Adobe goes Subscription only

Looks like you are going to the Creative Cloud whether you like it or not!

http://techcrunch.com …ses-shrink-wrapped-boxes/

No more boxed Photoshop.

I was afraid they might do this.

I really don't like the cloud and I have no idea why they are doing this.

It is probably the worst idea since the solar powered flashlight.

I think it's because of all the cracked versions, cloud would be easier to control that stuff. People will always find away around it though.

I have no real issue with digital download services. I rarely buy software in boxes these days. Actually I haven't bought software in a box in at least a year, if not two, and the last 4 years boxed software titles have been few and far between for me.

Why on earth would I want to buy a box only to have to go online and download patches and fixes that are almost as big as the program itself? By the time I've drive to the store, picked up my software, paid for it, and gotten home, I could likely have bought and downloaded most software packages without leaving my home.

As long as they stay client side processing with simple subscription checking, then I have no strong issues with it. I just wish I could pick say, light room and photoshop elements for $15-20 a month and get continual upgrades on it.

maverick75 wrote in post #15903422
I think it's because of all the cracked versions, cloud would be easier to control that stuff. People will always find away around it though.

Overpricing leads to discontent, discontent leads to rebellion, rebellion leads to cracking.

If Adobe stops being so greedy, I'm sure more people would pay for their products instead of cracking them. The same goes for all other software developers.

Osiriz wrote in post #15903439
Overpricing leads to discontent, discontent leads to rebellion, rebellion leads to cracking.

If Adobe stops being so greedy, I'm sure more people would pay for their products instead of cracking them.

Yes, because software development of a project the scale of just one title from Adobe is a simple and cheap process...

The subscription based service is there way of 'being less greedy' and charging 'less' per person. I'm not willing to shell out $600 for a software title I will use fairly casually, even if I will use it for five or six years. I am however very happy to shell out a far smaller amount every month. It becomes a cost of living/entertainment, easily justified, rather than a hard to justify large initial investment.

I'm betting the fact that Photoshop is one of most pirated software titles out there has a lot to do with it. Companies like mine are going to hate this as our firewalls block a lot of the updaters for Adobe apps as it is.

Luckless wrote in post #15903438
I have no real issue with digital download services. I rarely buy software in boxes these days. Actually I haven't bought software in a box in at least a year, if not two, and the last 4 years boxed software titles have been few and far between for me.

Why on earth would I want to buy a box only to have to go online and download patches and fixes that are almost as big as the program itself? By the time I've drive to the store, picked up my software, paid for it, and gotten home, I could likely have bought and downloaded most software packages without leaving my home.

As long as they stay client side processing with simple subscription checking, then I have no strong issues with it. I just wish I could pick say, light room and photoshop elements for $15-20 a month and get continual upgrades on it.

Cloud is completely different from digital download, on a cloud you never have the item on your computer it's hosted somewhere else.

Saw this coming. I have started to ween myself from Adobe as much as possible even in a professional capacity for the last few years. They changed long ago, moving to the MS way of software which has doomed them to the same fate.

It's a sinking ship, all ye abandoned now

maverick75 wrote in post #15903470
Cloud is completely different from digital download, on a cloud you never have the item on your computer it's hosted somewhere else.

Except it isn't... Photoshop and such is still run directly on the user's computer itself. "Cloud" is a marketing term and nothing more. It is horribly abused term that is quickly becoming rather meaningless.

maverick75 wrote in post #15903470
Cloud is completely different from digital download, on a cloud you never have the item on your computer it's hosted somewhere else.

I have the Creative Cloud, the applications are installed locally. The Cloud name refers to being able to pull down applications from the cloud to your PC at will as well as all of the web intergration built in.

Ah I see, thanks! I thought it was like all the other clouds, I like Amazon's a lot actually.

Right now lightroom 4 upgrades are only about $100... if thats the only program you use and you need creative cloud its $20/month? $240/year?? Seems like a pretty hefty jump...

Luckless wrote in post #15903459
The subscription based service is there way of 'being less greedy' and charging 'less' per person. I'm not willing to shell out $600 for a software title I will use fairly casually, even if I will use it for five or six years. I am however very happy to shell out a far smaller amount every month. It becomes a cost of living/entertainment, easily justified, rather than a hard to justify large initial investment.

But it isn't 'less per person'. Yes, it is cheaper up front, but if you want to use it for five or six years on a casual basis, it will cost you way more in the long term, even allowing for the updates not being charged for, when the next version comes out. And, of course, in six years time your financial situation has changed and you decide to cancel the subscription, you no longer have photoshop at all. Many people use one version for many years.

In effect, this will hurt those on a budget the most. Those who would buy photoshop and use it for six or seven years between updates. This essentially forces users into (the equivalent of) upgrading to every version at a premium price.

One other feature, which has proved to be a PITA for me, is that I often need to work away from the Internet and if you aren't online when it decides to check your subscription, you are SOL for being able to use it. I only discovered this the first time I spent a week in my hillside holiday home in deepest Wales, I don't have Internet access and the first time I tried to use photoshop I got shut down. I was really pi$$ed off, I can say. Those using cracked versions for nothing have no problem, but paying the subscription got me blocked out.