The future of adobe: rent only.

With the success of creative cloud which adobe launched over a year ago they have decided that for future versions of their programs they will ONLY offer the creative cloud version. Which means essentially that you can only rent and not buy future versions of Photoshop, Illustrator, Flash, etc.

You can still buy CS6 as a digital download (boxed copies have been done away with) but some of the discounts that you could get from dealers like amazon and newegg are gone which means the price has gone up by 50% (for example a $400 student teacher edition suite is now only at the $600 retail price). I don't know if this is permanent or just a reaction to the change.

http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-3513_7-57582371/adobes-professional-cloud-push-arrives-at-its-final-destination/

I'm...a bit miffed.

This... seems like an awful business choice. I wouldn't have been inclined to buy any of their programs anyway due to the price; even less so if they went to a 'rent' model.

All this will do is encourage hackers to modify/remove the rent expiration code... or people will just stick to the older versions and avoid upgrading, or use a different product entirely. (and removing the student discount just feels... dirty. I know students who can barely afford food and rent...)

I'm particularly struck by this:

Quote :

There's a big downside for some folks. The software needs to connect to Adobe's servers at least once a month to verify that you're paid up. On an extended working trip in the Amazon? Boot that satellite-based Internet connection just to be able to process your photos with Photoshop. Run into a little cash-flow problem like every freelancer does? After a short grace period, you lose access to the software that allows you to pay your bills. The company can also just cut you off: "Adobe may also terminate or suspend all or a portion of your account and/or access to the Services for any reason..." (See sections 15 and 20 of the Terms of Use.) Some of us don't think that's a necessary sacrifice just to use a couple pieces of software.

What if you work on a desktop at home, and don't have internet? No more adobe for you!

(I suppose that, depending on how frequently you upgrade the program, it may cost you more or less in the long run-- but it's certainly a lot riskier and could fuck over independent freelance artists. There's something a lot more comforting about knowing the program will be there when needed.)

Rrrghh this pisses me right off. Nice way to ensure I'll put off upgrading until it becomes absolutely unavoidable... Much as I like Adobe's products, I don't like the idea of renting it from them and having to check in regularly.

.....Well, I own the full suite legally (it was included as part of my tuition-- ilu school) so hopefully I won't need to upgrade for any reason for awhile. Ah, CS5.5, please never betray me...

No I phrased that wrong they didn't remove the student/teacher discount you still get that. What I meant was that the dealer discounts are almost gone, you get like $2 off instead of $200. I only noticed because I was planning on upgrading when they did this since I'm still using Photoshop 7. It works well enough that I'm going to wait and see what happens for now.

I am saddened by this ._.

SADDENED.

heh... I nabbed CS2 when they accidentally put it up for free; otherwise I wouldn't own it at all. (I prefer Sai for drawing and only really use PS for texturing and blendmodes...) But even if I did use it exclusively for drawing I probably wouldn't see any need to upgrade; it has more features than I'll ever use anyway.

...I guess the positive side of this model is that if you only needed access for a short while or just wanted to test it out, you could do so without committing to the whole cost? But it sucks for anyone who needs the program long-term.