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

[Nigey-LTA]

I keep getting told by people that I really should not rely on Adobe's Publish Online system to build my business, and that all my efforts may be wasted, as they could discontinue this service in the future.

Adobe - am I right to be worried, because I've been using Publish Online to create web-apps for clients and also for destination?

Could someone senior from Adobe tell me what the score is with Publish Online?

Regards

Nigel

[Laubender]

Hm.

Better ask this question in the InDesign Prerelease Forum.

Regards,
Uwe Laubender
( Adobe Community Professional )

[Derek Cross]

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

[James Gifford—NitroPress]

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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[BobLevine]

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.

[rayek.elfin]

I agree with the other responses here. Adobe has had no qualms whatsoever to pull the plug on similar functionality before: a good example is Adobe's Digital Publishing Suite Single Edition.

It enabled users to export their publications as iOS apps. Quite a few small businesses built their services around DPS Single Edition, only to have the rug pulled under their feet when Adobe decided to discontinue the Single Edition service. Many InDesign users were not amused, let me tell you.

The moral of the story is: never rely wholly on singular third-party closed-source proprietary service to build a business on. Adobe does not care primarily about you the user - only about their own business and shareholders. It is what it is. 

As others have mentioned, invest in a tool like IN5 or PubCoder to take back control: choose tools that allow you to publish content on your own terms.

And DO NOT trust Adobe's publish online feature to stick around in the long term. History is proof here. It is too fragile as a base to build a business on in my opinion. Nor do you have any control over changes or the code: if your customers require additional or changed functionality it's impossible to accommodate those wishes.

[Russ W]

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.