Adobe Creative Cloud, is there a catch somewhere?

[Jorgen Udvang]

Being a photographer as well as a graphic designer, I depend on a large portion of Adobe's creative software. Since not upgrading to CS 6 isn't an option, I was looking at a cost of $2,599 (Master Collection, I need web and video editing programs as well), which is a lot of money. Then I see the Creative Cloud option, $49.99 per month for the whole package. A quick calculation tells me that I'll be using the products for 4 years and 4 months before I overtake the 2,599, not to speak about the fact that there'll probably be CS7 and possibly even CS8 available by then, upgrades that are included in the cloud option.

Is there a catch hidden somewhere or is this the way to buy Adobe products in these virtual, cloudy times?

 

[TRSmith]

I'm in pretty much the same boat. I've been upgrading the Adobe Suite products since they were introduced. I don't know how the cloud thing will work but my first impression is that it's a great deal for folks who don't already own it or just want to rent part of it.

The same upgrade paths will be available as in the past. Which is probably what I will do (i.e. pay the $299 - $499 to upgrade my license to the new version). My work depends on it too heavily to risk an issue that might cause me to be unable to work when I really must.

Tim

 

[Bill_Green]

It will be interesting to see how it works in reality. The big concept for Adobe is people are paying for their software instead of pirating it, and just because you buy CS6 there is no guarantee you will buy CS7 and CS8. Moving to a subscription model ensures that Adobe will continue to have you for a long time to come. Any time they want to charge more they can and there is nothing you can do about it. Since you don't actually own anything you can't decide to just stop paying.

 

[Jorgen Udvang]

It will be interesting to see how it works in reality. The big concept for Adobe is people are paying for their software instead of pirating it, and just because you buy CS6 there is no guarantee you will buy CS7 and CS8. Moving to a subscription model ensures that Adobe will continue to have you for a long time to come. Any time they want to charge more they can and there is nothing you can do about it. Since you don't actually own anything you can't decide to just stop paying.

Those are obviously valid points. However, with design software, there's no way around upgrading. The risk that I receive a file from somebody who did upgrade is around 100%, and it always happens Friday night with a job that has a deadline on Monday morning or earlier

If I was only doing photography, I would most likely have skipped Adobe altogether. C1 seems to be able to take care of most of my photography needs, and I still have PS CS3 just in case.

If the cloud price increases too much, there's always the option to buy. I only have to commit for one year, and as I've understood it, they can't increase the price within that period.