Adobe Does Evil

I knew Adobe was turning scrooge when they announced they were going to charge for a 5.0 -> 5.5 upgrades. But this just makes that sound like a gift. No longer do you qualify for any discount unless you have the latest version of Creative Suite when you go to upgrade.

http://prodesigntools.​com …e-cs2-cs3-cs4-to-cs5.html

The solution is simple. Use something else.

There's lots out there. We use DxO and Picassa.

Bummer, I bought CS3 Web Premium, upgraded to CS4 and was waiting for CS6, not real happy with this.
I purchased software with 3 upgrades at a discount and now they decide that times are tough so to bad for the little guy, maybe it's time for a "OCCUPY SAN JOSE"!

Well I guess adobe will keep the hackers busy.
Adobe wants everyone on a subscription anyway, I think this will hurt sales in my opinion.

cntry wrote in post #13389604
Bummer, I bought CS3 Web Premium, upgraded to CS4 and was waiting for CS6, not real happy with this.
I purchased software with 3 upgrades at a discount and now they decide that times are tough so to bad for the little guy, maybe it's time for a "OCCUPY SAN JOSE"!

Well I guess adobe will keep the hackers busy.
Adobe wants everyone on a subscription anyway, I think this will hurt sales in my opinion.

There is nothing new here. Adobe has long done things that screw over the little guy. I own Adobe Acrobat Pro 8.0, for which I paid legitimate retail, i.e., an arm and a leg, through the nose. I've used it for years with Windows XP with nary a problem.

Unfortunately, Acrobat Pro 8.0 does not like Windows 7, so I tried to upgrade. Adobe, unfortunately has decided that there shall be no upgrade therefrom. I must purchase anew, for another arm and leg, through the nose, again.

Guess what? Primo PDF does everything I require and it's free!

Adobe can go sit on a cactus!

The same crap applies to PhotoShop.

It's almost like they're trying to make up lost revenue from all the cracked software by charging all the legitimate buyers such a ridiculous price.

I know that adobe products are meant as professional tools but there's still a significant number of regular people like myself who have gotten used to their software and don't really want to switch. The professionals and corporate purchases might not be terribly affected by this but for everyone else they will eventually reach a cap...

oh well though, at the end of the day there are some alternatives even if not ideal, and they have the right to charge whatever they want so I don't have much to complain about

Ten years ago when I bought a photo editor for home use, Picture Window Pro did everything in 16 bit and either HSV, HSL or RGB space when Photoshop 6 was severely limited in 16 bit functionality and cost 6 times as much. I bought PWP and have remained with it to this day.

I really find it hard to believe they lose revenue from cracked software. I do understand that photoshop is one of the most pirated pieces of software on the planet, but honestly how many of the high school kids who steal it would be in a position to buy a $500 software package. They have however turned photoshop into a verb. I don't see that as lost revenue as much as free advertising.

I bet if they somehow made photoshop "un-piratable" you wouldn't see a surge in Adobe sales so much as in GIMP popularity. The end result of which would be a generation of incoming employables who have spent all their time learning to compete with Adobe's product using open license software.

elogical wrote in post #13389827
oh well though, at the end of the day there are some alternatives even if not ideal, and they have the right to charge whatever they want so I don't have much to complain about

Wrong! You have every bit as much a right to complain, about anything and everything you dislike, as they have to set their pricing to screw over the ordinary guy.

They exercise their rights, why shouldn't you exercise yours?

I exercise mine, including the right to tell them to stuff it.

pol024 wrote in post #13389892
I really find it hard to believe they lose revenue from cracked software. I do understand that photoshop is one of the most pirated pieces of software on the planet, but honestly how many of the high school kids who steal it would be in a position to buy a $500 software package. They have however turned photoshop into a verb. I don't see that as lost revenue as much as free advertising.

Actually, they haven't. The public has, illegally.

As the Xerox corporation says, "You can't make a Xerox of a Xerox on a Xerox, but you can make a copy of a copy on a Xerox copier."

Think about that while you're Hoovering your flat and blowing your nose with a Kleenex.

Paint Shop Pro is a perfectly viable alternative to Photoshop. Even though I have CS4 (and paid for it) I usually use Paint Shop Pro X4 instead. Because it does everything I need and I know it better.

And I upgraded to this latest version for $40. Not $400.

-js

Adobe is not the big evil corporation that everyone here seems to be making them out to be. Certainly when a company does something that affects you personally it is human nature to complain but I have to wonder how many people that are writing on forum boards across the world will actually take the time to write to Adobe. That is how to affect change, not by pitching your tent in some park. At the end of the day Adobe has to respond to shareholder demands for continuing increase in returns. It's a fact of business that policy and procedures get changed all the time. I'm sure if many here looked inwards at their own employers where they have done something that could adversely affect customers.

Most of the individual people that use Photoshop don't have to have the full blown version, there are many alternatives. We would be fools to think that Adobe has not done a full risk assessment on this policy and has undoubtedly found it to be revenue positive. To the man sitting in the corner office that is what matters. This is simply business and not some big corporate conspiracy. The advertising agency that I do work for has about 40 copies of CS4 in their offices. I believe that this is who Adobe is targeting.

I do wish that there was a way that Adobe and the whole software industry could stop the illegal downloads and crackers. Maybe it's time to make an example of a bunch of them. You go to any torrent site and it is filled with versions of Photoshop. Hell I've already seen versions of CS6 being advertised on them and it's barely in beta. I've paid for every piece of software that I have and if I want to use a product but can't justify the cost I find a more affordable alternate solution. Perhaps this policy will be a boon for those companies offering those alternate solutions.

For kicks I installed my old copy of Photoshop 7 on my netbook.

Low and behold after I got my raw plugin working I didn't really notice a difference for photo editing.

Upgrade if you really need to.

Bananapie wrote in post #13391539
For kicks I installed my old copy of Photoshop 7 on my netbook.

Low and behold after I got my raw plugin working I didn't really notice a difference for photo editing.

Upgrade if you really need to.

Photoshop 7 was one of their more solid versions, imo. It depends on what you are using for a RAW plugin. I don't even know if ACR existed in 7. If Adobe maintains its current policy of not putting new cameras into ACR support those that use ACR for their RAW converter will either have to upgrade or go the DNG route. I'm leaving Lightroom out of the conversation but that is also an option. Take the new 1Dx for instance. CS6 is probably going to come out around the time that this hits the streets. Will Adobe put RAW support into CS5 or only CS6. It is safe to say that they certainly won't be putting it into any version prior to CS5. So if one changes cameras frequently keeping up with the most current version has that benefit.