Publish Online - is it part of Adobe's long-term strategy? - Will it continue?

I share the same concerns and other replies have stated it would be wise to be transparent with clients and maybe limit the hosting time you promise to the client. ie 1 year then can be deleted etc. Ajar In5 is certainly a good back-up option or replacement for Adobe servers.

The lack of development by Adobe with Publish Online functionality since it started has always been worrying and suprising. Such a powerful tool has remained stagnant for the past 8 years. And no word AT ALL from Adobe on potential upcoming updates or for that matter whether they will keep the function for the future.

It has so much room for improvement and development, but sadly nothing has changed.

Whether or not Adobe ever pulls the plug, my answer here is that YES, you should be worried. To depend on Publish Online as a foundation for a business is simply foolish. And I certainly hope you've shared exactly what you're doing for them and that you have zero control over what happens down the road.

And I'll add something else, Publish Online is not at all responsive and with so many people accessing the web from phones and tablets, I find the experience less than acceptable.

The issue here is not necessarily the continuation of the service, but (like Facebook, Instagram, free web hosts, etc.) that you don't control it, even as a customer/subscriber. Maybe it will become permanent and stable in features. Maybe Adobe will decide it's not a good use of subscription/resource space and discontinue it. But it is almost certain to change, evolve, have limitations that are only addressed fairly slowly, etc. Adobe is quite reliable in its products, but the guarantees for such adjunct services and the history of discontinuing marginal products (GoLive, anyone?) are nothing I'd bet my whole business model on.

Either your business is so important that a more stable platform is worthwhile to make sure any of these changes don't leave you and your clients in the lurch, or it's so small/sideline that having your online platform go away would just be "oh, well."

I'll just note that I've bailed out a lot of small business clients who balanced their whole effort on something like a free web host or their Facebook page. It's kind of like building your whole business with a food truck because so far the grocery store hasn't kicked you out of that corner of the parking lot.

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I doubt whether anyone senior at Adobe will tell you about Adobe's future strategy.

My view in your situation is, it depends on the size of your business. If it's relatively small, then you may need to rely on a third-party solution such as Publish Online. But if it's large (and profitable), you need to consider another less Adobe-dependant solution, such as in5 https://ajarproductions.com

Hm.

Better ask this question in the InDesign Prerelease Forum.

Regards,
Uwe Laubender
( Adobe Community Professional )