Adobe is going to only sell subscription based Photoshop

[Drew Wiley]

Partially. I knew a glut of product is out there, but not exactly why or how stable the future will be. Of course, this kind of product is unrelated to Agfa's conventional photography film demise - different category. Imagesetters sometimes produce a half-toney look, even via stochastic. A lot of program writing for
anyone I know of who has gone that route, or perhaps a steeper learning curve than they anticipated. Good luck, regardless.

[Tin Can]

I agree Adobe does their research. I was in a very intensive Adobe focus group that paid $200 cash. They got their money's worth. I believe they were also shooting video to catch facial micro-movements to analyze our veracity. 6 people in my group with 3 visible interviewers, one way glass and 3 video cameras running I saw.

I plan to keep CS3, PS5 and LR4 as I do own a licensed copies. However, as I have stated here, I signed up for the cloud 3 months ago.

Ultimately you either accept the new pricing or you don't. The "old" software works fine. You can still buy CS6 today if you want to lock in the last version before the change.

Adobe has sold half a million CC subscriptions already, and it will only grow now that it's the only option. They've done market research (I participated) and test marketed CC for a full year... They've obviously done the math, and determined that this will make them more money, even if it angers some people (especially photographers—another fact they've acknowledged). In other words, the odds of Adobe backing down and reinstating CS are extremely low. This wasn't some impulsive business move... they've been working toward this since at least 2009.

[bob carnie]

Like anything we work with Drew, when the time comes I will protect myself with enough product to satisfy my fiscal future.

Partially. I knew a glut of product is out there, but not exactly why or how stable the future will be. Of course, this kind of product is unrelated to Agfa's conventional photography film demise - different category. Imagesetters sometimes produce a half-toney look, even via stochastic. A lot of program writing for
anyone I know of who has gone that route, or perhaps a steeper learning curve than they anticipated. Good luck, regardless.

[sanking]

Ultimately you either accept the new pricing or you don't. The "old" software works fine. You can still buy CS6 today if you want to lock in the last version before the change.

Adobe has sold half a million CC subscriptions already, and it will only grow now that it's the only option. They've done market research (I participated) and test marketed CC for a full year... They've obviously done the math, and determined that this will make them more money, even if it angers some people (especially photographers—another fact they've acknowledged). In other words, the odds of Adobe backing down and reinstating CS are extremely low. This wasn't some impulsive business move... they've been working toward this since at least 2009.

What Adobe has done may or may not be a good business decision for them in the long run. I own registered versions of PS 5.5, 7, CS, CS3 and CS5. I had planned to buy CS6 but when Adobe jacked up the price for the academic version by nearly 100% I decided to hold on to my money. I figure CS5 will be OK for another five years, and by that time I think it highly likely that other software will be available that will serve my photography needs for less. I will definitely find a way to use something else rather than switch to subscription software.

Sandy

[FlyingGiraffes]

I'm a college student currently using a "free" version my friend gave to me on a usb stick. Seeing as it can't use any plugins (I want to use some NIK ones), this move by Adobe, has me about to purchase cs6. My college has cs6 extended for 169. If I choose student subscription at 20/month I'll pay more in only 9 months.

You left out the part about where you're wearing your ironic heavy plastic framed nerd glasses and skinny black hipster jeans. Otherwise you got it right.

And you left the part out where choice of clothing doesn't affect personal values and personality. I'm currently wearing a pair of skinny black jeans. Hipster jeans they are not. Skinny black jeans =/= hipster jeans. Surprisingly, I'm not wearing "ironic heavy plastic framed nerd glass". Oh, and most of my wardrobe is black. I must be a gothic person then, right? Surprise, I'm not!

I realize you're joking and all, but that's some strong negative association with a certain group of people. Apparently hipster = greedy dirtbag.

I dislike it when people generalize what kind of person I am based on my clothing (and in addition miss categorize because they can not pick up the nuances in different styles).

[rdenney]

Ben, I never accused Adobe of being stupid or capricious. I accused them of the possible mistake of abandoning a bigger part of the clientele than they may have realized. And I accused them of being insensitive to the needs of a substantial (and loyal) user population, whether or not it is commercially important to them.

As an old capitalist, I know that companies must treat their customers' real issues with genuine respect. Adobe, like many tech companies, fashions itself as a new kind of business, more in tune with altruistic goals. I find this ironic.

They could do many things to serve those whom they have abandoned without reversing this decision. But only by clamoring about it do we have any hope than they will.

One thing they could do is further recognize the differing use cases of photographers and pre-press service bureaus and graphic artists, and quit marketing one product to both. Lightroom may be just that, but it's not there yet--most serious photographers still find they require Photoshop. I'm hoping it or a competing product will be by the time my PS copy becomes unsustainable.

Rick "who has seen this before" Denney

[Jac@stafford.net]

With the so-called death of the PC we should expect that high-end, compute intensive vendors will focus upon the Gold customers. Those who have migrated or started new with *pad devices are not going to look to Photo Shop.

The market is changing. Vendors with monolithic software packages should be terrified.

One day people will have sources that allow them to package only those features they want, and then add-on incrementally. And it will be hugely expensive to include all the features of the monolithic kind of software that Adobe has created.

The future ain't what it used to be.

[Eric James]

I'm a college student currently using a "free" version my friend gave to me on a usb stick...SNIP

I dislike it when people generalize what kind of person I am based on my clothing (and in addition miss categorize because they can not pick up the nuances in different styles).

Maybe someday, when you've matured enough to stop your fraudulent use of software, you'll also come to realize how perfectly contradictory your last statement is.

[FlyingGiraffes]

Maybe someday, when you've matured enough to stop your fraudulent use of software, you'll also come to realize how perfectly contradictory your last statement is.

Pointless arguing on the internet seems to factor into your high maturity level. There is no contradiction in my last statement. People generalize based on what I'm wearing, in addition they miscategorize (because that's human nature) causing farther incorrect generalizations.

[KOG]

One day people will have sources that allow them to package only those features they want, and then add-on incrementally.

Try adding only one channel to your cable TV package!

Kevin