With Adobe abandoning boxed versions of their software today and moving towards a cloud-subscription base the internet has been going wild! I have been reading through tons of comments on sites and social media outlets like Google + and always get amazed at some peoples passion for a new item without knowing all the facts.
I know that people hate change but always believe that before we start getting crazy about a news announcement we know all the facts first 🙂 I wanted to share a little more about what Adobe’s creative cloud is and my thoughts on their new approach. These are just my thoughts and I am in no way endorsed or ever paid by Adobe to write anything so before you call me a fanboy take a minute to process everything. First I think that moving to a cloud based and subscription model can be a good thing for professional photographers. It might not be the best thing for the occasional photographer but we have to remember what Adobe’s primary market it… The Professionals. For them to run a good business they always need to keep their primary customer in mind and I think it’s a good thing that they are focusing on their core.
Why do I think the creative cloud is a good thing for professional photographers? It’s simple really, although most new versions of Photoshop (or any other software really) doesn’t contain ground breaking new features compared to the version before there always are time saving features or performance improvements that will help you save time. And with running your own business time is really money. The more time you spend away from the computer the more you can spending doing what you really love which is shooting and that helps to pay the bills. So upgrading yearly can be a good decision for any photographer but I know personally can also be hard to swallow that large upgrade cost. With the new subscription based service you will always have the latest and greatest and don’t have to try and make that difficult decision about spending hundreds of dollars.
Also I prefer to have more cash flow available for my business and spend the $50/month. You never know when you might have a camera go out or need a new lens and having that extra cash in the bank can come in handy.
The hope is that without having to ship boxed products they will iterate on their software faster and create more incremental improvements. Only time will tell how this changes their development process but it could bring things to us faster which is a good thing!
A final thing that I like about the creative cloud is you get access to everything vs. having to choose from one of many different CS versions that all had different software. Since I do more than just use Photoshop I like the ability to have access to all apps and really like the ability to just download what I need, when I need it.
Here is a list of whats included with the creative cloud vs. their boxed products:
A few things to know about Creative Cloud:
So what do you think about the decision from Adobe? Let the debate continue in the comments or check us out on Facebook, Twitter or Google +.
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Mark
I understand how wonderful CC is and I’m sure many people (like yourself) and companies will find it a good deal. That’s all beside the point. After spending all this money for the privilege of using their software, I still won’t own it. That’s important to me and now Adobe is taking that option away from me.
Yes. I don’t like that change and there is nothing irrational about my reaction to it. Which is what’s implied when defenders or explainers of some change use the phrase “people hate change”. Change is not automatically good as Microsoft has learned with Windows 8 (And I applaud MS for such a bold move). I hope there are enough people voicing their objections that Adobe reconsiders.
One more point. I hate the use of the word “subscription”. A subscription gets me a physical object such as an issue of National Geographic Magazine. If I let my subscription lapse I can still pull my copy off the shelf and read it.
My number one issue is that the moment you stop subscribing for whatever reason, all your files become useless. You can’t open them unless you subscribe to the Creative Cloud again. With the current version of CS6 I can open every file I created regardless whether or not I ever purchase something from Adobe again.
This is for all the fans of the cloud: “What is your exit strategy in regard to all the files you created with CC suite in case you no longer can or want to subscribe?
If you had a previous boxed version of Photoshop then your files aren’t really useless. You can always open them up with an older version that you did own. This won’t be the case years from now when CS6 is not supported any longer but for you you don’t really need an exit strategy.