News Adobe Photoshop and Creative Suite to become subscription-only

Creative Suite is going subscription-only and being rebranded as New Creative Cloud.
http://www.bit-tech.net/news/bits/2013/05/06/adobe-photoshop-and-creative-suite-to-becom/1

 

Cool.

 

Glad I am using Corel although they won't be far behind no doubt.

So those of us who don't need to upgrade every version are screwed. Lets hope it comes back to bite them on the arse.

 

£562 per year per user, minimum commitment one year?

Ouch!

Think I'll give this a year to see if it's any good before committing, the amount of applications on offer looks great, so does the offer of cloud space and syncing settings across systems.

But, if the service isn't reliable or it knackers plugins it'll be useless. Doubly so if that monthly validation check doesn't work properly or decides it's time of the month at an awkward moment, that could be fun.

 

They were offering a rolling 1 month plan too, it was more expensive [a lot more iirc] but that seems to have disappeared... plus as pointed out in the article, 2 years worth of subs roughly equals what the boxed copy was.


Provided it works the same way as Office 365 does, where as long as your sub is active you get the latest version of the suite I think the sub is good... Not sure if i agree 100% with making it sub only though, You can still buy a bog-standard stand-alone copy of Office even if they are trying to get everyone over to 365.

Now I just wish Autodesk would do something similar... though given how much Max and Maya are to buy i dread to think how much the monthly offering would be...

 

this is complete crap, what am i going to do without internet?

 

Roughly the same as the boxed version at rrp, admittedly I skip versions (CS,2,4,6), but paying that sub will almost triple what I've been paying. I suppose deal hunters like me are what they're trying to stamp out.

 

If you've got a serial for CS3 or later the sub is only £27 a month [dunno how long that lasts for though...]

Personally I think it's an anti-piracy thing. Photoshop especially is widely ripped off... Even at uni I *acquired* my copy as the student copy wasn't cheap [as a student i couldn't afford it even at their discounted rate... and was required for what I did]

But as i said, got nothing against products like that [use office 365 myself], but I'm not convinced dropping the boxed copy option entirely is the right idea, even if I have a good idea as to why they've done it.

EDIT

They're also branching out into hardware. I can see them encroaching on Wacom's territory...

 

I know it works out as a lot of money over time but the difference is you don't need to have a major sum of money available all at once before you get started. If I can manage to find some form of stable income I can definitely see finally upgrading. £30 a month isn't exactly a massive hole in the wallet, I spend more than that on much less useful things.

 

Meanwhile in few months... Next big news: Adobe fills for bankrupcy. ;-)

 

heh .. so what if 2 years subscription equals a boxed copy price ... it's not likely to be free after 2 years is it

 

I'm all for them giving Wacom a run for their money if the hardware venture is true (2k for a cintiq is eye watering) bit this subscription thing is leaving a sour taste in my mouth.

 

Pirates are going to always find a way to update and then copy and official product which they will then release via torrents. That won't change a thing, just like always-on internet connections don't stop people playing certain games.

This is a way for them to hit the middle and small businesses that use their software. The large companies will have the finances to pay for the software however it is sold, often with undisclosed discounts for multiple licences. Adobe will then blag it to the smaller companies that this is easier for them to pay for as it is smaller instalments and not a massive lump sum, but everyone knows that you pay more for instalments. There is also the case as hinted at by individuals that many don't upgrade to each new version and often skip a version or two... You won't be able to do this now but really, how many businesses really NEED each version's updates?

 

The problem is for adobe is that there are several products now that are just as good as if not better than their products, its just that it isn't one company. People will just move to other products if they don't think its worth it.

Also about piracy, if it does turn out to be pirate proof then people will just pirate a different product. Either way, adobe gains nothing and just loses market share, as there would be less people using it, never mind wether they bought it or not.

 

Dont use it so its not a problem for me. But wouldnt be very happy being forced to subscribe to software. Just use GIMP instead if you dont like this model.

 

We've been using the Adobe subscription model at work for a year or so now and, to be fair, it's pretty seamless. The only pain in the ass is the monthly "check in" that the machines need - which is only really an issue on our non-internet-connected computers (high-end workstations connected to a proprietary SAN), which gives IT a minor headache.

Aside from that, it's actually pretty good...and since we want to stay up to date anyway this works fine for us.

 

For my (ver humble) needs GIMP does just as well, so Bweh!

 

one year after launch the switch will be activated and always on will become reality.

 

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

 

Don't like this, it's just basically charging more to use their products.

As others have said, people will just switch, Lightroom is the only thing I would consider paying for from Adobe, and if that goes the same route then hell no.