FYI on the changing Adobe upgrade policy

Adobe is doing a bunch of funky things to its product line, including restricting the upgrade policy to the previous version only as of the impending upgrade to CS6. From the Adobe blog:

http://blogs.adobe.com …ustomers.html?P​ID=2159997

Here's the quoted passage relevant to PS:

Just a heads up....

Do you think they want you to move to their Creative Cloud subscription?

kirk

Are they serious?

$50 per month for individuals?!?!

And even better, a pricing penalty for anyone interesting in more than one license (small businesses).

I've got CS4 right now, based on this news I think I'll be looking elsewhere when it comes time to upgrade.

The new model is to squeeze more out of consumers by licensing the software for a specific amount of time....Monthly/yearly​...

Upgrades are the CON of the Century.
It was only a matter of time before they did this and expect less in new features w
the new versions.
Manufactures rule of thumb = Give less ... Charge More
Employers rule of thumb = Pay less ... Work More
Consumers rule of thumb = Get less ... Pay More

Living in the USA = Living in the United Scam of America.

Yea ... really sucks for a lot of people, especially amateur/semi-pro types who might want to upgrade every few versions. Was really looking forward to upgrading from CS3 to CS6 since it may well have ACR7.

That said, they're running a 30% discount on upgrades to CS5 until Nov 29 ... so there's that. :\

Vote with your wallet.

110yd wrote in post #13431374
The new model is to squeeze more out of consumers by licensing the software for a specific amount of time....Monthly/yearly​...

Welcome back to the days of the mainframe and leased software.

"Cloud" my a$$.

[Sigh]

kirk

I've had to maintain two licenses because of the number of computers we have. I always kept one up to date and then upgraded the other about every other or third version. I called the other day and brought my CS3 up to CS5 which cost me a tidy 700.00CAD. It was an expense that was better to spend now and be able to upgrade later. We have always worked off of a suite as opposed to simply Photoshop by itself.

This change of policy has been discussed here once a week or so ago and there are some very active threads on it on some other forums. I can't say that I am very happy about this policy change but their bat, their ball and they can do with them as they want. I don't see this driving frequent users to subscription services as that costs in the neighborhood of 400.00 per annum.

I always felt that Lightroom was going to take revenue away from Photoshop. There are many people that use nothing but Lightroom and they continued to add functionality to this product that made it easier for people to do away with Photoshop all together or maybe have only Elements. Imo, Lightroom should have been limited to a RAW converter along with the other functions it has. Its real power is in its database. Perhaps this has finally hit Adobe and they are now looking for new revenue streams.

In the corporate world I would guesstimate that most of the users upgraded every version. For the hobbyist or casual user it wasn't quite so necessary. The reality is that many of the hobbyist or casual users that run the full Photoshop could get away with Elements if they wanted to. Its no secret that Photoshop is one of the most pirated applications out there. Maybe its time for them to make an example of some of the people that doing that. Those that do this would probably not buy it in any event but quite frankly I get tired of seeing these cracked versions in RSS feeds. Heck, I've already seen a version of CS6 prerelease being offered and it is certainly not in the state for production use.

There is a 20 page thread (the last time I looked) on this subject on the NAPP forum where many of the NAPP members feel that NAPP should be advocating for the membership to get this policy changed. I highly doubt that they would want to do this as every new version means new books and DVD's by the professionals there.

Quite frankly I believe that this is a done deal. Don't like it, then use GIMP, PSP, Elements or any of the other imaging editing products that are available. There was a time not too long ago that photography hobbyists never even considered this as something they wanted. Along came the digital age and there was a whole new market for Adobe. I will keep my licenses up to date now and simply spend the money. Its a choice that each person is going to have to make for themselves. FWIW, I did write to Adobe to voice my displeasure with the policy change. I think that if you are going to take the time to complain about it on a forum you should take the time to voice it directly to the source as well.

I upgrade with each iteration, usually after the kinks are worked out. I don't use LR DAM or printing - I i don't particularly like raw conversion Lightroom produces either - therefore I don't use it and frankly find that it would be a waste of my time and effort to go on the Lightroom forum to tell them to strip out the garbage and concentrate on raw conversion, when I can simply choose another conversion utility that suits my needs. Pixel editing, not so much. I use Photoshop extensively for work and for fun - however, the power and flexibility it provides outweighs the bloat and headaches. While tools like the GIMP and Pixelmator are nice, they do not provide the full set of tools for me, so rearranging my work habits is not worth the hassle to commit to an alternative that does not provide the tools. I will likely upgrade to CS6 in my normal fashion with the understanding that it is the cost of doing what I do.

It is what it is. That being said, I think I'll stick to the traditional license - I'm not sure I am able to see the value in the Creative Cloud, and it seems like a lot of ... wait for it .. fluff.

ssim wrote in post #13431726
In the corporate world I would guesstimate that most of the users upgraded every version.

Most photographers I know / work for tend to upgrade every other version.

There's no chance whatsoever I'll use a subscription based license: Almost twice the cost per year.

I'll upgrade prom PSCS4 to PSCS5 Extended in the week before PSCS6 comes out. Then I have an additional year to see whether or not I'll continue to upgrade PS.
For me, PSCS4 works well enough, PSCS5 still has a lot of the bugs PSCS4 had, so the only reason to upgrade to PSCS5 is that PSCS4 isn't 64 bit on OSX.

Problem is that there aren't that many alternatives that a) I know well enough to work with and b) are compatible with .psd/.psb files…

For about $100 you can take a short course at an accredited school and get the student edition. Still a much better deal in some cases and cheaper then a 20% discount. Just be sure that the school is willing to provide the required letterhead for Adobe before you pay for the course. If you are on CS4 extended it will cost around $340 which wont be much savings. But to go from the non extended version to extended would be almost $500 to get CS6 where the student edition would be a full upgrade for $350 or less.

GO sign up for some college class at your local community college and show them the tuition statement and you have the student price. This is what I did. They did not even ask questions. I uploaded the paperwork and they approved it the next day. Or if you have a kid or know someone who is in college just use their tuition statement. They know this happens. You can get CS5 for $200.

The educational discount is also one of the most abused "legitimate" purchases. My daughter-in-law's sister works at a community college as a admin assistant (secretary). I know for a fact that she has bought several versions of CS5 for her friends (which I am not) on her educational discount. Why would someone that simply works at an educational center be eligible for the discount. Sometimes I think that companies think they are doing the right thing but it comes back to bite them.

$50/month isn't horrible for the whole suit, but for just Photoshop it's pretty bad. If they offered just Photoshop for $10/month i'd probably pay it, eventually.

I mostly use Bridge, for ACR, as I don't like Lightroom. I have CS4, and would've upgraded to CS6 or 7. My new plan is to eventually buy a different brand of raw converter, and keep using CS4 Photoshop. I can't imagine them adding a tool that I'd need, given I don't mind noise, don't need content aware anything, etc.