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Retiring soon

Community Beginner ,
Jul 29, 2019 Jul 29, 2019

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I have used Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign since their launch. I am currently a CC subscriber, paying $52 per month. I will be retiring soon and no longer able to afford making those payments. A few questions:

1. Are there senior discounts similar to what is offered to students and teachers?

2. Can I make a one-time purchase so I can continue to use the software? I understand that this would freeze the software at its current version and would not be eligible for updates.

3. Will I be able to access my existing files once my subscription runs out?

4. For instance, would I be able to access a illustration I've created and make any changes?

5. Can current work be saved to an older (non-subscription based) version? I have a copy of CS5.

Your subscription model is fine as long as I have an income to support it. Retirement will change that. Furthermore, not being able to access any past work is prohibitive and was not an issue with older, paid software.

Thank you.

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correct answers 1 Correct answer

Community Expert , Jul 29, 2019 Jul 29, 2019

Congratulations on your upcoming retirement.

I'm afraid the answer to both questions is no.  There are no reduced rates for seniors.  And there has never been an option to buy Creative Cloud except by subscription.  I guess there is an assumption that retired design professionals don't have the same need for software as they did when working.

The Photography Plan (PS, LR Classic, LR CC)  for $10/month is one option.

Adobe Creative Cloud Photography plan | Professional photo editing software

A sing

...

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Community Expert ,
Jul 29, 2019 Jul 29, 2019

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Congratulations on your upcoming retirement.

I'm afraid the answer to both questions is no.  There are no reduced rates for seniors.  And there has never been an option to buy Creative Cloud except by subscription.  I guess there is an assumption that retired design professionals don't have the same need for software as they did when working.

The Photography Plan (PS, LR Classic, LR CC)  for $10/month is one option.

Adobe Creative Cloud Photography plan | Professional photo editing software

A single purchase of Photoshop Elements is another option.  No subscription required.

Easy Photo Editing Software | Adobe Photoshop Elements 2019

Nancy O'Shea— Product User, Community Expert & Moderator
Alt-Web Design & Publishing ~ Web : Print : Graphics : Media

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Community Beginner ,
Jul 29, 2019 Jul 29, 2019

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Can InDesign be subscribed to individually as is offered with Photoshop?

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Community Expert ,
Jul 29, 2019 Jul 29, 2019

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Yes, you can subscribe separately to Photoshop, InDesign and Illustrator.  But the a la cart price for 3 products is more than you would pay for the All Apps bundle of 29 products & services..

Creative Cloud pricing and membership plans | Adobe Creative Cloud

Nancy O'Shea— Product User, Community Expert & Moderator
Alt-Web Design & Publishing ~ Web : Print : Graphics : Media

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Community Expert ,
Jul 29, 2019 Jul 29, 2019

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One option is to get the Photoshop Photography plan for $9.99 a month, and then get InDesign monthly.

You would save overall, and could find another option if you have a lot of Illustrator work that needs editing or backsave those to CS5 only.

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Community Expert ,
Jul 29, 2019 Jul 29, 2019

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A free Illustrator alternative is Inkscape.

Draw Freely | Inkscape

Nancy O'Shea— Product User, Community Expert & Moderator
Alt-Web Design & Publishing ~ Web : Print : Graphics : Media

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Community Expert ,
Jul 29, 2019 Jul 29, 2019

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As for your other questions - your files will remain in tact, but accessing them is another story.

If you have files stored on Creative Cloud, you will need to remove them - you will be downgraded to the free 2 GB size.

Saving back to CS5 would work with Photoshop (maximize compatibility) and Illustrator (Save as to older version), but InDesign wont go back smoothly.

You'd have to save back to CC2014 (which is no longer available) then convert back to IDML from there. CC 2015+ IDML wont open in CS6 and back.

As for opening in other software:

InDesign files are proprietary and there is no other alternative to open native INDD files than InDesign.

Photoshop files can be read by some other freeware software including GIMP or Paintnet.

You could also convert them to layered tiff files which can be a pain but will be available to more applications.

Illustrator can open in Acrobat reader or GIMP again.

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Community Expert ,
Jul 29, 2019 Jul 29, 2019

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1. No

2. No

3. Yes, your files are your own. You need only to check the cloud files. You will not be able to access 100Mb of cloud space 90 days after expiration.

4. Yes. There is even a subscription month by month.

5. For some programs: Yes.

You should prepare now for retirement. However, I do not see any sense in using old files if you do not make a living of them. I can‘t access my files after retirement neither, because they belong to the company I work for. If they need me to access them, they will pay for my access.

I know, it‘s kind of a new chapter in life. Except if you have work to do in private, you should cut it off. If you have work in private you should consider it as an hobby as others pay for expensive other acquisitions.

When my father retired from his works he had no more access to his machines and he just continued his life with his garden, house and the mobile home my parents acquired in preparation of the retirement. He never went back to work and I do not think he missed it.

If you have CS5 you have the opportunity to continue using it for as long as your computers support it. I also have CS5 at work but as it is my company‘s asset, even that they will not miss it, I will not take it with me when I retire. That will be a different chapter in my life.

ABAMBO | Hard- and Software Engineer | Photographer

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Community Beginner ,
Jul 29, 2019 Jul 29, 2019

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Thank you for your response.

My "retirement" will be a bit different than what you've describe. For starters, I am the company. As the sole owner, I have paid for all the equipment and all of the software. At one point, I had 16 employees, but now it's just me. I have client relationships that go back 20-30 years. When I "retire" I will maintain some of those relationships and there will be opportunities (although limited) to do additional work. Furthermore, I am confident I will get requests to retrieve and edit old files for new uses — think changing out a photo or updating someone's title. I would like to offer that service for as long as it is requested, without the ongoing burden of Adobe's perpetual fees.

Software and hardware are simply tools. I own the work created with those tools. It's called intellectual property. Adobe has no more claim on my work than Nikon would have on my photos, or DeWalt on a table I built using their saw. I bought the software initially under a perpetual license agreement (many times in fact, as I employee'd four full-time designers), but Adobe changed the rules in the middle of the game. Their only option was pay up or leave. Leaving was not an option, since in doing so, I would be abandoning years of previous work. No other real choice other than to pay their ransom.

And yes, I own several (registered) copies of CS5 and understand that I may continue to use that on a compatible machine. My current machine will not, and the 2011 iMac I have on a shelf is hardly comparable. But, what about all of the files created post CS5? Those will not be accessible with the old software.

My request stands. Allow me a one-time purchase of the software when I retire (same as CS5 but in 2019 dollars) or offer a senior discount similar to that offered to students and teachers. Without either of these options, I honestly feel that Adobe has kidnapped my kids and will be extorting a ransom for the privilege of visiting them now and again.

And after 28 years, and @ $50,000 of my money, you'd think they'd be a bit more accommodating.

Now stay off my lawn! ; )

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Community Expert ,
Jul 29, 2019 Jul 29, 2019

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As I mentioned I my earlier post - you can save most of your work with the exception of InDesign back to a version readable/editable with CS5.

Not to to get into semantics but software Has always been a limited usage commodity. Yes you bought software and can keep it indefinitely but the reality is there comes a point where it will fail with no support left either from hardware age or software.

There are less expensive options out there but it sounds like you aren’t fully “retiring” yet. You could go the month to month route and only pay when you need it.

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Community Expert ,
Jul 30, 2019 Jul 30, 2019

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The work is yours, the files are yours and nobody tries to claim that.

Illustrator: you can save your data to a lower version.

Photoshop: I think you can open files but it will give you a message on expected incompatibilities.

Indesign: you will need to save to IDML.

Premiere: ?

After Effects: ?

Dreamweaver: CS5 is outdated and modern websites do not display well on Dw

Acrobat: no problems to be expected.

As always, when you downgrade to a lower version, some features may not work out well. You can always use the monthly subscription for doing some work that cannot be done in CS5. Single apps cost 36$ for a month, the whole all apps is available for 90$. If a customer asks you to reinvigorate, either you hire someone with a license to do the job or you put that 90$ to your price tag. No running costs...

A one time purchase is not possible and Adobe does not offer a senior discount. To be honest, except for public transport and some holiday activity I've never heard of senior discounts.

And you've spend 50k and earned your living with that invest.

ABAMBO | Hard- and Software Engineer | Photographer

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Community Beginner ,
Jul 30, 2019 Jul 30, 2019

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Again, thank you for your response. As I am still working and retirement is a yet a couple years off. I will watch to see what Adobe might do in the future and adjust accordingly. In the meantime I can look for alternative software. Photoshop has many competitors, as does Lightroom. Should be easy. Illustrator will be tough. InDesign has a few competitors but nothing that really compares. I wonder if Quark Xpress is still around? One outcome of this situation, is that I will be exploring options outside of the Adobe universe.

Re: senior discounts, they are actually quite common in the U.S. Many retail stores and most restaurants offer them. I’m guessing you are not in the U.S.

I live close to one of our community colleges and their class fees are reduced for seniors. Enrolling in a class each semester would qualify me for the Adobe student discount. It could be both educational and economical.

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Community Expert ,
Jul 30, 2019 Jul 30, 2019

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Enrolling as a student or teacher would qualify...

...and Quark is still around...

ABAMBO | Hard- and Software Engineer | Photographer

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Community Beginner ,
Jan 01, 2021 Jan 01, 2021

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I completely agree with you, kwahaus, and feel the responses you are receiving are being written by folks who are not paying the monthly ransom (yet). They are doing so via their corporate computer accounts. They have no idea how ridiculously expensive the software has become, especially when they hijacked the rules and stopped allowing us to purchase what we need, instead offering bloated all encompassing monthly subscriptions. Reminds me of Microsoft and their ridiculously bloated and overly complex MS Word program. Sometimes we just want to write a letter, or create a simple vector line drawing in Illustrator. We don't need all the extra developer products. It is unfortunate they don't either offer senior discounts which would make sense and offer huge brownie "social justice" points for Adobe, or offer less expensive slimmed down software.

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Community Beginner ,
Jul 08, 2020 Jul 08, 2020

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I too am getting ready to retire. It is completely impractical for anybody retiring to save all files to older versions. This process would probably take a couple of years as we have hundreds of thousands of files that may need to be accessed at some point. It would be great if Adobe would come up with a better solution. Possibly when we open a file to alter, there could be a pop-up message asking which version you would like to downgrade the file to...? Please think about your loyal customers. I cut my teeth on Illustrator 88.

 

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Community Expert ,
Jul 08, 2020 Jul 08, 2020

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"Possibly when we open a file to alter, there could be a pop-up message asking which version you would like to downgrade the file to...?"

 

What you're asking for would be the technical equivalent of giving a doctoral dissertation to an 8 year old and asking the child to interpret it and make recommendations.  That's neither reasonable nor practical.

 

Modern files need modern software to read, write and update them.  Decade old Creative Suite is not up to that task and never will be because it's discontinued. The developers left the building years ago.

 

Enjoy retirement!  Pass your files on to a protege who has the necessary tools & skills to deal with them. When you're retired, it's not your problem anymore.

 

Nancy O'Shea— Product User, Community Expert & Moderator
Alt-Web Design & Publishing ~ Web : Print : Graphics : Media

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Community Beginner ,
Jan 01, 2021 Jan 01, 2021

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For a creative person, using and/or accessing "old files" whether we make a living off of them or not is very important to the creative process. We aren't all photographers using Adobe products. To blow someone off with "you are retired find something else to do" is unkind and completely misses the point, Abambo.

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Community Beginner ,
Jan 01, 2021 Jan 01, 2021

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Thank you for your post. I could have written that myself as I am experiencing the exact situation, right down to owning CS5. As a user since the inception of Adobe products, I feel I have paid and paid and paid for the products. If you offer discounts for students just starting out, why not offer discounts for long-time users/subscribers/purchasers to reward their loyalty and acknowledge fixed incomes in retirement years? With all the social justice going on combined with the enormous income of the CEOs at Adobe one would think this would be a no-brainer.

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LEGEND ,
Jan 01, 2021 Jan 01, 2021

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How many CEOs does Adobe have and where are their "enormous" incomes reported?

Why would Adobe offer discounts to people who are already hooked? That sounds like a hard one to justify to the real owners of Adobe (shareholders, of course, including pension funds...).

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Community Beginner ,
Jan 01, 2021 Jan 01, 2021

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Didn't say I was hooked. Already found some open source alternatives. Greed can go so far before you price most completely out of the market. If you paid attention to my original point, I have given Adobe many dollars over the years. A little brand loyalty rewards to long term customers would be nice, especially when they give discounts to students to "hook" them, as you say, why not allow them a bit of a discount at "the end of the line" to continue your analogy.

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Community Expert ,
Jan 01, 2021 Jan 01, 2021

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LATEST

Hi @Debora5CAF,

Happy New Year!

 

I don't think you are the target Creative Cloud All Apps plan user and probably never were.  I'm still a full-time working freelancer and small business owner.  So these are in part the "tools of my trade."

 

Adobe makes other software for hobbists and amateurs called Photoshop Elements.  No subscription required but you must upgrade it from time to time if you want to keep pace with modern equipment.  Best of all, PS Elements is affordably priced for everyone, not just seniors. It doesn't contain all the new-fangled bells & whistles of Photoshop CC but it doesn't have the steep learning curve either.

https://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop-elements.html

 

Another option for seniors is the deeply discounted Creative Cloud Photography Plan -- approx $10/month for 12 months. This software bundle contains everything a digital photographer needs and more...  Also product upgrades are free for as long as you remain a paying member. This is a great option for active seniors who take a lot of digital photographs.

-- Photoshop CC and Photoshop on iPad
-- Lightroom on desktop, mobile and the web
-- Lightroom Classic
-- Portfolio website + hosting
-- Spark with premium features
-- Bridge
-- 20 GB cloud storage (upgradable to 1 TB).
https://www.adobe.com/creativecloud/photography.html

 

Good luck and good health in 2021!

 

Nancy O'Shea— Product User, Community Expert & Moderator
Alt-Web Design & Publishing ~ Web : Print : Graphics : Media

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