to+photoshop%22