Poll: What concerns you most about Adobe's move to subscription software?

I live in a rural MN area with POOR internet service. The thought of needing to download my Adobe software is a bit alarming. I would be looking at about 4 days of uninterrupted service (like that's going to ever happen) just to install the software. I hope this is a decision the seriously re-think . . .

Hey DPR! Forget about the Poll and just send Adobe a link to this page. 15 mins on these Comments will tell the everything they need to know.

Here, let me help http://www.dpreview.com/news/2013/05/08/Adobe-CC-Creative-Cloud-Complaints-Poll-of-Photographers-Photoshop-users

Looks like Corel has just launched Corel graphics Suite 6 which includes Corel capture and Corel PhotoPaint 6. I just started testing PhotoPaint 6 and can't believe what an improvement it is. It is 64-bit and blazing fast also has the ability to use Photoshop style work place. Couldn't be better timing on Corel part as far as I'm concerned. The whole suite costs under $500. I would imagine Corel would launch Photo Paint six as a standalone. It's been years since I even looked at Corel but I'm now giving it a serious once over. http://www.corel.com/corel/product/index.jsp?pid=prod4260069&cid=catalog20038&segid=5700006

You can't upgrade to Photoshop CS6 anymore Adobe has eliminated this option you can try and purchase a full copy of CS6 from some online sites (B&H, Amazon) or you can download a pirated copy which is very easy to do and very called for under the circumstances. Adobe is using strong arm tactics to force this CC s***t down our throats. The last I looked Adobe stocks have gone south 3.49% since yesterday, it will be fun to watch how far down it will go before the CEO’s head is on a plater.

Dear Adobe,
We had a nice relationship while it lasted. I'm sorry if too many people were ripping you off. But it wasn't me. I'm not a pro and will probably be able to make do with Pixelmator and my old CS5 for a while yet. Then I'll look at other options. I'm glad I never switched from Aperture to Lightroom, as I no longer have faith in you to do the right thing by the consumer. Good Bye.

Attn: Adobe Head of Customer Relations Mr. Ben Dover

You are dead to me.

Buh Bye

Sincerely,
A Formerly Loyal Customer

This is a very bad decision by Adobe. I have a paid version of CS6 but once I go to the rental of CC what happens to the paid version? I paid for it with my hard earned pension and I or we should all be able to keep it as long as we want to be able to fall back on if we decide once started with CC that we don't need it and that CS6 is fine. Lightroom takes the place of ACR as I think most photographers probably use it. I use Capture NX2 also but now that Google got hold of Nik Software they are not supporting it. Maybe it is time to take up another hobby as it seems companies like Adobe and Google are going to force we ordinary people out of the hobby by making it more expensive than it already is.

A monopolist trying to rip off customers by extorting them with a subscription program.
Beside the monetary rip-off, this is an attempt to cut freedom of people. I will upgrade when I want to uprade and not when a company commands and demands me to do so.
Adobe has a track record of poor decision making, their flash fiasco being among the latest. Flash is in the process of becoming history and the company leaders a trying hard to destroy the rest.
I wish dxo or any other brand will hire the soon to be released Adobe programmers/coders and develop their own software.
Good bye Adobe. What you haven't understood is that while greed may be the driving force of economy, too much of it usually leads into disaster.

!, 2, 3 and four. This must be the most stupid business decision, evö. Just a hint Dear Aladobe.

HELL NO! Enough is enough. Mama can I go more than 99 days offline? Sorry I need a product, not a service. Period. Moving to a pirate copy for free when Adobe CC arrives. :)

It seems to me that Adobe and its defenders are completely missing the fact that photographers, perhaps in a way that is different from other creative disciplines, are creating work which we expect to remain relevant, important, and accessible for our lifetimes. If a designer creates an advert or a film maker creates a film, once they are done they are typically done. A photograph can continue to evolve over time. Unless it is done for a client, it remains part of us, part of our history, part of our being. The idea that we could reach a point where we can no longer access our photographic library due to cost (or whatever), even if the chance is slight, is something we do not wish to contemplate. And to be clear, when I say "access" I do not mean "view". I refer to being able to access the work product that went into the image -- the layers, the filters, etc. — and continue to refine that vision if desired.

I hope this problem as an example to many companies who think to come make the same mistake that Adobe is trying to do. It's good to learn from the mistakes of others, or will have to learn the hard way. The decision is always the client side, not abuse.

Again we see the arrogance of company which has reached a near monopoly status.
Furthermore, cloud computing is really not ready yet. There have been to many serious problems, and many areas in the world do not have sufficient bandwidth for this use of the internet.

I don't want another service that I have to spend time (and $$) updating and resubscribing and etc etc.

I want a PRODUCT that I load and forget. And use every day, 365 days a year. Which I've been doing since Quark XPress was the big man on campus.

If it's not going to be Adobe, I'll find something else.

I don't like the cloud. My photos are proprietary, and I don’t care how safe they say it is. I don’t want software that is looking over my shoulder, and sending reports to whomever. Adobe’s greed is now making me look at other software more seriously. Microsoft just shot themselves in the foot with windows eight and now adobe. It probably won’t be long before there is more competitive software coming out of India and China, and like camera manufacturing, photo software will leave the US. You can already hire software engineers for under $10 an hour so why give blood to Adobe?

Industry people will have to migrate to this eventually as more features get put into the files so designers and photographers will be able to work on files they get from CC.

The biggest problem with this subscription implementation is that CC will not even allow you to open or print any file once the subscription has lapsed. If Adobe were to allow a way to open/view/export (limited) regardless of subscription status it would go a long way towards alleviating concerns.

After that is the price, but Adobe products have never been cheap, and it was hard to 'skip' a version if you were always working with other studios and designers giving you more recent Adobe files.

The night before Adobe MAX was meeting I upgraded to CC. Upon discovering that after I have paid for a year at the introductory rate (slightly higher than the cost of an upgrade) if I discontinue my membership, I lose all my upgrades, I cancelled my subscription.

I can see how a lot of creative people will become less creative and versatile because they can't afford the (after-introductory) monthly fee. I am using CS 5.5 and was ready to upgrade to 6. I am primarily using PS with my photography having never seen the need to go to Lightroom. I am an artist and love the many directions the software allows me to go with an image. But I also work as a project organizer and occasionally use Illustrator and InDesign.

Adobe is shutting down my ability to try new things and learn new programs by forcing me to pay a monthly fee. I feel abandoned by this company I used to love, support, and recommend.

The problem for me is: the price hike inherent in the PS monthly fee is designed to offset the loss of a few disgruntled customers.

1. After the 12 month discount of $10/mo for current PSCS6 owners, the price jumps back up to $20/mo. Compared to the current PS upgrade costs, this represents a 55% price hike. Adobe is trying to show growth to shareholders by jacking up prices. So, watch the analysts and you'll know when the next price is coming.

2. Access is based on recurring payments. If I stop paying I lose access. This is certainly the right of the software company to rent their products to me, but it shows me that Adobe see some of its users as expendable. If we pay, great, if we go away to a competitor (of which there are few), no big deal, the 55% price hike paid by everyone else covers the loss of a few customers.

All this talk about Adobe and the future of its product offerings has me thinking even further down my workflow. Because of all this, I'll begin to move away from PSD files where possible since I don't want to be beholden to their formats which may or may not work long term.

As for me, I'll stick to PS CS6, I'll retire LR in all likelihood (don't want to be tied to their catalogues since LR will inevitably be only offered in CC) and will pick up a couple of alternatives, starting with Pixelmator and Aperture.

They have the option to do what they did, I have the option to do what I'm about to do. The thought of not being able to open a file in a few years is scary as hell for me (and for other photographers), I can't imagine ever subscribing ad agreeing to such a scheme.

Steve Jobs once said "I have my own theory about why the decline happens at companies like IBM or Microsoft (Adobe). The company does a great job, innovates and becomes a monopoly or close to it in some field, and then the quality of the product becomes less important. The product starts valuing the great salesmen, because they're the ones who can move the needle on revenues, not the product engineers and designers. So the salespeople end up running the company."

Steve, you were bang on!!

I keep my CS6, no more PS for me. When I need another program, see what is on the market and will make my decision. I use PS since version 3 all originals.
This is how Adobe treats customers who always supported the product, turning his back and extort money shamelessly.
Still use Lightroom, if the Lightroom pass exclusively for Cloud, will be the death of Lighroom for me and many others. And to replace Lightroom the market is much more broader.

Too much hassle, too little advancements. It's time for a solid alternative to step up and gobble up the angry Adobe PS customers. Or keep adding features to Lightroom until PS isnt needed for the majorty anymore. At some point they were going to shoot themselves in the foot with Lightroom features anyway. Maybe it's time to just dump the remainder of missing features into Lightroom and make it a photographer only product and PS a design only product.

Could you add a line to the quick poll that reads "all of the above". Thanks.

You don't need a poll to see what people concerns. It is very easy.
People want to have a CHOICE! They want choose the way they want to go. Left or right. This is how we grew up in a western world, a world with choices. They don't want a corporate communism. They are concerned with the way the corporations lead the system with their unholy friends at wall street anyway. They promised us a brave new world with "all the choices you have." " Be all you can be." It's all a big lie! You have no choice! They give you just a liitle more space until the leash ends. People are fed up that's why the response was so fierce.
It's easy for Adobe. Run both systems, boxed AND CC and nobody will say a thing anymore.

I recently tried to buy maintenance for many copies of PhotoShop in my company (actually, Creative Suite, which includes PS), but was told that they are discontinuing that option in favor of the cloud service. That will not work for us, since we use PhotoShop for mission-critical work and cannot accept forced upgrades at Adobe's discretion without allowing us to fully test and plan the upgrades first.

Like many other software companies, Adobe has dropped features and changed interfaces with their various releases, which can throw us into a tailspin at the worst possible moments. Acrobat X was a prime example of this, where the updated interface broke an important feature that we used daily. If we were using a cloud version of Acrobat, how could we revert to a more appropriave release for our needs?

We will probably end up keeping our version of PhotoShop until we find a viable non-cloud alternative.

The problem is being forced to continuously upgrade forever. I'm still using CS5 with no problems. I'll be upgraded to CS6, but to be honest I don't really "need" a lot of the new features. Instead of keeping the older version for a few years before upgrading, it will be a constant process. Ugh.

Stock down almost 4% today at 1:30pm EST.

the crap in the new photoshop version is not worth an upgrade at all.

rounded rectangles.. REALLY?
2013 and photoshop gives us rounded rectangles WOW.

and the deblur feature.. well.... who wants to bet that it sucks?

you will be able to print 10x15cm from a blurry 22 megapixel image... that´s it.
everything bigger then 10x15cm will show ugly artifacts...

and that is what you have to expect.. minor updates... constant payment.

"Adobe's announcement of a definitive move to the Cloud is proving to be very controversial, and somewhat misunderstood" - quote from one of my favorite websites.
I feel like a child in classroom being talked down to by the people that I respected, bought their Adobe based instructional materials, and attended their programs over the last 11 years. They are on the inside of Adobe.... maybe the window is a little fogged to the outside world.
I do not see any misunderstanding - the message is very clear.

I don't really get it... Doing the math, the subscription is cheaper than buying the software license outright, especially for what you get. It takes a couple years at least of monthly subscription to reach the traditional price, which is about the time many users may want to upgrade anyway. Plus you get access to every piece of Adobe software available, so you can play with apps you may not have had access to before. And if you only need one app like Photoshop or Lightroom, the price is even more affordable. Yes, I do worry about future price increases, but for now I think there's way to much fuss.

Never underestimate the ability of a software or hardware company marketing VP to propose something idiotic and upper management to agree.

A subscription model is mass market. Businesses prefer leases and seat fees. The prospect of continuous enterprise-wide upgrades at the whim of some marketing genius probably scares the c**p out of the average IT department.

This is mass market. If it works, if the revenue stream is sufficient, all the rest of Adobe's products could go the same route (IMHO).

Adobe have really shot themselves in the foot with this decision. Their loss I will go elsewhere. Perhaps when everyone boycotts them they will wake up to reality. Adobe count yourself now added my list of boycott companies along with Microsoft :)

My biggest fear is they will pull this crp with Lightroom next. And I have a lot invested in my database to simply walk away from it like I can with Photoshop.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPTc79Qw2g4&feature=player_embedded

I do not like subscription programs. This is a naked grab for user's pocket books. It will double the cost of staying current. I prepay minutes for my cell. I pay my credit card off monthly. I only buy a car with cash. I am now looking at dropping my Direct TV satellite and going with web tv.
No way am I signing up for Cloud.
I don’t like Lightroom so I don’t see this as an option.
My First copy of PS was CS1. I have upgraded 3 times to the current CS6.
I will be looking for alternatives.

* Adobe has alienated the Enthusiasts
* It is clear that Adobe considers loosing the Enthusiasts as acceptable loss

Has anybody at Adobe ever thought about that a Professional ( which they still care about ) have been an Enthusiast prior of being a Professional ? I think they might just have killed the future generation of Adobe customers. At least for Photography, and that is including Video nowadays.

This reminds me of when I bought my first condo. At the time, the condo fees were $325/month, which was high for the area, but I got a great deal on the unit. I thought, well, I'm ok with the combo of my mortgage and condo fee. I said, "hey, they are the highest around, I'm sure they take great care of the facility for that and its unlikely to go up too much". Fast forward 6 years. The condo fee has balloned to $555/month AND I had to pay a "special fee" of $1085 to upgrade the elevators that were not part of the condo fee! But I'm married to the condo fee with my ownership, nothing I can do. I'm stuck. So I sold the place right before the housing market took a nose dive.

This is how I see this "subscription" arrangement. You always have to pay and there is no incentive to provide an improving product. If they raise the price, you still have to pay. All your work is saved in PSD files!

I promised myself I'd never again own a condo and the same goes for Adobe's sub scheme.

Adobe - I've been a loyal customer for many many years but now I will support ANYONE who comes out with a viable alternative to Photoshop even if it will be a hassle. Screw your new money-making agenda. I will be paying at least twice as much for photoshop with an ongoing subscription. Don't you realize that people have a way of working and getting things done efficiently? And then you decide to just change the whole thing? People make a living using your software the way they have for a while and don't want to be forced to go along with every one of your whims. I will Never support this!

Here's a Bloomberg interview with the Adobe CEO, with his usual fabricated "customers prefer cloud" nonsense.

http://www.bloomberg.com/video/adobe-ceo-says-creative-cloud-better-for-customers-0Bfb79OISFGotOcGNxRuQg.html

Btw, anytime you hear a CEO use the word "assets" to describe customer property, check your back pocket to make sure your wallet is still there.

Way to expensive compare to upgrade cost. Time to test other same type of software. Adobe is very greedy.

This is complete horse-pucky

In the above poll , there should have been an "all of the above" option because all those things are of concern... except "I thnk it might work fine."

I'm actually using the subscription option now because when factoring in the initial cost of CS6 plus upgrades down the road, and other economic factors, it makes more economic sense.

But due to the many changes the photography market and the economy have undergone, there have been many photographers, amateurs and pros alike, that have had to tighten their belts and cut back on monthly costs.

Being dependent upon a credit card that can be charged monthly and an internet connection to keep PS functional might mean that many folks who are struggling through this rough economy would lose access to PS.

I muddled thru with CS3 for 5 plus years, thru unemployment and lean times, I still had PS to work with. If it was a subscription service, I would have had to let it lapse and turn to GIMP or some other program to continue photography.

The Cloud aspect of this is just a smokescreen to make it seem like a different product. In reality this is just a move from selling perpetual licenses to paying monthly to use the software. It still gets installed locally on the PC, and you do not need to use the cloud facilities - the software just calls home periodically to check that it is still being paid for.

With the old model you decide when to pay for a new version. If you decide you won't or can't pay for the latest version your software keeps working indefinitely, and you can still edit your files at any time.

In the new Adobe Creative Cloud world you have to commit in advance to paying indefinitely, with no assurance of what the future price will be. Stop paying and the software stops working next time it calls home.

No doubt any file you create with the CC version will not be usable with earlier versions of the software, so you can forget working on any CC created files unless you keep your subscription going.

I have been regularly and dutifully upgrading Photoshop since version 2.5 in 1994. The terms of doing business have been very simple: I buy the revised product and See You Next Time.

To tell me that I have no option but to use their "Cloud" and subscribe? No thank you. If they want to offer that arrangement as well, fine there are people for whom that will make sense; but I like to be able to cut the umbilical cord and get on with my business my own way.

There are other products out there now that don't require such an arrangement. I already own two of them, mainly because they do a better job of things like B&W conversion; it's only 19 years of using PS that has kept me with them, but if they don't rescind their demands then my version PS6 will be the last.

I wonder if Adobe anticipated this amount of backlash? I hope not. You're going to lose MOST of your customers, Adobe; this is a VERY bad idea. And to the folks making comments, I would suggest go to Adobe's webpage, find a way in (difficult) and send them a message directly, even if it's in the wrong place. I think we should keep the pressure UP till they relent.