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Photoshop goes subscription only

David Schneider

New member
So why would smart phone companies keep developing their products--they have you locked in to a 2-year contract? Sorry, your argument is a stretch.
The user base with cell phones is different than PS. Plus, phone companies are constantly competing with one another for market share. Who's competing with Photoshop for market share? Gimp? lol
 

kdphotography

Well-known member
There are no real alternatives to Photoshop on the market. None.

And I can't help but think in antitrust type terms that this is what happens when you have a monopoly and no true competition. Adobe can dictate the terms and you can either take it or leave it.

As far as I can tell, the Photoshop only CC would be "only 9.95" per month, but absent any competition or incentive to keep the same pricing, I would expect this monthly "rental" to increase later once that noose is placed around the users neck. The program really isn't in the "cloud," just the licensing feature of the program which mandates you connecting to the internet once a month to make sure you've paid your fees.

I don't see any viable alternatives (other than dragging my feet and delaying as long as possible). CS6 works for now, but eventually will be a dead-end.

My dream would be for the folks in Denmark (yeah those bright C1Pro guys) to come up with a seamless alternative to Photoshop, with just the major feature-sets for pro-photographers. (big argument is which features).

ken
 

Steen

Senior Subscriber Member
Photoshop goes subscription only - how about Corel PaintShop Pro ?


Has anyone here tried to replace Photoshop with Corel PaintShop Pro X5 Ultimate ?

Some say that Lightroom or Capture One Pro + Corel PaintShop Pro X5 Ultimate is all you need as a photographer ?

The Ultimate Photo Editor - Corel PaintShop Pro X5 Ultimate

Personally I can easily do with just one of the RAW converters, but that's just me.
 

fotografz

Well-known member
So, don't use Photoshop. No one is forcing you to use that program...

Actually, the PS V1 argument is germane. There is no such thing as a "permanent" license, at least not if you actually use the software. You were simply subscribing. Now, you simply pay by month. For small outfits, that could be much easier--easier to pony up a small chunk of money every month, than a whole bunch every year and a half or so. For the amateur, the cost is questionable. For people earning money from this, if $50 per month is going to tank your business, then don't blame Adobe, there is some else wrong.
"No one is forcing you" ... running out of rational points are you? :)

Everyone is being forced into this because there is no alternative. If and when there is an alternative, then you can chuck decades of learning and experience and start over.

$50 here, $50 there ... in this economy, pretty soon you are out of business. However, according to you, we should all just lay down and take it because $50 a month isn't all that much. Shrinking revenue for paying photographic work is a fact. Relentless increases in expenses these days is like being nibbled to death by ducks.

Besides, IMO, PS is a bankrupt software ... Adobe has bloated it with applications related to the Creative Suite and added only a few nifty photo related tools that just aren't worth what they used to ask every two years. Personally, I do not feel PS6 was worth it, but bought it because it'll support ACR for awhile. By forcing the Cloud down everyone's throat they can milk PS ... while pushing the other CS applications forward. Adobe is no one's friend, they are big business with the ethics of wall street and banks.

- Marc
 

fotografz

Well-known member
There has been a huge amount of discussion about this on The Digital Wedding Forum ... one of the biggest and best on the web. For obvious reasons, this is NOT a popular move on Adobe's part.

I made some suggestions in a post I included there that was received well. It offers up an alternative that I really wish Adobe would consider.

Here's a different take on this. My former career was in advertising. Virtually every ad agency creative department is Mac based and uses Adobe Creative Suite software. Same for design houses, web design, major retouching studios, large photo commercial studios, many motion editing companies, etc.

For the most part, purchase, payment and maintenance of software is not the purview of that end user (they just ask for it, but do not make the final decision, although they usually get what they want). As such, it is strictly a cost of doing business amongst many, that doesn't affect the end user's paycheck. I seriously doubt there will be any significant blow back from this move from the above clients, except maybe some grumbling from mid-level accounting who have to implement the CC subscription and keep it active.

That is primarily regarding the Creative Suite.

More and more, Photoshop has become integrated into the CS with many added features that serve a broad base of applications found in the CS ... a lot of which aren't needed or relevant to those who, for example, use it as plug-in ("Open In") in conjunction with Lightroom ... especially photographers.

In many cases, the blow back happening here and elsewhere is about a PS product that has some features vital to photographers, but many they do not want or need. In past, PS made major advancements for photographic applications, but in recent years less so. I think many (including me) feel any further advancements in PS will have limited (a couple of cool tools) or no meaning to photographic work, but WILL further the CS integration and add features relevant to the use of the broad base CS applications.

So, the $20 for PS-CC subscription alone seems overpriced compared to the CS-CC price of $50 for the whole Suite.

Lightroom is a great product for the photographer, and has come a long way. However, it needs PS to be a complete program for many, if not most photographers. Lightroom is still far behind PS in the application of many photographic needs, or the LR tools are less effective compared to their PS counterparts.

Which leads to two thoughts beyond those in the poll, or wishing for a lower price for the PS-CC:

Increase the functionality of LR by 1) improving the functions of certain LR tools to be the equal of those in PS (cloning tools for example) 2) adding the more important tools found in PS that photographers want and need (layering, content aware adjustments, etc.)

OR

Strip PS of non- essential features leaving only those with a high level of relevancy to photographers, and offer it as a plug-in "open In" for LR. Really, how hard would that be for Adobe? IMO, this is where other software makers will concentrate their efforts (like OnOne who recently said as much). Adobe could beat them to the punch with their own LR stand alone plug-in.

Anyone needing the functionality of the CS, (like In Design), then can opt for the CC subscription. Those primarily engaged in photography could purchase their photo oriented PS plug-in along with LR.

-Marc
 

gazwas

Active member
I don't feel the issue with the CC service has anything to do with owning the licence, the monthly cost or if I think its fair but the fact that if after one month or 15 years I decide I don't want/no longer need/can't afford the subscription I no longer have access to my files any longer. In my eyes, that makes my decision to not question Adobes direction or evaluate the money I'll kindly be handing to Adobe over the years to be a completely stupid decision.

Being locked out of software without payment is a important aspect that every company, large or small needs to seriously think about. Likening this to a mobile contract is ridiculous as renting the phone I make a call on today has nothing to do with the phone I make a call on tomorrow.
 

GlenC

Member
Apparently Adobe is concerned about the acceptance (or lack of) of CC. Amoung the many questions were several about whether you like the idea of paying monthly fees to use CC.

My link to the survey only worked once so there's no point in sharing that but this is the content of the email they sent me to take the survey:

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Christopher

Active member
I perhaps could live Photoshop CC, but what I certainly will not do is pay more than US customers. I'm not talking about a little more it's 15EUR in the US let's say with tax it's 17,5.... In Germany it's 24,5EUR....

Adobe go to hell, I will use PS CS6 until everything goes down....
 

GregMO

Member
In concept The Cloud seems like a wonderful, convenient solution. In principal, I would strongly disagree.
As we go through life, we all compile "data." Whether it be our bank statements, photo files from our life's work, to a song you would like to listen to in the car. That data needs to be stored somewhere. As the world (or corporate world) tries to push us into The Cloud as personal storage (connecting a drive to a computer) will become obsolete.
As we continue to go through life, we will eventually be forced to "rent our lives back" from The Cloud in order to gain access to enjoy it/ make our living off of it/ or whatever else we wish to do as we no longer control the storage of our data.
No thank you. I prefer to own/manage my personal data.
 
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T.Karma

New member
After several month this thread has been not touched, I would like to ask those who have accepted the cloud subscription, how it has worked for them until now and if they would do it again.

thank you
 

Bob

Administrator
Staff member
Works well for me.
Given the various subscription options that have expanded, presumably after folks complained, there might be something acceptable to you.
-bob
 

Jorgen Udvang

Subscriber Member
Works great for me, and is a moneysaver too, since I use very many Adobe products and rely on being able to open work from others which is often done with the latest release.
 

scatesmd

Workshop Member
I have still held off. My biggest worry is the loss of access to files down the line if I ever stop the subscription and lose the version I was working with. It sounds like subscribe for life now or risk loss of file access later.

If I could find a way to keep whatever the last version I had was, I would reconsider, but I don't want to try open files I made in CC PS12 or so in CS6.

What if the price goes up a lot after a couple of years? I think I would feel a bit trapped into keeping up payments forever. Maybe the model would be to wait for a few new features to be introduced that will not be interpretable in CS6, then bump the cost again.

Steve
 

momo

Member
This is worth a a look as an alternative to adobe... Perfect Photo Suite 8 Public Beta - onOne Software
this program has nice capability, but it isn't color managed...day glow colors on a wide gamut monitor like my nec 2690 attached to my macbook pro...

I've written to them about this before, trying to use version 7...they know about the problem...i was hoping they'd address it in V8...no luck...

it's fine on the macbook monitor, normal colors,...
 

Stuart Richardson

Active member
I finally signed up for the photography version, where they charge 9.99/month for the first year if you bought CS6. It comes with CC and Lightroom 5 (which I already had bought). I would not have done so, but for the gun held to my head -- sign up before the end of the year, or you need to pay for the single version at double the price, as well as separate upgrades for lightroom. At this point, I have not played with any of the features other than the new image enlargement tools. Basically, it just looks like they enlarge and sharpen...it does not appear better. I was doing a print for a client today, and I just used standard lightroom up-rezzing...fewer halos. Her prints were already a bit oversharpened, however, so it might do better with a more suitable image.
The integration seems to be working well, however. The CC applet works pretty well (just needed to log in on my other computer to download CC after I updated. It did that completely seemlessly). I have not done anything with CC or the cloud yet.
I can see the cloud storage being very useful in the future, however. Fiber based internet is new here, and not available everywhere. My home internet is cable and very very fast and inexpensive...100mb up and down. At work, however, they have not laid fiber lines, so it is only 12mb down/1mb up. 1mb up is simply too slow to upload any files to cloud storage...at least no the film scans and high MP files I work with. If I can get a decent upload speed at work, then it would be nice, as I could easily transfer files between home and work.
Of course, dropbox could do this too, but 20gb as part of the subscription is nice. As it is, 10 bucks a month seems quite fair to me, except for the draconian, "once you stop paying, we take it all away from you."

Additionally, I want to make a special shout out to Giovanni, the rudest and most condescending customer service representative I have ever spoken to. I called Adobe to ask a bit about the terms and conditions, and this guy was horrible! He was incredibly defensive, saying things like, "Well, clearly you are not interested in this offer...", and at one point he flat out interrupted me saying with a very sarcastic tone, "Is there anything else I can help you with today?" I was completely civil and non-combative, I just wanted to know what Adobe's obligations were. For example, they have said, "9.99 is not an introductory price, it is the price for people who subscribe before Dec 31st, 2013", but in the T&C, it says that that price is just for the first year, after which it will be automatically renewed at the current price. So basically, it will auto-renew at whatever price they decide. He confirmed this, but was incredibly unpleasant about it, acting as though they were doing me some great favor and I was a jerk not to trust them not to raise the price etc.

I am glad it was not in person, as I might have done something unpleasant back.
 

iiiNelson

Well-known member
I finally signed up for the photography version, where they charge 9.99/month for the first year if you bought CS6. It comes with CC and Lightroom 5 (which I already had bought). I would not have done so, but for the gun held to my head -- sign up before the end of the year, or you need to pay for the single version at double the price, as well as separate upgrades for lightroom. At this point, I have not played with any of the features other than the new image enlargement tools. Basically, it just looks like they enlarge and sharpen...it does not appear better. I was doing a print for a client today, and I just used standard lightroom up-rezzing...fewer halos. Her prints were already a bit oversharpened, however, so it might do better with a more suitable image.
The integration seems to be working well, however. The CC applet works pretty well (just needed to log in on my other computer to download CC after I updated. It did that completely seemlessly). I have not done anything with CC or the cloud yet.
I can see the cloud storage being very useful in the future, however. Fiber based internet is new here, and not available everywhere. My home internet is cable and very very fast and inexpensive...100mb up and down. At work, however, they have not laid fiber lines, so it is only 12mb down/1mb up. 1mb up is simply too slow to upload any files to cloud storage...at least no the film scans and high MP files I work with. If I can get a decent upload speed at work, then it would be nice, as I could easily transfer files between home and work.
Of course, dropbox could do this too, but 20gb as part of the subscription is nice. As it is, 10 bucks a month seems quite fair to me, except for the draconian, "once you stop paying, we take it all away from you."

Additionally, I want to make a special shout out to Giovanni, the rudest and most condescending customer service representative I have ever spoken to. I called Adobe to ask a bit about the terms and conditions, and this guy was horrible! He was incredibly defensive, saying things like, "Well, clearly you are not interested in this offer...", and at one point he flat out interrupted me saying with a very sarcastic tone, "Is there anything else I can help you with today?" I was completely civil and non-combative, I just wanted to know what Adobe's obligations were. For example, they have said, "9.99 is not an introductory price, it is the price for people who subscribe before Dec 31st, 2013", but in the T&C, it says that that price is just for the first year, after which it will be automatically renewed at the current price. So basically, it will auto-renew at whatever price they decide. He confirmed this, but was incredibly unpleasant about it, acting as though they were doing me some great favor and I was a jerk not to trust them not to raise the price etc.

I am glad it was not in person, as I might have done something unpleasant back.
I did the same thing and upgraded while the deal lasts. I hadn't purchase LR5 and I have CS4 Design Premium Suite so it was a great upgrade for me for the price. I rarely use Photoshop as most everything I do is done in LR but I do like this version of PS quite a bit coming from CS4. For $10 a month it's quite a deal and provided the price doesn't go up too much I'm okay with the subscription model for the programs I use.
 
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