Adobe

[Steve Clarkson]

I just read that Adobe is going to stop selling their "Creative Suite" and migrate everyone over to their "Creative Cloud" at a monthly subscription of $50 per month.........so how long do you think it will take Corel to follow?

[Scott Shepherd]

I was one of those people that said I never wanted anything to do with the cloud based software. I was firmly against it. However, I had a certain amount of time to try it out for the $29 a month, so I figured I had nothing to lose, other than $29. Now, you couldn't get me to go back. I love it. You don't have to wait 18-24 months for upgrades, and the access to some other items in their product line for no charge is awesome. Not to mention using Business Catalyst to create your own online store. It comes with a customer management module, e-commerce, and a email marketing module like constant contact. For the money, it's money really well spend for us.

[Martin Boekers]

It will be interesting to see how this goes. I think they should offer an hourly plan for "Part Timers"
What they gain in "Commercial Accounts" they will lose through hobbyists (yes I used the word "hobbyist"
This last year I upgraded to CS6 from CS3 after talking with Adobe, they said they were only upgradeing
to 3 versions back and by doing this I would be covered for future upgrades, yeah now the truth comes out....

Scott, do you really think the improvements will come faster after they have subscribers? With no more incentives to
sell upgrades.......? What will stop them from doubling the cost in 2 years?

Actually I am not sure why they call it "Cloud Based" as I believe the application reside on your computer.

All I can say to Adobe.........remember Netflix.....

[Scott Shepherd]

Scott, do you really think the improvements will come faster after they have subscribers? With no more incentives to
sell upgrades.......? What will stop them from doubling the cost in 2 years?

Actually I am not sure why they call it "Cloud Based" as I believe the application reside on your computer.

All I can say to Adobe.........remember Netflix.....

I have no idea, but I know from using it since about October, I've seen several updates for 1/2 dozen products, updates that would have normally had to been released when the next version comes out. Right now, it seems like about once a quarter, they release an update with new features. Not fixes, new features. On their own blogs, they are saying this model allows them to roll out new features as soon as they are available, rather than waiting for the next release, which they all seem to be really excited to offer.

The conversation is really over. You no longer have the choice, you have to go that route. So fighting it isn't going to work. We're probably not the average shop, and we get files from customers all the time. If we didn't have it, we'd have no way to open customer files. So for us, it's not a choice. I imagine if I never used customer files, or sent files to other shops, I probably would look for a different product.

Like you said, the applications reside on your computer and if you don't want to use the cloud, you don't have to. But it does verify the subscription every so often, behind the scenes.

[Martin Boekers]

Yes, I can see that they will give , "albeit" smaller updates quicker then waiting for a an upgrade release.

The thing with upgrades it always required a "new" purchase. This method doesn't, it requires a constant purchase.
You right about the discusion, I doubt Adobe will change anything except future payments. I haven't run into anything that I
have saved on my main computer that won't open and function on 7 (that's what I have on support computers. Now if you
deal with Illustrator. I have a hard time spending $360 - $600 a year for "licensing fees"

As you say, It will work for you and many "Agency" work.... I really see it pushing the smaller shops out of Adobe Products...
Time will tell.

[Scott Shepherd]

I had to stop looking at it from the part of my brain that didn't agree with it, and started looking at it from the business standpoint. $300-600 a year for something that helps me make a lot (or all) of our money was a no brainer. Considering the things we spend a lot more on that yield us a lot less results. To us, it's just the cost of doing business. We have 1 really good customer that we've had for years now and we have them because their old vendor wouldn't keep current with software and it was a hassle for them to keep getting files for them that worked on his legacy software. I remember the call like it was yesterday. They asked what they needed to do to get finished parts. I said "Send me the file", and then they said "What do we need to save it in? What version? What format?". I said "What did you create it in?", "Illustrator", "Send it in Illustrator". There was silence on the phone, and then they started to ask me if I was sure, etc. I said "Send it on, I'll take a look".

That was several years ago and they are still a customer today. That one customer alone has paid for the software more times than I can add up.

[Martin Boekers]

Yes, for many it's a no-brainer, esp the networking part. I have worked with Agencies before and that is a tremendous improvement!

CS6 was a great improvement for me from CS3, I guess if you want to "abstract" it a bit.... If you make use of it for say 10 jobs a day
over a year that comes to about $.25 a job....that's for the whole suite.

It's hard sometimes for smaller shops though, as sometimes that $600 is a pretty decent expense. The later versions of PS will keep
many of us satisfied for years to come.

I still think it's a shame they had to go "All In" on this....

[Scott Shepherd]

I agree. I hate to see it, but it's the way of the future and there's no way to stop it.

[Joe Hillmann]

Before they switched to the subscription idea how much did Adobe cost if you bought it and how much did it cost it you upgrade it? $600 a year is a bit sounds a bit expensive unless, (like Scott) you need it.

Microsoft office appears to be doing the same thing. You can get a monthly subscription or a yearly subscription but you can't buy it outright like you used to be able to. I would assume most software will be shifting that way in the near future. I also assume that will cause a lot of non business users to hang on to older copies of the programs that don't require monthly fees or switch to open source programs. I would also assume that the companies will start making there subscription programs not compatible with earlier versions that don't require subscriptions which will force users to get a subscription or stop using there program.

[Joe De Medeiros]

I'm sure Corel won't be far behind, it does 2 important things, it generates a continuous income, and it kills off piracy. The problem as I see it, is that now they can have a yearly increase in fees, and you have no choice but to pay it, where as when it was stand alone you had a choice to upgrade or not, I know lots of people who run older versions of the Adobe and Corel.

[Martin Boekers]

Someone will still figure a hack for it, someone always does...

Joe, I have upgraded every couple versions since 5. Upgrades cost about $150 - $200. When I bought 5 it was about $150- $200 (I think)
The way I understand it if you want PS alone it will be $29 a month. Right now there is a discount for upgrading from CS6 to "Cloud"
not sure if you don't have CS6 what it will cost, maybe a "one time" fee?

An interesting comparison....... I have been using Photo Shop for about 15 years.. Say I Paid $250 for it in 1998 and $200 for each upgrade
and I upgraded every 3 years (that's 5 upgrades at $200ea) I now have $1250 invested in PS. If I use today's model at $29 a month ($348 a year)
that would bring my investment to........ $5220.00..... Hmmmm any wonder why they want to do this?

[Steve Busey]

I would feel more embracing if I knew it was truly a "cloud" implementation, where I could log in to the cloud from any PC and work on the same files.

My hope would be that I could do most of my work on my desktop PC upstairs, then any tweaking on the laptop down in the unheated/uncooled workshop, without having two licenses.

[Scott Shepherd]

I would feel more embracing if I knew it was truly a "cloud" implementation, where I could log in to the cloud from any PC and work on the same files.

My hope would be that I could do most of my work on my desktop PC upstairs, then any tweaking on the laptop down in the unheated/uncooled workshop, without having two licenses.

That's exactly how it works now. When I travel, I do use the cloud, but for all other things, I don't. It makes a virtual drive on your computer that looks like a normal drive. If you create files on your desktop, and save them to that drive, when you open your laptop, you get a little icon that says you have files to synch. When you do, the files are now available to be opened on your laptop. If you save it then, it'll do the same thing next time you are on your desktop. It works really well, I just don't need those features too often.

You can have it installed on 1 desktop and 1 laptop without any issues at all, 1 license.

[Steve Busey]

You can have it installed on 1 desktop and 1 laptop without any issues at all, 1 license.

I'm liking it better already!

[Martin Boekers]

I believe it comes with 100Gig storage that you can access. Not sure how the networking works as they license that
by the "seat" I am not sure that, say you went to a client and used their computers if you can access my area like an "FTP"
site. Also not sure if you could access someone elses network site, with permissions of course. Say I am doing layout work
for a catalog and working with a couple photographers if we all could access the same network or if the network has to be under the
same company's "Seats" alot of questions....