CS6 and the Cloud

[Bobby H]

Adobe Creative Suite 6 is now available directly from Adobe. I'm not sure how long it will take for software re-sellers to stock up with the disc-based packages. The Creative Cloud service is supposed to go live on Friday, May 11.

 

[SightLine]

Just got an email from Adobe on our free upgrade to CS6 Design Premium...

"Hi Richard,
Thank you for contacting Adobe. I have released your order and you will receive the download link along with the serial number within 24-48 hours."

Woot!!!

 

[SightLine]

In working this weekend to install CS6 on the design computers. So far, love it! FINALLY 64 bit Illustrator! Sadly still a 227" canvas and artboard limit. Have not had a chance to really check out any new features yet but the new dark background in Illy is different for sure. That can be adjusted by the way if you prefer the prior look. Anyway, zero issues with install. Installed the full design premium, took it about 15 minutes or so. Did require me to login to my Adobe account right at the start for a non-trial install. I'm guessing you coudl install as a trial as well and then just activate it later as well.

Immediatley went into PS and Illy to set my settings up as well as edit the default document profile in Illy. Also as a plus - added the prior PS Plugins folder and all of my plugins shows up no problem except the OnOne Suite which has Perfect Resize, Photo Frame, etc under the Automate menu. Had to uninstall then reinstall OnOne to get them to show up on CS6. Tried a few things and what I've tried so far of the plugins, all work.

Screenshot of the new alt about screen. Superstition which of course was the code name for version 13... love it! PS.... hold CTRL down while clicking About Photoshop of you want to see that.

 

[WildWestDesigns]

FINALLY 64 bit Illustrator!

When I heard that it was going to be 64 bit I was getting anxious about it.

Did require me to login to my Adobe account right at the start for a non-trial install. I'm guessing you coudl install as a trial as well and then just activate it later as well.

I have a feeling that they are going to require you to sign into accounts from here on out. Which would definitely be easier for them to keep tabs on who is trying to use a student edition when they aren't supposed to or who is re-selling when they might not be able to.

 

[CheapVehicleWrap]

Seriously, the canvas & artboard hasn't grown? $29 mo to stay current and access to the rest is a no brainer. It's like buying them a few drinks a month. Where would we be if Adobe started failing? If it's still not justifiable look @ it this way... You'll only really have to pay through December anyway.

 

[WildWestDesigns]

$29 mo to stay current and access to the rest is a no brainer. It's like buying them a few drinks a month. Where would we be if Adobe started failing? If it's still not justifiable look @ it this way... You'll only really have to pay through December anyway.

That's only good for the first year or if you manage to get a student/teacher membership. After that first year, it's 49.99 a month for the whole thing. If you qualify for the intro price on the cloud, you should also qualify for discount pricing on the discs.

It's going to be harder and harder for people to do the whole student/teacher thing with buying those editions second hand off ebay/craigslist with this and future releases. Especially if they are going to start requiring you to sign into an adobe account. Easy way to verify serial numbers. Of course, with the creative cloud even easier still.

Unless you use a lot of the programs a good bit of the time, it really doesn't make sense in the long haul. Short run, sure, it would work, but unless your using the Master Collection amount of programs a lot, it doesn't make sense in the long haul.

It would depend on when Adobe started failing. If they lasted another 7 yrs, then for those that only need Web + Design Premium or Production Premium programs would actually be saving money by going the disc route after 7 yrs. That's if current prices stay constant (which I doubt, especially with the cloud).

 

[Letterbox Mike]

We upgraded to CS6 on Monday this week. For what we do I didn't see too many major changes. I will say Illustrator CS6 is considerably faster and more stable when handling files with large placed raster elements or raster effects.

 

[Tim Aucoin]

Well, I signed up for the Cloud today because I think it's a great value. No, I don't use every title, but that doesn't matter. $50 per month is nothing. One hour of design time pay for that. Even if they raise their price to $60 or $70 per month... what's the big deal if you can pay for the monthly fee with ONE JOB??!! It's cheaper than business insurance (at least for me!!), and it ensures that I ALWAYS have the latest version(s). What prompted me to jump on board today was the customer who brought me in a CS6 InDesign file to work with. I was still at CS5, and was missing a bunch of plugins. It's a hassle to fight newer files when for a very low price I can make all that hassle go away! Just my opinion though! My business model is different than most of yours too, so that makes a difference!

Side note: many moons ago, when the Adobe Solutions Network existed, we were members. That cost us $900 per year, and we were members for around 6 years. The Adobe Creative Cloud is a steal compared to the ASN. And the Cloud offers many, many more features than the old ASN did!

 

[signswi]

Haven't upgraded yet at my sign job. Boss is kind of slow on this stuff. Bought the upgrade (download, not cloud) at home for my freelancing.

 

[WildWestDesigns]

$50 per month is nothing. One hour of design time pay for that. Even if they raise their price to $60 or $70 per month... what's the big deal if you can pay for the monthly fee with ONE JOB??!! It's cheaper than business insurance (at least for me!!), and it ensures that I ALWAYS have the latest version(s).

That wasn't the point that I was trying to make.

Let's say you started off brand new. Full price for both discs and cloud (which actually gives the cloud the biggest advantage, if you qualified for upgrade pricing on discs now and the intro pricing to the cloud, it would take far less time to get your money back on the discs). Let's say that all you need is either design premium or production premium suites. Those are the only programs you would ever use with any meaningful frequency. Which I do believe Design Premium is the one that most here get.

In 7 years, based on current pricing structures, it would cost you more to do the cloud then to do the discs and that's upgrading discs every year. If you plan on being in this business for 7 or more years and all you need is one of those suites, then that's the breakdown.

Now you might put values on other things that make it worth it to you to do the cloud versus physical discs, but as far as bare bones costs, it's not the deal that people might think it is. Business model, how much you make in an hour, etc I'm not concerned with that. This is strictly costs of discs versus cost of cloud.

It looks like everyone is looking at it as a monthly cost and not long term projection. If you look at it monthly without any "memory" of past or future payments, it is a helluva deal based on that model.

 

[anotherdog]

You are supposing that a disk version will be available for CS7. I can see no good reason for them to leave open a loophole that allows pirating and brings them less income anyway. Everyone is going cloud even MS office.

My only real qualm is how many licences you get for each subscripton. I know I'll end up paying more, and I know the quality of the product releases will decline. Has anyone who owned an effective monopoly ever decided to cut prices and offer an even better service?

The one good thing that I can see is that fewer part time sign and graphic design places will be in business. The commitment of $50 per month against using an old copy of CS will slim that market down.

 

[WildWestDesigns]

You are supposing that a disk version will be available for CS7. I can see no good reason for them to leave open a loophole that allows pirating and brings them less income anyway. Everyone is going cloud even MS office.

I'm also assuming current pricing structure as well. In order to do models, you have to have a few assumptions with the information on hand.

Thankfully, I don't use MS Office. I'll stick with LibreOffice.

They very well might do away with a hard disk system and that is one of my biggest concerns with this route. If that does happen, I'll just have to stick with my program that has Draw interfaced with it. I do 90%-95% of my work through that program anyway.

I'm a firm believer in options. Take away options, I look for alternatives and I'm willing to bet there would be a lot others as well.

 

[SightLine]

Everyone might be going cloud but that will not be the only option by a long shot. Military, major corporations, etc will not go for it and Microsoft, Adobe, etc are not going to lose their business.....

In my prior career I was the senior net admin for a large hospital. 3200 desktops, 140 or so servers. 3200 licenses for Office, Windows, and quite a few other applications. Those are NOT going to be streamed over the web for big business internal use. Especially considering the ramifications of HIPAA compliance and whatnot. Sorry, it is just not going to happen. Military often has scenarios where bandwidth is extremley limited and spotty. Many, many, many businesses also actually work with data that is very sensitive and have many machines that are never connected to the internet, period. There will always be offline disc install versions of mainstream applications.

 

[signswi]

Cloud pricing is great for a freelancer or small agency who doesn't have the cashflow to make big spikey yearly purchases of software. And yes there will always be offline version of software, though in some of the situations SightLine is pointing out, the buyer has enough leverage to get the software vendor to set up their own internal, "offline" intranet enabled copies of "cloud" software. That's basically what hospital software is going to now with vpn tunnels to other hospital "cloud" intranets where data sharing is appropriate. It's still SaaS, cloud tech, it's just completely internal.

 

[WildWestDesigns]

Cloud pricing is great for a freelancer or small agency who doesn't have the cashflow to make big spikey yearly purchases of software.

Problem is though, it's going to cost them more in the long run, based on today's figures.

Adobe's upgrade prices are cheap (and I know I'm in very much the minority on this, quite possibly a minority of 1), if they don't have the cash flow to make those upgrade purchases then something isn't quite right.

 

[royster13]

There are lots of companies that do business in a manner I find unacceptable but they still seem to have other clients that have no problem with their methods.....Adobe will do what they think is best for their business and not worry too much about those that do not embrace their new way of doing business....In the long run they may do better with higher revenue per client and less clients than the other way around.....

 

[royster13]

As far as comparing prices for disks versus the cloud......With disks I have to haul around a laptop if I want to work in another location.....As far as I know, with the cloud I can use what ever computer I happen to be working on at the time......I can be at the cottage and have all my programs and all my files.....

 

[WildWestDesigns]

As far as comparing prices for disks versus the cloud......With disks I have to haul around a laptop if I want to work in another location.....As far as I know, with the cloud I can use what ever computer I happen to be working on at the time......I can be at the cottage and have all my programs and all my files.....

I think that they would still have limitations as to how many computers that your programs could be installed on. I don't think it's web-based in the sense that you log onto a website and do everything through a web-browser. I do believe you still have to download and install apps.

That would change the game, that's for sure.

And if that's correct, you would still have to download the new CS7 when it comes out as well and deal with the installation process. So there isn't really much time savings in that regard either, versus running the installation of the disk.

 

[anotherdog]

In addition we are now seeing the twilight of DVD as a medium. With programs creeping into the tens of gigs, there is no new medium beyond that other than the internet HD.

I remember getting a program with about 30 diskettes and spending the afternoon swapping disks. Eventually even if they do keep the single purchase model, it will have to be downloaded from their servers.

 

[WildWestDesigns]

In addition we are now seeing the twilight of DVD as a medium. With programs creeping into the tens of gigs, there is no new medium beyond that other than the internet HD.

Blu-ray does have a little bit more capacity then dual layer DVDs. How much, I can't remember.

I wouldn't have a problem with the internet download, I just have the problem with the subscription price model. I could store it as a backup on a flash drive and then upload it back on to the computer if I needed to re-install for some reason.

I remember getting a program with about 30 diskettes and spending the afternoon swapping disks. Eventually even if they do keep the single purchase model, it will have to be downloaded from their servers.

My first digitizing program was that way. Those were they days.

Like I said though, downloads, I wouldn't have a problem from the internet. It's the subscription model that's the issue.