future of Lightroom Classic Desktop version

[iank82564794]

I have heard discussions about the future of lightroom classic as a desktop version. my concern is that this program will be phased out, and all lightroom apps or adobe apps will become cloud only versions. i live in the United Kingdom, and i process large batches of school photos in RAW. typically each job could be 30-40 gigabytes or more sometimes. Here is my concern. do ADOBE except me to regularly upload 40 GIGABYTES to a clould storage, given that fact that upload speed are considerably slower than download speeds? Some areas of the UK are rural and have really slow internet service, fast connections like virgin are very expensive so am i expected to A: pay a fortune for a fast internet, and B: upload really large files week after week? 

i love using lightroom classic, working from a desktop point i have SSD speed file access for my raw files, and after converting to jpegs, THEN i can upload and share them to customers etc. 

i personally do not want a cloud only version, not while the U.K's internet is just not fast or affordable enough to use for RAW file upload.  i cannot be the only professional who is concerned about this possibility?

[johnrellis]

I recommend you read these two articles from the Lightroom Queen (Victoria Bampton):

https://www.lightroomqueen.com/the-future-of-lightroom/

https://www.lightroomqueen.com/lightroom-classic-end-life/

They're two years old, but I just reread them, and they seem just as relevant now.

[Use the reply button under the first post to ensure replies sort properly.]

[Conrad C]

Many are concerned about that possibility. Including myself, because Classic is the version I use. The other Lightroom doesn't do what I want it to do.

But I feel more reassured about the near future of Lightroom Classic because of the features they've added lately, such as:

• Improvements to GPU acceleration in stages over time — a big one, and it means changes to the rendering pipeline, which is not trivial work
• Multi-batch export — another big improvement
• Performance improvements for keyword lists — again, only worth working on if the application will be around for a while
• Improved labeling and filtering of folders and collections
• More efficient batch merging of panorama and HDR image sets
• Keeping Lightroom Classic at par with the features in Adobe Camera Raw, such as new panorama features, Enhance Details processing, Texture, etc.

If Adobe was within 12–18 months of abandoning Lightroom Classic, it would not be worth their while to keep adding those types of features and enhancements to Classic. If someday we observe that Adobe has stopped adding new features and architectural performance enhancements to Lightroom Classic, then that wll be the day you should be worried. But it does not look like that point has been reached yet, because Adobe appears to be continuing to put a lot of engineering time into Classic.