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Is Adobe getting too Greedy?

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WineO

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I don't think that Adobe has previously released a mid term product that people had to pay for. It may be the recession or just pure greed that may well allow Apple or Google a foot in the door to put in a competitive product. Asking for a monthly premium is just a way of making more money in the long term. Some might think it is just good business practice but I think Adobe has now got to be careful that they don't alienate their customers.
Claude
 
Gale Bizet said:
YES !!!!!!!! Just like MS $$$$
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Just like AutoDesk (maker of AutoCAD). You have to pay yearly subscriptions. If you don't and wait a year or two to get the latest software it will cost you notably more than getting the subscription.
 
I don't think is has anything to do with greed or the recession. I think thanks to Apple's iPad and the rapidly growing needs and desires of the digital publishing industry that are desperate to stay alive and see tablets and pads as a way to gain readership and money Adobe has been forced to do updates sooner for the products that make this type of publishing possible. This particular field of publishing is going full bore like a drunk down a hill. Adobe either has to keep to the front bumper of the lead car or get left behind.

Because these changes are not minor and because they require a great deal of work from Adobe to do and keep up with and do right Adobe has no choice but to charge for these updates.

As for the subscriptions, they call them affordable and for certain industries like the epublishing industry it is. For the rest of us $95 a month or even $65 a month is not my idea of affordable. The big question will be will consumers look at this like they look at their monthly cable or cell phone bill. They aren't happy about the cost, but they enjoy it enough that they cough up the money. Right now I think the subscriptions will be left to the larger corporations who will be frothing at the bit to get the latest tid-bits for the epublishing.

I think the rest of will still see the 1-1/2 year updates that we are used to that will add the features for the rest of us.

Now if Adobe doesn't keep to that cycle and they try to force us in to the subscriptions Adobe could find themselves on the end of a very rude awakening as people move to other things. Time will tell.

But right now I think this is more for the epublishing people and not the rest of us. I saw nothing in the 5.5 update that is for Photographers. It seems to be all for epublshing.

Robert
--

The hardest thing about Photography is choosing a camera! After that it is all fun!
 
As far as I can tell this suite release brings only changes to the publishing side. It has nothing new in the Photoshop core itself, which is still advertised as PS CS 5, with an updat announced for the beginning of May.

For suite CS3 users especially it may be important to find out whtether this .5 release changes anything in their eligiblity to upgrade to CS6 as/if/when.
...
RobertBarnett said:
I think the rest of will still see the 1-1/2 year updates that we are used to that will add the features for the rest of us.

Now if Adobe doesn't keep to that cycle and they try to force us in to the subscriptions Adobe could find themselves on the end of a very rude awakening as people move to other things. Time will tell.

But right now I think this is more for the epublishing people and not the rest of us. I saw nothing in the 5.5 update that is for Photographers. It seems to be all for epublshing.

Robert
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Felt the same way about Adobe. Thought about getting Adobe CS5, my trial offer crashed my computer. Called Adobe, did not want to work with me at all in trying out CS5. Instead she tried to sell me Adobe Premium (I think) which cost a lot. She told me I have 30 day to try it out in lieu of allowing me to download another copy of CS5.

So I sold my PC, bought a MacPro 13" then bought Aperture and Silver Efex Pro.

Paid $1000 for Macbook, $80.00 for Aperture and $160 for Silver Efex Pro.

I paid less for this new setup than what Adobe tried to sell me in order to test drive CS5.

Very happy with this setup as I love to do b/w.

So to Adobe --- thanks but no thanks.
 
I have a small photography design business in a small town and frankly I dont have the margin to pay for these outlandishly priced updates that do nothing to improve my workflow or productivity. It wouldnt be so bad if thier software didnt have the problems that it does. Dreamweaver CS3 is a hit or miss when trying to sync files on your server - bought CS3 Design premium to get Dreamweaver because Adobe quit supporting Go Live, which was also problematic. It would be nice if in one of these updates if Adobe added a History option to Illustrator like Photoshop has. For the price that they get for Creative Suite, they should throw in Lightroom for free.

I hope that you are right about this being an opportunity for another competitor to get into the the photo/design software field. Adobe has either bought out or priced out all of the competition to the point that they are a monopoly in this market area.

Arrrrrrrgh!
--
Conrad
---------------------------------------------------
Show Low, Arizona
 
And GIMP just gets better and better. I still keep PS around since I really like ACR (and to run the few actions that are cool), but GIMP is more then enough for most edits imo. Version 2.8 will be released by the end of the year and I have high hopes since GEGL will be fully implemented and soon after higher bit editing (GEGL will also allow for self documented editing (hate the term lossless). :)

--

 
Allen Gerdes said:
Are you sure you meant "getting greedy"? Their products have ALWAYS been overpriced, in my opinion.
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If you were a business owner, wouldn't you want to have high prices and have very high customer demand? That's the ideal for a business!
 
Rant ON

Bought a new computer and have Photoshop CS (no version number just CS) will not load onto win 7. Install wants previous disk which I don't have. Called Adobe they say tough luck have to buy full version, no upgrade path for me. Ok go to download trial version of CS5 but the trial version has been removed from Adobe site until at least May since CS 5.5 is coming out.

Have to wait to test CS 5 for at least 3 weeks probably longer before they have trial version up. Adobe will send me trial version on disk for $20 dollars and will probably take about 10 days to get here (screaming in background).
Come on Adobe work with me. This is very poor service.

First they should have some upgrade path for all older versions of Photoshop. It should be a graduated scale so the older it is the more you pay in upgrade fees. You should not have to completely buy the software again. I don't know of any company that upgrades the way Adobe does.
Rant OFF
 
Check my post in regards to trying to work with Adobe's customer service.
Roger Cornia said:
Rant ON

Bought a new computer and have Photoshop CS (no version number just CS) will not load onto win 7. Install wants previous disk which I don't have. Called Adobe they say tough luck have to buy full version, no upgrade path for me. Ok go to download trial version of CS5 but the trial version has been removed from Adobe site until at least May since CS 5.5 is coming out.

Have to wait to test CS 5 for at least 3 weeks probably longer before they have trial version up. Adobe will send me trial version on disk for $20 dollars and will probably take about 10 days to get here (screaming in background).
Come on Adobe work with me. This is very poor service.

First they should have some upgrade path for all older versions of Photoshop. It should be a graduated scale so the older it is the more you pay in upgrade fees. You should not have to completely buy the software again. I don't know of any company that upgrades the way Adobe does.
Rant OFF
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RedFox88 said:
Allen Gerdes said:
Are you sure you meant "getting greedy"? Their products have ALWAYS been overpriced, in my opinion.
Click to expand...
If you were a business owner, wouldn't you want to have high prices and have very high customer demand? That's the ideal for a business!
Click to expand...
I've always wondered though what it would do for overall revenue if they cut the price of Photoshop by a third/half as I reckon they'd actually make more money overall that way. I wager Adobe are losing a hell of alot of potential sales to amateur snappers and other non-profit user groups who might buy it if it were cheaper but who use something else or pirate it because the entry cost cannot be justified for most. The same kind of thing was said about Microsoft Office and Windows a few years ago and they've now reduced the cost on some of the SKUs substantially to pitch at the home market.
 
bigfatron said:
I've always wondered though what it would do for overall revenue if they cut the price of Photoshop by a third/half as I reckon they'd actually make more money overall that way. I wager Adobe are losing a hell of alot of potential sales to amateur snappers and other non-profit user groups who might buy it if it were cheaper but who use something else or pirate it because the entry cost cannot be justified for most.
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Those users buy Photoshop Elements which can often be found for $90 in stores. It has the most popular elements of photoshop. I would think the users of Photoshop Elements would either be lost or have no use for the extra full photoshop features. And I would think PSE users would choose to spend $90 on PSE than $350 (half the price of photoshop).
bigfatron said:
The same kind of thing was said about Microsoft Office and Windows a few years ago and they've now reduced the cost on some of the SKUs substantially to pitch at the home market.
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Only Office Home and Student . But Windows 7 is actually more expensive than Windows Vista was. They lower some prices, raise others. It's all a game.
 
WineO said:
I don't think that Adobe has previously released a mid term product that people had to pay for. It may be the recession or just pure greed that may well allow Apple or Google a foot in the door to put in a competitive product. Asking for a monthly premium is just a way of making more money in the long term. Some might think it is just good business practice but I think Adobe has now got to be careful that they don't alienate their customers.
Claude
Click to expand...
yep...and they wonder why people hack programs...its because scammers like them...

just like autodesk......

i prey they will get divided by us for being a monopoly ..adobe and autodesk
 
Their upgrade policy should fit the rest of the industry. Have a graduated scale for all upgrades depending on how old the version is.

I don't think I should have to start all over and pay the mega bucks when I already own the program. I am willingly to pay a substantial upgrade fee just now full price again.
RC
 
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