Adobe is going to only sell subscription based Photoshop

[jp]

It's not FUD. Professional IT people call it configuration management. There is definite risk every time any critical package is upgraded. Will it still integrate with that system properly? I have had some integration issues each time I've upgraded Photoshop. No, none were fatal, obviously. All were temporarily time consuming. Critical systems managers don't do automatic updates. Their IT people test them first to understand and mitigate side effects.

That's a fair concern. Adobe doesn't force updates on anyone, unlike the real cloud service of google, etc... There is a separate app for managing updates (reading about them, confirming to apply them), and if you are afraid of living on the bleeding edge, then you can hold back the updates. It's less intrusive than windows update for example. I'd call photoshop more accurately "cloud dependent" rather than "cloud based".

[Brian C. Miller]

OK, software and the cloud:

#1, this "configuration management" is nothing compared to what I go through as a software developer. "Moved a button" nothing, I often have to go and modify code due to an API change. Then compile, test, and oh, did something else change because of something upstream? Guess what...

#2, there are things called "cell phones" which give network access wherever you have a cell signal. The networks are all digital, and the analog equipment has all been removed. I get about 350Kbits/sec download speed on my cell phone, and that phone is about five years old. I can ride the Amtrak train between Seattle and Portland, and there's only a few spots where I don't have network access. And that's private network access, not shared with someone else.

#3, this network-controlled software licensing has been available for over a decade. Adobe is just now getting around to it. Microsoft went to network licensing with Windows Genuine Advantage, and the technology for that was being marketed just past 2000.

#4, if you really really really really want something different, like GIMP, then download it, the support libraries, and start writing code!!!

Welcome to the "real world."

[Otto Seaman]

In the 1990s Quark used to dominate graphic design and publishing, and every six months it seemed they released a new $99 version 0.0x "upgrade" that usually only fixed some bug or compatibility problem. The upgrades were worthless and expensive but the ad agencies would mindlessly adopt everyone, so as a freelancer you were forced to go along with the upgrades as Quark was never backward compatible. Not to mention it was $695 to buy initially, we all knew we were being abused.

Once Adobe launched InDesign, lots of people switched. By InDesign 3 nearly everybody had switched. And the best part was InDesign was only $200 at first.

Praying someone comes along and does this same thing to Adobe now, a decade later.

[Nathan Potter]

You didn't own a computer before you switched to Photoshop? You didn't own a printer? You didn't own a DSLR? You mention buying "scanners" plural - why did you need more than one? You also don't have to pay $3,000 for CS6 if you have CS3 or later and you certainly didn't need to buy Macs. If you're a hobbyist and spent over $10,000 to learn Photoshop you spent a whole lot more than you needed to.

Plus of course you're talking about starting from absolute scratch and assigning all the cost to one year when in fact all that stuff will benefit you for years to come. My computer is about 6 years old, my DSLR was bought in 2008, my lenses were bought at the same time, my scanner was bought about ten years ago, etc. etc. Sure, I could say it all cost about $6,000 in the year of purchase but in fact just like your expenditures, they were capital expenditures that are properly amortized over a period of years, not just all charged to the year of purchase.

Let's see if I can justify my blabbering.

Mac G5 with 8 GB RAM and extra hard drive, used $600
PS CS used copy for learning $300
Nikon 5000 ED scanner new for 35 mm $1200
Epson V750 Pro for 4X5 $1200
Epson 3880 17 inch printer $1200
Mac 23 inch Cinema display $800
XRite Eye 1 Pro color calibration $1000
Betterscanning fixture with Aztek fluid, etc. $500
DSLR Nikon D800E, new $3500
Nikon 24 to 120 zoom, new $1200

Aproximate total $11,500

Brian, I've always been an analogue worker so didn't have really any digital gear at all. D800 is the first DSLR I've owned. I've had a Macbook for years but not really suitable for high quality digital manipulations. The high cost is not to merely learn PS but to produce prints of a quality that matches the Ilfochrome I've worked with for years.

Yes this can be amortized over years of use, so far 2 years so I'm down to $5750.

I have to pay about $3000 for CS6 because I'd need a new Mac Pro with 16 GB of RAM along with CS6.

So this is actually what I spent in year 1 to get into high quality digital work utilizing my existing inventory of images, (about 20,000). Admittedly a quality DSLR punches this cost up quite a bit but I was trying to move well into the digital age for a variety of reasons.

Nate Potter, Austin TX.

[Bill_1856]

I think that they've run out of ideas for new features which would justify buying a new version, so this is the only way they can continue to milk the market.

[Tin Can]

de-blur, de blur, sung to 'Ze Plane! Ze Plane! Fantasy Island.

I think that they've run out of ideas for new features which would justify buying a new version, so this is the only way they can continue to milk the market.

[paulr]

Nathan, the amount you spent is reasonable for all that stuff, but it's really not fair to call that the cost of entry. Your list includes a pair of scanners AND a high end dslr kit. So you got a setup that will allow you to transition to digital printing from all your film, and also to start digital capture at a pretty high level. This is indeed a lot of stuff!

For a more typical user who already has a workable computer, you could get started with just the price of PS, a scanner, a printer, and a few upgrades (ram, bigger drive, used high end monitor and calibration kit).

I worked for a few years on 4x5 b+w images with a g3 imac, built in monitor (this was the biggest limitation) and a consumer scanner and piezo-modified cheap printer. Far from efficient, but I was able to do high quality work and to learn the software.

[rdenney]

Brian, I use cellular data to serve Internet at my house, because it is my only option. I pay $80 a month for 8GB of data. My wife and I both use it for working at home, which eats up a lot of that capacity. If I exceed that limit, I pay 5 cents a megabyte. And a good portion of the time, it barely works anyway, and my download speeds may be 128k/s to 8mb/s depending on its mood.

And step out of Seattle. Many places in this country have no cellular service at all, let alone data service, let alone 3G or 4g data service.

Part of Adobe's goal is to avoid having to support versions more than 30 days old. I don't need a splash demanding that I upgrade every few weeks--I already get that with Acrobat Reader and the checkbox they provide to turn it off is a placebo.

But the delivery model is based on unlimited high-speed data, and they effectively cut off those who don't have access to that.

Rick "who knows how cloud and auto-updated services work, and has to schedule many work activities for 1.) when in the office, or 2.) when at Starbucks" Denney

[Tin Can]

I think Adobe is offering 6 month re-certifying shortly.

And I vote for fiber optic to every home, Japan did it 15 years ago.

If the hills had fiber optic, we could all move there and ruin the rural lifestyle.

I am 2 miles from Sears tower and barely get OTA or cell service.

[CantikFotos]

When has this happened before with adobe software? Why, because of this payment system, will they start releasing bunk software?

Can you stop with the FUD, please?

When I was living in Indonesia I couldn't activate my legally purchased Photoshop because of the lousy internet. I ended up going out and buying a pirated copy that didn't need activation.

And that is not fud.