[Locked] No perpetual licenses are you serious?

[Mattrman]

I just head that Adobe was planning to abandon its perpetual license in favor of an on line only rental program. At first I thought that this must be a joke. I have been using adobe products for 18 years. Primarily Photoshop, Illustrator and Indesign. I am currently an owner of CS 6 Master collection and obviously do upgrade my products and have consistently done so over the years. I am not connected to the internet full time and in fact my work computer is never directly connected to the internet. So how does this work? Is adobe now forcing me to connect to the internet - it seems that this is the case.

In regards to upgrade cycles, I dont want to rent my software and be tied to a rental agreement. I want to upgrade when I choose, not rent my software like some kind of loaner program!

I want to purchase the software then not worry about it. For instance when I travel, I dont want to be bogged down with downloads and upgrades chewing up my bandwidth. I have traveled to many places where internet access is very limited. Downloading from a wireless card in China is painful, I dont want to be bogged down with no software or large megabyte downloads costing me a fortune on the other side of the planet.

Adobe I know that I am just one person and you will probably not listen to me but did someone ask? No one asked me about this. How simple could this be - I want to buy the software then use it when I want where I want, is this too much to ask?

Please let me continue to use this software in the way that I have used it for so long. If others wish to have the creative cloud then great! More power to them, don't alienate your other users. Please provide both alternatives.

Best regards - Matt

[Mattrman]

Back to my original point, all I am asking for and all any of us are asking for from what I can see here is the choice to continue to purchase our software. Choice being the keyword here. If the cloud is so awesome then people will use it. As I said in my first post, more power to people who want to use this option. Unfortunately one size does not fit all. As hopefully someone is looking at.

[dave136]

Yep, I won't be supporting this. This is outrageous Adobe. After a few years of using CS6 there will be alternate software out there as there is now a market! A company somewhere is probably looking at the market share already and sizing up development and expansion plans. Is there a poll against this? Oh wait thats just not buying it...

[Califdan]

I remember a few year back when "Mozy", I company that sells Backup services

to the cloud for your computer data, went from a fixed price, unlimited

storage model to a variable pricing model. In my case that would have

tripled my annual cost with them. Not more than 3 days later, a competitor

(CrashPlan) came out with a Special discount for people fleeing Mozy, and

indicated that they would stick with an unlimited storage for a fixed price

model for the foreseeable future. I don't know the numbers, but I know a

large number of people bailed on Mozy and went over to CrashPlan (as well as

some other vendors).

I'm betting the same thing happens here. Corel, Serif, Xara, ACDSee, Ulead,

Photo Impression, Photo Studio, Picassa - ARE YOU LISTENING?

[ccoggin]

We now have over 2000 signatures on the petition asking Adobe to eliminate the mandatory "creative cloud" subscription model.

If you haven't already signed, please join us. Together we can make a change!

http://www.change.org/petitions/adobe-systems-incorporated-eliminate-the-mandatory-creative-cloud-su...

[Alan_Craven]

I have just followed that up with un-subscribing from all Adobe marketing e-mails - after all they no longer have product to sell me!.  I imagine someone somewhere in Adobeopolis will be monitoring those figures.  A fall in numbers will send them a clear message.

[Bernanas]

Here's my biggest concern: Previously. Adobe actually had to innovate to motivate its users to upgrade versions.All of this motivation is gone when they can suck at the teat of a subscription model. If there was a serious competitor to Adobe right now, there's no way they would make this move. This is the first of infinitely many customer-unfriendly moves, because who is there to stop them? Mark my words: A coorporation without competition has absolutely no reason to innovate.Let the laureate-resting begin.

There is zero chance I will support this model, and I refuse to be bullied into CS6. I want to be perfectly clear: I am the customer in this transaction. The software company needs to address my needs, not the other way around. I refuse to pay "protection fees" to a monopolistic organization for the right to make a living. Someone get a competitor kickstarted right now. I will pledge a year of annual dues that I refuse to pay to Adobe.

Edit: Spelling

[rainschub]

Absolutely agree.

Adobe never was great in doing updates. It driped and many, many of the "new cool" functions were useless gimmicks.

(Most of my work - 95% - could be done in the same time with CS3 also. If I compare with Maxons C4D or Maya - there are Worlds between the versions. Only MS is... 😉

In case of selling my soul to them. Liftime hiring full access to my work.

I think they showed whom they are: First moneymakers, Secnd Software Developers.

They will decide to make fewer updates.

Without the big bang in june to fix on as many blue eyed users as they can.

From thereon it will drip slower - but compatibility to former versions will end.

Simply strategic.

No to CC

[rainschub]

With this (Distribution-) model no one can stop Adobe to rise their prices (And they will do, when catched enough sheeps)

with this model Adobe can do fewer updates (as the clients have to pay and pay)

with this model your hardware has to follow Adobes plans

with this model you don´t have the freedom of Software choice (without paying twice after quitting subscription)

with this model I can´t decide one day to go out of business and work a little bit on my illustrations....

I hope that Adobe has to pay the bill. Not us

[jbjones]

It would be nice if even the people who are currently enjoying the Creative Cloud subscription happened to realize that it's better for the world to have both options and choose to cancel their subscriptions until Adobe reverses it's stance.

I don't know how many people are already permenantly tied up in the subscription with no way to make do without it, but it would be fascinating to see the world band together in favor of the flexibility of having both a perpetual license (for those with less money) and subscription options (for those who need the latest and greatest.)

We've seen quite a few people across various comment forums who have stated they are using older suites because they can't afford an upgrade or don't see the value in it (which would imply they don't see the value in the subscription either). I'm trying to imagine that 10 years from now NEW beginners who fall into this group might not become Adobe customers at all.

Seems like Adobe is going to carve a small chunk off of their designer pool and also diminish brand popularity slightly with this move.

[rainschub]

Bye to this thread!

They send me a mail, that my tone here isn´t good enough.

And they will kick me out, if i go on... So I leave by choice.

Didn´t think I harm anybody - if so -  please excuse.

Also I postet a review at the product site which never could be seen (wasn´t any bad word in it but a one star rating).

I think it´s done. I also don´t want to be present under this conditions.

And there are other forums to concentrate on.

I hope you keep your opinions to CC.

[gepkes]

You must NOT speak out against CC...

[Guest]

This is so bizarre. If this had happened before last year I would probably be homeless (or living with my mum) today.

I was very ill last year, and as aresult couldn't work (or found it very difficult to create aything that a client would want) and ended up living on my savings.

When I had to work (still nowhere near 100%), eg: clients who had paid before but had print jobs that were delayed) and then later with only a couple of months rent leeway, I maged to get a couple of  small jobs to tide me over.

Luckily, I had my CS5.5 installation of Illy, ID and PS to bump up my bank balance. If I'd not been self-emplotyed or massively succesful, I suppose this wouldn't be an issue, but I don't and I'm not. Most of my clients (small busnesses, local charities etc) have small needs and budgets (jobs for a couple of hundred quid), but I do the best I can and work hard for them as amatter of pride.

The point is, I upgraded to 5.5 when I completed a large job (and was able to upgrade my hardware as well). This software renting scheme totally caught me wrong footed and I imagine a LOT of small designers and illustrators who scrape by and upgrade when they get a big paying (relatively) job are going to feel the same and will often find paying continuously to work (and access previous work) impossible.

This move is going to affect a a lot of people's livelihoods (to the detriment of). Adobe seem to be motivated by greed with this move and not  '...the guiding principles of integrity, respect, honesty, quality, responsibility, and fairness'.

I just want to pay them for their product when i can afford it. I'll survive none the less. If I get massivley successful I'll buy in, but I hope they change this policy to support artists when they've paid plenty and, when times are tough, rely on their software for a living.

p.s. sorry for the spelling errors, hands aren't yet as nimble as they used to be.

[Kwan Parker]

Excellent post, Arviewallbanger.

Ten years ago I was diagnosed and treated for Stage 4 Non-Hodgekins Lymphoma.  Thanks to excellent medical care provided by the military oncologists at Wilford Hall Medical Center, the loving and attentive care given by my wife, and the blessing of God . . . I survived.

For months I was either in the critical care unit or unable to leave my bed.  For nearly two years I lived my life leashed to an oxygen machine. Fortunately, when I could move about, the oxygen tube was long enough to let me roam the house.

I didn't fire up the computer during the first year.  The Adobe cloud would have mindlessly collected the rent none-the-less.

[Karl Guttag]

What a kick in the teeth to Adobe's long standing customer base.   I have been upgrading every other generation since Photoshop 4.0 in 1998 and I'm on CS6 now which looks to be my last Adobe purchase.  I'm an amateur photographer that can't stand the seriously dumbed down/crippled versions of "consumer" products Adobe put out through the years.  Why they couldn't put out a "true" Photoshop lite with the same interface but with less "pro" features is beyond me rather than a totally different and majorly crippled interface.  

People who are able to use Photoshop are not a dumb at math as Adobe's exec's must think.   I'm an engineer that uses Photoshop as a hobby.  They have conjured up these example that show how they are "saving consumers money" but everyone is doing their own figuring and realizing that it is going to cost them a lot more money.   One year come-on price for existing users for ~$120 with the price almost guaranteed to rise to $240 and likely more per year.  That means if I upgraded about every 3 years like in the past the "upgrade price" in the future is going to be $720 (or likely more) rather than ~$200 as it has been in the past.

Then imagine what will happen to the price once Adobe has the new CC (credit card) model in place and users hooked.    My Photoshop CS6 at least is new and I have a few years to see what happens and what to use next.  Hopefully Adobe's competitors will see this as an opportunity to make better competing products.

I'm not sure how big a part of the market I represent so maybe Adobe doesn't care.   I paid for my upgrades as I went along and I am definitely not planning on buying into CC so unless something changes, CS6 will be the last money I send to Adobe.    My casual observation is that the users on various forums are about 10 to 1 against the CC only model.   Hopefully Adobe is finding this new model working for them about as effectively as the "new business model" worked for J.C. Penny last year. 

[Mattrman]

Over 10,000 people agree with you!

http://www.change.org/petitions/adobe-systems-incorporated-eliminate-the-mandatory-creative-cloud-su...

[wms1]

Dear Adobe 17 pages of negative comments in less than one month; Perhaps you want to give this "idea" some additional thought. Yes I understand the economics from you point, however I'm not sure that you understand the point of view of loyal customers like myself who are not working pros who are using your software commercially, but see a need for something with more "horsepower" than elements.

[Danny_Michael]

Adobe doesn't care about you or me (aka loyal customers). They care about the bottom line and have made it crystal clear they are willing (and fully expect) to take losses over the next few years. There seem to be plenty of people willing to rent software and nothing we say is going to change Adobe's direction. All we can hope for is an alternative to come to market by the time CS6 no longer works for us. It's time to move on if you aren't willing to rent your software for the rest of your life.

[OwnForever]

I applaud Adobe's decision to OFFER the Creative Cloud, but I condemn their decision to FORCE it upon us. I originally was a downright hater, but my opinions reversed after I heard an Adobe staff member saying, in answer to an "I cant afford this" remark, that after a year or so you have a completely different product. While I am a happy CC user, I know that CC is not for everyone, and there are very many who would be much happier with a perpetual license. While Creative Cloud opened the world of Adobe to me, it did precisely the opposite for many others. I hope Adobe will come to their senses and resume development of the Creative Suite.

[pik80]

Except, of course, you don't have a completely new product within a year. What you have is a slightly modified product with small insignificant improvements.

[JennConcept]

So many people wouldn't have a problem if Adobe just kept selling there perpetual license and then in addition have the option for a subscription. So the customer can choose either or. But seems like greed runs everything. I might as well purchase a Mac and use a program like this: 10 reasons to download this free Illustrator alternative today | Ad feature | Creative Bloq . Since it totes that it's better than adobe anyways (I can't speak from experience since I don't own a Mac to try it) what I've been using though it a free software like photoshop: GIMP - The GNU Image Manipulation Program . It's taken a bit to get used to but I haven't yet used the program to it full potential (just for digital painting and to me this program gives me the same experience as Photoshop). So it's possible that Adobe will loose a big chunk of customers and slowly wilt away and die, unless they give the consumer more options.

[pik80]

Affinity sounds really interesting, thanks for telling us about it. I have started using iDraw on my Mac and iPad which I have been quite happy with. Yes, there are some features missing at the moment (symbol sprayer, full Wacom tablet support, etc.) but there are several things I like better then Illustrator as well. The latest updates they did this year had big improvements over where the program was last year and expect them to continue to eat into Illustrators lead quickly. in the mean time I can still use CS6 if I need it.

[fivebythree]

I think you guys are missing the point of the subscription. If your a digital professional, your using adobe products, period. They have a multiple industries standard. The master collection pays for itself in 2 hours.

If this all is a hobby, by all means try these lite versions. Your workflow will be significantly different especially if coming from PS environment. Photoshop Elements is still very inexpensive, and you get a glimpse at the pro workflow.

[Herbert2001]

Not missing the point at all. I used Adobe products till two years ago for all my work as a design professional. I am merely not interested in becoming a serf in Adobe's Digital Serfdom, no matter how nice the candy is made to look.

Photoline, Fusion, Davinci Resolve, Krita, Raw Therapee: all professional grade software, and in the case of Resolve and Fusion, even industry standard level software. All free, except Photoline, which is more affordable than even a $10 a month Photoshop subscription, and the license never runs out - I own the license, and I can put it on a thumb drive, and take it with me wherever I go, both for Mac and Windows.

I opt for a Freeman's working life, and refuse to become a serf. I own my tools, and so far I have had no issues continuing all my work as a "digital professional'. My clients are happy, and I have never been happier since leaving Adobe's tool behind. There is a whole new world out there, with new exciting tools just around the corner 🙂 And none of those adhere to any rental model.

For me personally it is a matter of principle. I will not rent software. If the rental model works for you: all the more power to you. I respect that choice, and I do understand that this model works well for many users and companies. Just not for me. Nor for a large group of users beside myself - otherwise we would not have threads like these.

[gabriellemilan_24]

im a design student who would like to download illustrator and photoshop without all the creative cloud hassle.  i do not trust the "cloud", took me ages to even switch over to mac or iphone because of their icloud etc. severely disappointed...

[John T Smith]

If you can use 3+ year old software that is no longer being updated, there is still Creative Suite 6