Adobe CC not CS

[anotherdog]

mixed reactions

I have been an adobe user for at least the last 20 years, I now have cloud licences, but I have very mixed feelings about how this will effect the industry and future development of the suite;

When I was first using adobe, I bought individual programs in boxes (illustrator and photoshop). When indesign first came out it was complete crap. I found out because I had a bootleg copy and tried to use it in comparison with quark. I know a lot of people come into adobe using stolen software. This is one of the deliberate ways adobe too over the industry, they made it easy to steal. I know a lot of my customers have stolen versions by the number of bad illustrator and photoshop files I get (nobody who is that bad would buy the software). Now something has changed.

With the arrival of cloud you cannot steal. I guess they figure they have market saturation and can close that marketing door. I am sure that will have a knock on effect with updates and upgrades now the pressure is off. Since they have our money there is no need to dangle a CS7 for another couple of thousand dollars.

$50 per month is not a high overhead for a serious business...Nor is $60 per month and I'm sure in a couple of years when we are cow-like used to it $95 per month. They are handing me a load of shiney things I don't need like Premier and Dreamweaver. As a graphic designer I'll likely benefit as all the bootleg designers fall behind with an old copy of CS6.

I guess my main concern is the change of attitude at Adobe. I feel we are a resource to be milked rather than a customer base to be charmed. I personally prefered it when we were just dating.

 

[Bobby H]

Actually, I consider the aspect of thwarting piracy one of the greatest benefits BY FAR of Adobe Creative Cloud.

I've been legally purchasing Adobe software for my own freelance use as well as at work for over 20 years. I have no sympathy for the folks demanding cracked, bootleg software. I also don't buy the angle I've seen discussed in other forums that cracked Adobe software is good for the budding artist community. Anyone who is serious about his craft is going to buy the stuff legally, especially if he's producing work to sell to others. A good car mechanic isn't going to get by borrowing or stealing another mechanic's tools. He's gonna buy his own freaking set of tools.

There's plenty of free, open source graphics software out there for hobbyists. The GIMP isn't a bad image editor. Inkscape is a pretty good vector graphics program. Blender isn't very easy to use, but it's a powerful and free 3D modeling & animation program. Programs like Adobe Photoshop Elements are good enough for the vast majority of casual users. I'm willing to bet most people who have a cracked copy of Creative Suite on their computer don't even know how to use the applications at a competent level. They're just collecting the apps to brag about having them.

Pirates may still figure out some way how to crack & distribute Creative Cloud apps, but it's gonna be a lot more difficult for them to do so. And with the software increasingly "connected" (as in "phoning home" to Adobe) the apps the thieves manage to crack probably won't work properly or fail after a short period of time.

With Adobe's apps going subscription only it might also reduce the amount of computer viruses and other malware circulating in the wild. The biggest reason I tell people to avoid downloading cracked Adobe software is they might get an additional bonus payload of trojans infecting their machine. Malware is a huge threat on any commercial product that's being offered up for free somewhere. It doesn't matter if it's Hollywood movies, popular music, porn, commercial software applications, fonts, stock photos, etc. That stuff is often bait for a user to get his computer hosed.

 

[rjssigns]

"But its only $50 a month". I want to see how these same people feel when they are paying $300 to $400 because every bit of software they need is cloud based. Think about it. Windows/Mac OS, RIP, Windows Office, etc...adds up in a hurry. "But its only $50 a month".:ROFLMAO:

 

[WildWestDesigns]

That's also the price per month no matter how long you use that version. If you continue to use say CS5, your price per month allocation is less with each year. Its relatively static with a subscription model. At least with how they have things now.

 

[rfulford]

Here is an interesting side note. A coworker of mine has 2 teenagers (14 and 16) who are now required to use Gimp for all school projects. No Photoshop allowed. I wonder how this will affect Adobe in about 6-8 years?

 

[Techman]

All those in favor of the Cloud for their work flows..

In about 22 months more or less the internet will start going to a cost per bit model. The plan is the first 5 gigs of data will be included in your monthly bill. The next gig of data will cost you. That means downloading a a couple of gigs of work for each week will cost you big bux in the long run.

Many of us stream music, vids daily. All that plus using a cloud for work flow will increase our costs.

 

[Techman]

thwarting piracy one of the greatest benefits BY FAR of Adobe Creative Cloud.

Is a fantasy. Piracy is not as rampant as "they" want you to think. Piracy is defined as selling cracked software and people go to prison for this.

Unauthorized usage is a different animal and is highly inflated. The fact remains that if one has a software package installed more than allowed is unauthorized usage. It is well known that a vast majority of users install their packages more than allowed.

How many have corel, Aspire, artcam, M$ office, publisher, fineprint, etc. installed on more than one machine?

 

[OldPaint]

adobe is new GERBER))))))) AND THEY BEEN OVERPRICING since the beginning))))
$50 a month is $600 a year. and with the cloud.......is sorta like leasing a car.....YOU PAY and have nothing to show for.

 

[Bobby H]

Here is an interesting side note. A coworker of mine has 2 teenagers (14 and 16) who are now required to use Gimp for all school projects. No Photoshop allowed. I wonder how this will affect Adobe in about 6-8 years?

The GIMP isn't new. The application was first released back in 1996. Inkscape has been around for nearly a decade. Both applications are certainly good enough for casual photo editing and vector object creation. If the availability of those open source applications was going to adversely affect sales of Photoshop and Illustrator I think it would have happened by now.

Professional level users are still going to opt for Photoshop, Illustrator, etc. for the superior tools, user interfaces, faster operation and file sharing with other creative workers.

I'm all for competition. But Adobe's rivals aren't exactly doing much to challenge Adobe's position as king of hill.

IMHO, Corel has really faltered in recent years. I don't know how well the company is doing. Some venture capital group privately owns Corel now. CorelDRAW X6 is not as stable as X5. In spite of the much larger art board and some arguably better object building tools I find myself using Adobe Illustrator more and more. Eventually Corel is going to get squeezed out of the picture. They're trying to adopt the same subscription based route, but I don't think it's worth it to pay $16.50 per month for CorelDRAW. That nearly $200 per year and Corel isn't doing a full generation update every year. So it's quite a bit better to buy their perpetual licensed boxed software and be done with it until the next upgrade becomes mandatory.

Apple could offer an alternative to Adobe, but they never offered a Windows-version of Final Cut Studio. Note: when Macromedia was developing the first version of Final Cut Pro it was originally going to be a Windows-based program. Steve Jobs stepped in, bought the title from Macromedia and hired the development team. Things were all good for years until Final Cut X messed things up but good. Adobe ended up winning over a lot of angry FCP 7 users. Anyway, Apple is never going to get all PC users to "switch" to the Mac side. That's not even going to happen just in terms of creative workers. In ignoring the Windows side of the software market Apple just helps out Adobe. When it comes to competing head to head selling similar software Adobe has been winning. Lightroom is faster and more capable than Apple's Aperture. I remember when Aperture was first introduced, so many Mac fans were proclaiming it as a "Photoshop killer" and that Adobe would be put out of business. Obviously that didn't happen.

Autodesk has an impressive collection of killer apps. But they're all geared for the very high end level of creative computing. Autodesk Maya, Studio 3D Max, Flame, Inferno, Smoke, Auto Studio, etc. have system hardware requirements and pricing that pushes them far out of the mainstream. Autodesk has nothing to compete directly with Adobe's most popular applications.

In the end, the main thing that scares me about Creative Cloud is Adobe having the latitude to increase monthly fees. The first year bargain of $29.99 isn't bad. $49.99 per user kind of stings. Given Adobe's stock is publicly traded I wouldn't put it past Adobe's board or other investors from demanding yearly price hikes -basically price gouging us harder to make investors happy.

 

[peavey123]

All those in favor of the Cloud for their work flows..

In about 22 months more or less the internet will start going to a cost per bit model. The plan is the first 5 gigs of data will be included in your monthly bill. The next gig of data will cost you. That means downloading a a couple of gigs of work for each week will cost you big bux in the long run.

Many of us stream music, vids daily. All that plus using a cloud for work flow will increase our costs.

You got a source Tech?? Is this just going to affect the US? It seems like the stupidest thing a ISP can do especially since everything is going to the cloud like Adobe.

Up here in Canada we already have low bandwidth caps, but it's been getting better over the years because of things like netflix etc. A couple years ago I was paying $60/month for 25gb/ps down w/60gb bandwidth. Now i think the cap is up to 120gb. Would be a shocker to have it down to 5gb all of a sudden. Anarchy will ensue. lol

I like the idea of having access to using other Adobe programs with Adobe CC. Does this save your workspaces, settings etc across the board for use on other computers/locations? Are you able to use CC on more than one computer?

 

[WildWestDesigns]

You got a source Tech?? Is this just going to affect the US? It seems like the stupidest thing a ISP can do especially since everything is going to the cloud like Adobe.

Up here in Canada we already have low bandwidth caps, but it's been getting better over the years because of things like netflix etc. A couple years ago I was paying $60/month for 25gb/ps down w/60gb bandwidth. Now i think the cap is up to 120gb. Would be a shocker to have it down to 5gb all of a sudden. Anarchy will ensue. lol

I like the idea of having access to using other Adobe programs with Adobe CC. Does this save your workspaces, settings etc across the board for use on other computers/locations? Are you able to use CC on more than one computer?

I know on my internet connection we have caps and they are on the lower end of what caps you posted.

 

[The Vector Doctor]

You got a source Tech?? Is this just going to affect the US? It seems like the stupidest thing a ISP can do especially since everything is going to the cloud like Adobe.

Up here in Canada we already have low bandwidth caps, but it's been getting better over the years because of things like netflix etc. A couple years ago I was paying $60/month for 25gb/ps down w/60gb bandwidth. Now i think the cap is up to 120gb. Would be a shocker to have it down to 5gb all of a sudden. Anarchy will ensue. lol

I like the idea of having access to using other Adobe programs with Adobe CC. Does this save your workspaces, settings etc across the board for use on other computers/locations? Are you able to use CC on more than one computer?

As with previous versions you are limited to 2 installs per license, any more than that you must purchase a multi-license membership at a higher cost. The part that I have seen conflicting reports on is that you can have one on a Mac and another on a PC. Can anyone confirm or deny this? Might be an interesting option for your 2 installs. You would of course have 2 separate downloads and installs.

 

[Techman]

You got a source Tech?? Is this just going to affect the US?

I don't need to source for any one to back check. All one has to do is get off the butt and research it.

ISP caps are coming? No they are already here. Comcast is among the bigger cap users.

The end plan is to grab income from streaming usage. Go over the cap and feel the pain of a surcharge.

IE: Comcast is testing an overage fee that lets you pay $10 for 50 GB more

Other just cut you off.

The next step is to lower the caps.

 

[PsHADeadGuy]

What about the ISP's that have removed caps all together and offer unlimited streaming?

 

[MichaelAlmand]

As with previous versions you are limited to 2 installs per license, any more than that you must purchase a multi-license membership at a higher cost. The part that I have seen conflicting reports on is that you can have one on a Mac and another on a PC. Can anyone confirm or deny this? Might be an interesting option for your 2 installs. You would of course have 2 separate downloads and installs.

That is correct I have mac at home and a PC at work and no issues with running them

 

[Tim Aucoin]

I'm running with 2 CC licenses. IMO, $100 per month is not too bad at all. I make that up on a few invoices each month when I add the hidden "ACC" charge I have created in my pricing software!! Kind of goes along with my "free shipping" charge of $20 on most invoices.

I run CC on 2 Macs here at the office and one at home. I also have it on 2 laptops. Yes, it is installed in 5 locations, but all 5 never run at once. Usually 2 at most.

 

[Techman]

What about the ISP's that have removed caps all together and offer unlimited streaming?

There is always a "what if". Give 1 million examples and there will always be someone who offers one more "what if" speculation.

Caps are coming whether we want them or not. Caps are in response to streaming video and other market influences in a future attempt to make large profits from the movement of massive amounts of data packets. That includes usage of the cloud. Actually the cloud is a rebranded name for offsite storage.

 

[The Vector Doctor]

LOL, Hitlers take (warning printed language)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=67Iw9q2X9cU#!

 

[Bobby H]

Great video. Kind of sums up my feelings about it. Well, the software that is. Not the part about invading Russia.

 

[synergy_jim]

Btw..... To all who said I was crazy.... Adobe released the 9.99 edition of creative cloud today. Photoshop, Lightroom, and storage.

you're welcome.....