So long.. Creative Suite

[Neilg]

Nobody is stopping you from leaving cs3 installed

[alexyork]

Nobody is stopping you from leaving cs3 installed

No but let's be realistic here. At some point you are going to need to upgrade so you can read someone else's file produced in a later version. It will happen at some point. At that point in my situation the most it would cost me would be a fresh standalone license for around 500 or whatever it costs at the time. In the rental scenario I would have probably been paying every month for however many years up to that point, which would have cost vastly more.

And apart from anything, a CS3 or 6 won't be able to open a CC PSD or PSB due to incompatibility. So no, this is not a viable option.

EDIT just imagine this very realistic scenario. I am now on PS CS6 and I decide not to upgrade and move to CC. So I am stuck on CS6 but at least it works and doesn't cost me anything any more. In a few months' or a year's time I decide I need to hire a freelancer to do some photoshopping for me. By this point pretty much everyone will be on CC so I can't open their files. This means I cannot hire them without having to upgrade myself for a consderable sum and future lock-in with rental. This is bad for both me and them, obviously. So maybe I have to hunt around to find someone still on CS6. That will take time and might not be feasible or I might lose money during this period of searching. Bad, again.

[Neilg]

I get the impression you're just looking for reasons to hate this. So many things wrong with what you just said.

The biggest one is psd's are backwards compatable. Always have been, always will be. Most people who use photoshop work as freelancers and the situation you describe has been coming up for 10 years.
If you sit a few versions out and decide to upgrade, you only pay for that year you upgrade.
I have opened cs3 files from work in my copy of photoshop 7 at home.

And despite your complaints, you're already on the newest version of photoshop? Why? You already pay more than the yearly cost of this in upgrades already - What was the last version which introduced a feature you actually cant work without?

edit: and you say after waiting a few years it'll 'only' cost you 500 to upgrade with the old pricing. If you were on a subscription for the next 3 years it would cost you 75 for the first year and 150 for the 2 after - which is 375. taking you through a full 3 years of the most up to date versions for less than the cost of skipping 3 years. Should you utilize their 180 days offile grace period, you could get 18 months out of each yearly subscription cost. So that's 4 1/2 years, for 375.
But you could also avoid the subscription entirely, and only pay the 150 in 3 or 4 years time if you really wanted that new feature. Jump from cs6 to cc5 or whatever.

[alexyork]

I get the impression you're just looking for reasons to hate this. So many things wrong with what you just said.

The biggest one is psd's are backwards compatable. Always have been, always will be. Most people who use photoshop work as freelancers and the situation you describe has been coming up for 10 years.
If you sit a few versions out and decide to upgrade, you only pay for that year you upgrade.
I have opened cs3 files from work in my copy of photoshop 7 at home.

And despite your complaints, you're already on the newest version of photoshop? Why? You already pay more than the yearly cost of this in upgrades already - What was the last version which introduced a feature you actually cant work without?

edit: and you say after waiting a few years it'll 'only' cost you 500 to upgrade with the old pricing. If you were on a subscription for the next 3 years it would cost you 75 for the first year and 150 for the 2 after - which is 375. taking you through a full 3 years of the most up to date versions for less than the cost of skipping 3 years. Should you utilize their 180 days offile grace period, you could get 18 months out of each yearly subscription cost. So that's 4 1/2 years, for 375.
But you could also avoid the subscription entirely, and only pay the 150 in 3 or 4 years time if you really wanted that new feature. Jump from cs6 to cc5 or whatever.

Everything you have said here is assuming that their current model of CC will remain at the same price and with the same restrictions (or non restrictions). It is extremely easy to picture Adobe making it impossible to back save from CC to CS at some point very soon. There are likely to be CC-only features saved with PSDs that must be removed or cannot be removed to make it work with CS. Or even a previous version of the CC 'edition'. And the chances of the prices staying the same? I would say almost zero. And it's far, far easier to slowly increase a rental cost than it is to whack up a standalone cost to the same value.

Also again you have missed that we cannot skip versions otherwise we cannot use the software at all during that time, regardless of cost savings.

I have no agenda here. For me this CC business has one fantastic benefit for my workflow and that is that I can now rent a copy of AE from time to time when big animation jobs come in and not have to pay for it the rest of the year when I am not using it. That's great news. But since I use PS and LR my overall costs will increase year on year and will only continue to increase, with further extreme restrictions.

Of course I am looking for reasons to hate this. I am running a business and costs and my pipeline are critical! If you aren't looking for the negatives in detail then that's rather foolish, I would say. If it works for you overall, fantastic. For me it's bad news with my current setup, and I think I have a more realistic view of the future than you, in my opinion. I guess we will all find out how the land lies in a year or two. Bottom lines will be simple enough to read.

[alexyork]

If anyone isn't convinced yet that this is basically about squeezing more cash from existing and new customers have a quick look at this.

http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthre...63#post7580863

[3DMK]

Once you become as big as Adobe & list on the stock-exchange then you are bound to try every trick in the book to extract as much money as possible from your customers. Your share-holders demand it of you!!!
Remember they are not there to be your friends...or save the world ....they are there to make as much money as possible.

Thanks god there are many other software companies like Chaos Group who still believe that their customers appreciate not being taken for a fool.
All the best

[s0real]

I have no agenda here. For me this CC business has one fantastic benefit for my workflow and that is that I can now rent a copy of AE from time to time when big animation jobs come in and not have to pay for it the rest of the year when I am not using it. That's great news. But since I use PS and LR my overall costs will increase year on year and will only continue to increase, with further extreme restrictions.

unfortunately i don't think this is the case - to get single 'apps' on a pay monthly basis, there is an annual commitment. it's simply billed monthly rather than in one lump sum.

[rjohnson33]

I think one of the great advantages is having access to the full range of the creative suite with the cloud subscription rather than just assuming you'd only ever use a couple of the applications.

I signed up to a monthly subscription of CS5 last year when the one-off cost of the full Master Collection at that time seemed prohibitive - I'd have probably just purchased a license to upgrade Photoshop if I'd have had to pay outright.
Now I'm using Photoshop, After Effects, Premiere, Illustrator (All software that I'm sure most people in 3D/Animation can benefit from at one time or another)
and also learnt a bit of Flash Professional and Dreamweaver as a bonus so I could start to develop my own web content.

I think if you view the price as being for this entire collection and don't solely compare it to the pro's and con's of owning Photoshop it seems like a decent arrangement to me.

[alexyork]

unfortunately i don't think this is the case - to get single 'apps' on a pay monthly basis, there is an annual commitment. it's simply billed monthly rather than in one lump sum.

there's an annual commitment if you go for the £15.88 per month option. Or it's £17.58 per month with no annual contract.

[alexyork]

I think one of the great advantages is having access to the full range of the creative suite with the cloud subscription rather than just assuming you'd only ever use a couple of the applications.

I signed up to a monthly subscription of CS5 last year when the one-off cost of the full Master Collection at that time seemed prohibitive - I'd have probably just purchased a license to upgrade Photoshop if I'd have had to pay outright.
Now I'm using Photoshop, After Effects, Premiere, Illustrator (All software that I'm sure most people in 3D/Animation can benefit from at one time or another)
and also learnt a bit of Flash Professional and Dreamweaver as a bonus so I could start to develop my own web content.

I think if you view the price as being for this entire collection and don't solely compare it to the pro's and con's of owning Photoshop it seems like a decent arrangement to me.

This is great for those who want to use more than 1 or 2 adobe apps, or most or all of the suite. But I would guess that the vast majority of Adobe customers have very strict pipelines already in place (like me) so we have no sudden need to use new packages that we didn't previously need. It's a very clever bit of marketing to lure you in for that all-important long-term contract and commitment. It works for some but not for many (I would say potentially "most").

[s0real]

there's an annual commitment if you go for the £15.88 per month option. Or it's £17.58 per month with no annual contract.

really? i don't see that option anywhere on the buying guide page...

http://www.adobe.com/uk/products/aft...ing-guide.html

[samuel_bubat]

Just wait till free to play, item shops and microtransactions hit our industry

[beestee]

Just wait till free to play, item shops and microtransactions hit our industry

Do you mean like this:
http://apps.exchange.autodesk.com/en

[trick]

there's an annual commitment if you go for the £15.88 per month option. Or it's £17.58 per month with no annual contract.

For single apps it's £17.58 with an annual commitment and £27.34 (!!!) if you want to cancel anytime. Just go through the single app purchase process.

[glorybound]

I knew I wasn't dreaming... they are having a promotion, so single apps are $9.95 a month
https://creative.adobe.com/plans?plan=offers&promoid=KFHQB