Adobe discontinues all standalone applications, goes 100% cloud/subscription based

Status
Not open for further replies.
AshburnerX

AshburnerX

... and this is how they lose their status as the industry standard. Everyone is going to ether stick onto the stand-alone version they already have or wait until someone else makes a good program for this and then buy/pirate that.

Because $20 a month? Maybe if my company was paying for it but I'd never pay that for personal use.
 
SpecialKO

SpecialKO

For companies, this is relatively good news, price-wise. But student licensing just got murdered in the face if they don't have some deeply-discounted student rate.
 
strawman

strawman

I think this will work out for them. Considering how expensive it is to buy, using it for a month for a low cost is very affordable. If you use it professionally, you should make back the monthly cost in a single hour of work.

The people it will hurt most are those who pirate the software, and want the latest version.

Others will undoubtedly be unhappy with the news, and some use cases will show this model to be more expensive than their current model, mostly those that only upgrade every 3 years or so. But again, if its a business expense, $20/seat/month isn't bad and I suspect there will be bulk discounts.

Student discounts will probably be cheap or even free. Use your .edu address to register and go through some hoops to prove you are taking a photoshop class, and you might get three months free. Who knows, but its in adobes intest to give students free access so companies continue to buy the software people know.
 
SpecialKO

SpecialKO

stienman said:
Student discounts will probably be cheap or even free. Use your .edu address to register and go through some hoops to prove you are taking a photoshop class, and you might get three months free. Who knows, but its in adobes intest to give students free access so companies continue to buy the software people know.
Click to expand...
I'm hoping so, but you never know with big companies and decision-making. This is really the only thing I'm concerned about.

I got started using things like Photoshop and InDesign because my grad school's Mac lab had CS3 on all the machines, and then while I was still a student, they were selling a student license for the entire suite for $300 for my home machine.
 
strawman

strawman

I know more than one business who would hire an intern for the summer just to use their student discount at the bookstore for adobe products.
 
blotsfan

blotsfan

Yeah I'm kinda with steinman. When I need photoshop, it's usually only for a few weeks at a time. I'd rather just spend the $20 when I need it instead of 1000 for something id barely use.

Of course I can see how this would be awful of you have the type of
Job where you need it a lot.
 
strawman

strawman

The service model is one of the more common ways to segment the market and extract the most money from your dedicated users while still selling to your occasional users. It's very capitalistically efficient.
 
SpecialKO

SpecialKO

blotsfan said:
Of course I can see how this would be awful of you have the type of
Job where you need it a lot.
Click to expand...
For jobs, it really should be okay. $50/month for the whole suite for a year is much less than the whole suite now. And $20/month per app is still cheaper than buying a single-app license now. Where it may get uncomfortable is companies that used their copies of CS for years until the next upgrade, but the pricing is still pretty favorable if you waited 2-3 years before upgrading, depending on which version you needed.
 
Azurephoenix

Azurephoenix

I wish you could just drop in and out without needing the yearly commitiment... but honestly $50 a month for their entire up to the date production suite seems like a fantastic deal to me considering how much all those programs cost as a standalone package.

I mean, like others have mentioned... if you're doing this for a living you will make back the money super fast. Hell, 3 years of the full production suite would only cost what... $1800 dollars? The only downside is never really owning a hard copy.

I wish autodesk would offer this with 3D Studio Max, Maya and AutoCAD.
 
GasBandit

GasBandit

Staff member
The majority of the relief I hear at this was "oh good, it was so expensive before." That's not so much a ringing endorsement of a cloud based subscription model as it is testament to how grossly overpriced adobe products have been.

Speaking as someone who uses "cloud based" applications in a critical position for my company, let me just tell you guys.. I hate it. Even when it works, it's slow. And god forbid anything happens to your internet connection while you work.
 
Azurephoenix

Azurephoenix

GasBandit said:
The majority of the relief I hear at this was "oh good, it was so expensive before." That's not so much a ringing endorsement of a cloud based subscription model as it is testament to how grossly overpriced adobe products have been.

Speaking as someone who uses "cloud based" applications in a critical position for my company, let me just tell you guys.. I hate it. Even when it works, it's slow. And god forbid anything happens to your internet connection while you work.
Click to expand...

Okay, I do have to admit I'm not really that knowledgeable on the "cloud based" thing. Does that mean that the executable is running over the internet or something or do you actually install the programs locally and it's just a constant connection to their server while your using the product?
 
GasBandit

GasBandit

Staff member
Azurephoenix said:
Okay, I do have to admit I'm not really that knowledgeable on the "cloud based" thing. Does that mean that the executable is running over the internet or something or do you actually install the programs locally and it's just a constant connection to their server while your using the product?
Click to expand...
Well, Adobe might just be using it as a buzzword, and it could end up basically being steam for Adobe applications.
But what I'm using, all the work is done entirely server side and the data/visuals come to me basically in a highly customized citrix client.
 
blotsfan

blotsfan

I would've assumed it'd be like the registration key with microsoft office, and once a month you'd have to re-validate. Obviously, I could be wrong though.
 
GasBandit

GasBandit

Staff member
blotsfan said:
I would've assumed it'd be like the registration key with microsoft office, and once a month you'd have to re-validate. Obviously, I could be wrong though.
Click to expand...
All I can say is that if the applications are actually stored client side, this won't stop pirates for very long.
 
Azurephoenix

Azurephoenix

GasBandit said:
Well, Adobe might just be using it as a buzzword, and it could end up basically being steam for Adobe applications.
But what I'm using, all the work is done entirely server side and the data/visuals come to me basically in a highly customized citrix client.
Click to expand...

Holy shit that would be AWFUL for Adobe products. "Oh I'd like to test render this incredibly intensive scene I'm compositing in after effects. I'm sure their cloud computers and my shoddy internet connection will do it just as fast as if it rendered on my purpose built rig at home!"

I'm going to lean towards the steam for Adobe applications myself. It would be... insane for them to truly do computations client side.
 
checkeredhat

checkeredhat

SpecialKO said:
I'm hoping so, but you never know with big companies and decision-making. This is really the only thing I'm concerned about.

I got started using things like Photoshop and InDesign because my grad school's Mac lab had CS3 on all the machines, and then while I was still a student, they were selling a student license for the entire suite for $300 for my home machine.
Click to expand...
We were given the entire CS4 suite in my third year and the CS5 (with an expiring licence) in my fourth year. They were each $300, but the price was tacked on directly to our tuition so it wasn't optional.
 
ScytheRexx

ScytheRexx

Not sure if good news or bad news. I really am not into the whole monthly fee deal. I would rather find a place selling it cheap and just get it as long as I want it. At least I am up to date with the latest stand-alone version of CS6 now.

The people it will hurt most are those who pirate the software, and want the latest version.
Click to expand...
Maybe for a week. In the end I see this increasing the amount of people that will likely pirate it, but we will have to wait and see.
 
GasBandit

GasBandit

Staff member
fade said:
I wonder how long it will take. The crack will probably not be straight forward.
Click to expand...
Well, the most complicated crack I ever saw - Assassin's Creed 2 - took about 2 months, and involved editing your hosts file and running your own dummy drm server to get around the hated always-on Ubisoft DRM.

From what I read in your article, though, the DRM isn't all that different from what they're suing now in 6 (call home once a month).
 
fade

fade

Staff member
You would think they would do something more complex for a subscription model. I suppose they're balancing the cost of security vs. the number of people who will pay regardless. You can already do the hosts file trick for 6.
 
strawman

strawman

I don't think it'll be hard to pirate, nor will it need to be. They just need to make it barely painful enough or get real users to pay for it.

The thing they'll do over time, though, is shift to a frequent incremental update setup, which will require authentication, then start adding features the pirates want. Make them jump through hoops every few months to keep up and some of them will tire and pay for it if they actually use it.

What they should do is pay the guy that does the you suck at photoshop series to create a new series on the subscription software.
 
Espy

Espy

Adobe has never worked super hard to stop pirating apps though, they know that you can't really do any work with pirated apps so eventually if you want to start making money you will have to buy it. I don't know any professional who wouldn't buy it as soon as they have the money.

The kids pirating this stuff and making their little anime music videos? Adobe doesn't give a shit about them.
 
David

David

I think 99% of what people do with cracked copies of Photoshop could be just as easily accomplished with Gimp.

I use Photoshop anyway because it's easier to stick with what I know than either relearn the shortcuts on Gimp or figure out how to keymap everything to be the same as Photoshop.

Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be any open source alternatives yet that come anywhere close to Flash (HTML 5 looks promising for browser games but a bitch to animate with) or Premiere/After Effects.
 
Bubble181

Bubble181

David said:
I think 99% of what people do with cracked copies of Photoshop could be just as easily accomplished with Gimp.

I use Photoshop anyway because it's easier to stick with what I know than either relearn the shortcuts on Gimp or figure out how to keymap everything to be the same as Photoshop.

Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be any open source alternatives yet that come anywhere close to Flash (HTML 5 looks promising for browser games but a bitch to animate with) or Premiere/After Effects.
Click to expand...
99% of what people who have cracked version of PS do with it, can be done with MS Paint.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top