Don't hold your breath for CS7....

[_scott_]

http://www.adobe.com/cc/letter.html

Seems there won't be a CS7 ever.

[MW Design]

Probably inevitable. CS6 will be the last version for me.

Take care, Mike

[RaviKiran]

Guys,  just head over to http://tv.adobe.com/watch/inside-creative-cloud/the-myths-of-adobe-creative-cloud/ to clear your misconceptions.

[rcraighead]

What I heard on the video is that I cannot run more than one version of AI from CC. When I upgrade it sounds like I'll lose the ability to work in an earlier version from CC. Am I wrong?

I am currently paying for CC even though I am not able to use AICS6 in my workflow because of bugs. It is over one year and nothing has changed. According to the "Myth" video I will be force to "upgrade" to the latest version after one year, whether the bugs are fixed or not.

[Was DYP]

What I heard on the video is that I cannot run more than one version of AI from CC. When I upgrade it sounds like I'll lose the ability to work in an earlier version from CC. Am I wrong?

I am currently paying for CC even though I am not able to use AICS6 in my workflow because of bugs. It is over one year and nothing has changed. According to the "Myth" video I will be force to "upgrade" to the latest version after one year, whether the bugs are fixed or not.

I have been asking that question for a long time now. And now one from Adobe will answer that. The silence is telling. Random people making statements as in post 16 without any source to back it up makes one even more suspicious.

What incentive will Adobe have to produce new features or even fix bugs once they get you hooked on their Creative Captivity drug.  And once they get that revenue stream from your CC addiction you will pay monthly or no software to use, crappy full of bugs or not.

Without any real alternatives withdrawal could be painful.

[Kopy-Rite]

I will certainly be looking for an alternative to a lifetime of extortion from Adobe.

[Dreia_Melinkoff]

It may not be worth it for some casual users or even some pro users. I became a CC subscriber because I wanted access to to the app, UI, and ebook creation tools. For my design, personal creative, and photo editing work, my use of Illustrator and Photoshop has not really exploited any new feature added since Photoshop 7. It's probably the same for a lot of users.

In the end, it's all about looking at - honestly - how you use the product and what you will get out of keeping on top of every new upgrade. 

[_scott_]

My biggest issue with CC, is bugs.

It's a common issue to find a bug. And to get around it you need to use an older version you have installed. That will no longer be possible in the near future. Everyone may be at the mercy of the same bugs.

[Dave Merchant]

Creative Cloud paid members have access to a select set of archived versions of the desktop apps. Starting with CS6, select older versions of the desktop creative apps will be archived and available for download. Archived versions are provided “as is” and are not updated to work with the latest hardware and software platforms.

[scott w] wrote:

My biggest issue with CC, is bugs.

It's a common issue to find a bug. And to get around it you need to use an older version you have installed. That will no longer be possible in the near future. Everyone may be at the mercy of the same bugs.

[Was DYP]

Dave Merchant wrote:

Creative Cloud paid members have access to a select set of archived versions of the desktop apps. Starting with CS6, select older versions of the desktop creative apps will be archived and available for download. Archived versions are provided “as is” and are not updated to work with the latest hardware and software platforms.

Can you post a source for this statement?

[Dave_Burkett]

http://terrywhite.com/5-myths-about-adobe-creative-cloud/

[Was DYP]

Who is Terry White and what affiliation does he have with Adobe.

Anyone find a statement from Adobe with this change?

[_scott_]

Terry White is an Adobe evangelist. He's been writing and teaching for years. I highly respect his opinion.

But.... I do find some of the reasonings behind those myths to be blatent marketing and not necessarily written from a user's perspective. They are written from a writer/educator/trainer perspective. And in that case, I wouldn't see any issues with CC either because training evolves. You don't often have 5 year old Illustrator files when you are training people to use Illustrator. You use new files and new versions.

While his blog post does dispell some misconceptions well, I still laugh at #4 and the way it's presented as "not an issue" when it's an exceptional issue for many users.

I buy Illustrator CS6 for $537 (Amazon current price). I can then use CS6 for the next 5 years without ANY additional costs.

I subscribe to the Creative Cloud for ONLY Illustrator and pay yearly. In 5 years I'll have spent $1,199.40. And that's assuming the price stays at $19.99 for an annual membership, which I doubt. And should I decide to stop paying... I can't use the app.

I'm sorry, all the marketing aside the numbers don't lie. Renting is never in the customer's favor.

I'm not going to belabor the point any further. Suffice to say, I'm very unhappy with Adobe's business practices here considering how intregal their products are to many industries. I do not find it ethical at all.

[W_J_T]

[scott w] wrote:

I buy Illustrator CS6 for $537 (Amazon current price). I can then use CS6 for the next 5 years without ANY additional costs. I subscribe to the Creative Cloud for ONLY Illustrator and pay yearly. In 5 years I'll have spent $1,199.40. And that's assuming the price stays at $19.99 for an annual membership, which I doubt. And should I decide to stop paying... I can't use the app. I'm sorry, all the marketing aside the numbers don't lie.

Hmmm... simple math, odd concept, astounding that so many cloud users fail this simple litmus test. 😉 But all the new features, all the new features. Sigh.

[_scott_]

Hmmm... simple math, odd concept, astounding that so many cloud users fail this simple litmus test.

I know I posted I wouldn't belabor this but I wanted to add one additional scenario, because someone is going to mention the "features" in the subscription

I buy an Illustrator CS6 perpetual license for $537. Using the old Adobe model, I choose to upgrade to CS7, CS8, and perhaps CS9. At the previous cycle of about 18 months between releases and an upgrade cost of about $199. That means I have Illustrator for 6 years at a cost of $1,134.00

At 6 years with a CC subscritpion rate of $19.99 for ONLY Illustrator, that's a total cost of $1,439.28. The subscription still costs more. And that again assume the yearly rate of $19.99 won't change. But Adobe has alread stated The $19.99 rate is a discount for the first year.

I do not begrudge Adobe for raising prices. That's captialoism. But raising prices while removing usability is a major issue. They've already rasied prices and removed any kind of product manuals. Over the years the product packaging has gotten smaller and smaller and included less and less, but prices continue to rise. I got fonts and other goodies when I purchased CS5. I got nothing extra when I purchased CS6 for a higher price. Adobe knows they have a captive audience and they are obviously taking advantage of that.

[W_J_T]

I am just waiting now for Adobe to shut down the west coast headquarters and move to India or China for further profit margins with the cloud mirage. 😉

[_scott_]

Adobe should NOT have the right to charge me $20/$30 a month 3 years from now should I want to edit one of MY creations simply because I made the mistake of using Adobe software to create the illustration.

Imagine Microsoft charging you $20 a month to edit a Word Document after you already purchased Word.

Imagine Google Chrome charging you $20 a month to edit bookmarks.

Imagine Apple charging you $20 a month to create emails.

Imagine Craftsman charging you $20 a month to tighten a a screw using their screwdriver you paid for 3 years ago.

Imagine Ford charging you $20 a month to adjust the seat position in the car you purchased 3 years ago.

This is exactly what Adobe is doing.

[Guest]

Microsoft has already started a subscription service with Office 365. But there are lots of alternatives to Word - Nisus for instance. There is Numbers and Keynote for Excel and PowerPoint. At the moment it is hard to find replacements for Adobe products, but that may change

The problem I envisage is that more and more big software firms will offer subs only so that freelancers such as myself are paying monthly fees that we may not be able to afford. Also pensioners will likely not be able to afford to use the software.

The result may be that fewer people upgrade and stick with software with a perpetual licence. And the Macs we have if Apple decides to do the same.

[MW Design]

Microsoft also released perpetual Office 2013. Same product. LibreOffice is the best alternative to MS Office that I have used. Still, as long as MS continues perpetual licenses, I'll update Office Pro as I have clients using it.

There are alternatives to everything Adobe offers. Writing there isn't is perpetuating the Adobe myth. What there isn't a replacement for is their foothold into schools and government offices. But that can also change. Who knows if and when it will, though.

Adobe is expecting this hub-bub to all die down. And it will eventually. With Microsoft about to alter Windows 8 due to backlash, Adobe could too. Neither is too big to fail. Only economics will alter the decision.

Mike

[Guest]

>There are alternatives to everything Adobe offers

Can you name a few, because I am looking! I know there is Quark which is an expensive alternative, and Pages which is probably not professional quality for printing.

OmniGraffle, Corel PhotoPaint... PDF Pen (though I understand Acrobat is not going subs).... Charting to replace my main use for Illustrator...

[MW Design]

Sure.

Serif's PagePlus for ID (new version on the horizon). No running headers/footers. A couple other things missing that I don't care about much. Everything has work-arounds. Much faster in use than ID. A bit like a cross between PageMaker and ID. I use it when I don't have to use an existing ID document or return one.

PhotoLine for PS (constantly updated, but it does have a dated interface--I don't care). Mac and Windows 32/64-bit versions. My main image editor and one can mix and match vector/bitmap (it does both). Clients could care less what bitmap editor one uses (at least mine).

Xara's Xara Designer Pro (new XDP version almost ready to hit the street). Even when I have to return a file in Illustrator format, I do all or most of the drawing in XDP as it is incredibly quicker to use. Can it do "everything" that Illy can? No. I love the appearance panel in Illy. But the effects can still be created in any vector drawing application. Most of my clients could care less what application one uses.

I use all three as much or more than Adobe's stuff.

And CorelDraw is a good alternative to Illustrator, too. I have used it since version 1.

As for charting, that I do not know. But about anything has to be better for charting than Illustrator. Heck, I would likely use LibreOffice's products for charting.

[_scott_]

Serif's PagePlus for ID

Xara's Xara Designer Pro

Windows only.

[Guest]

Sadely PagePlus seems to be a Windows only product.

[MW Design]

Sadely PagePlus seems to be a Windows only product.

I know of people using XDP and Serif software on Macs using whatever it is that allows one to run Windows applications. Seems fine to them. Several People I personally know, though they switched to Macs installed the whatever it is specifically for XDP.

[_scott_]

MikeWenzloff wrote:

....software on Macs using whatever it is that allows one to run Windows applications. ....

It's just Windows. You can install Windows on a Mac. But then, why even buy a Mac if you're just going to install Windows?