This is what is called an ominous trend.

You need to have a backup like at least the previous version or money set aside to outright purchase an upgrade. But if you cancel before the end of the agreement period you will have to pay up what, 1/2 of the remaining balance on the account?

The updates are pretty good. I like the better setup in Crop, although I still hate the basic operation.

Many (most?) experts here have chosen (so far) to stay on the "Perpetual" license path, right?  Please correct me if I'm wrong.

What I don't know is whether experts who have chosen "Perpetual" licensing are going to want to "upgrade" to the Creative Cloud licensing experience.  I'll be interested to hear thoughts on that subject.

Will the Cloud-only features be run-time functionality, enabled via options in the serial number? This would make sense, but I suspect it won't be the case. If not, as much trouble as Adobe has traditionally had with rolling out working code for one development stream (with a run-time option to make it Standard or Extended), how well are they going to do with multiple development paths?

Assuming the Cloud version is going to be Photoshop CS6.1 (following in the footsteps of its predecessor), will people on "Perpetual" license path have an option to upgrade? Will there be any chance of a better discount than the traditional $199 / $399 upgrade, since it's just a .1 version? That's a lot of money to pay for minor tweaks.

Will a new Perpetual license purchaser get CS6 or CS6.1?

Assuming the .1 functionality isn't enough to push experts into changing to the rental model, I wonder what will happen when Adobe no longer gets valuable free technical support for their Cloud customers from these experts here, since they won't have the latest and greatest code with which to reproduce problems, find workarounds, etc.

If bugfixes show up in the Cloud version alone...  That would be nasty.

There are many facets to this.

-Noel

It would seem to be the simplest thing in the world to get around the financial laws (which apparently restrict the offering of new benefits to a pre-existing purchase) by offering the new features from PS 13.1 to owners of Perpetual CS6 licences as a paid-upgrade for the price of a few dollars?

Many people and companies cannot move to the Cloud (for a number of reasons) and depriving those who have spent a lot of money on purchasing a Perpetual Licence from receiving the full benefits of on-going development is reprehensible.

People are rightfully, and understandably, going to to be angry and aggrieved if they are denied access to features which have been made available to Cloud members but withheld from Perpetual licensees.

Any policy that benefits an exclusive group can easily be seen as hindering those who are not in the club.

There are certain accepted norms - e.g., if you can pay more to get more, then those who pay less have made a clear choice.  This describes, for example, the differences between Standard and Extended.

But a completely different licensing structure, one in which you must give Adobe the right to charge you repeatedly for the privilege of continuing to use the software, doesn't so clearly make that distinction.

Perhaps it will make it easier if we try to break down the costs...

1a.  A perpetual license upgrade every 18 months to 2 years for Photoshop Standard has cost about $199.  Let's say that's $133 a year in round numbers, or about $11 a month.

1b.  Photoshop Extended upgrades are around double that for Standard at $399, so that's about $22 a month.

2a.  A full Creative Cloud membership for existing Adobe customers is $29.99 a month (that's a special upgrade deal, it's normally $49.99).  For this price one gets the entire Creative Suite, within which you get Photoshop Extended.

2b.  A Photoshop Extended-only Cloud memebership is $19.99 a month.  There is no option to rent Photoshop Standard that I can see.

So if you're going to be keeping current with Photoshop, the Cloud membership at first glance seems attractive.

But what's not shown here is that if you stop paying $19.99 a month, you've got nothing.  It just stops working.

Experience has shown that "Perpetual" versions of Photoshop grow harder and harder to use, and get less and less support from Adobe anyway.  If you can get the software activated you can run it on a new system pretty well, but...  People report the inability to activate (e.g., Photoshop CS) on a modern OS, and Adobe says "Sorry, incompatible".

Realistically, this means that the value of a Perpetual license is only marginally more, from the perspective of being able to continue long-term use without continued payment.

Another thing to consider...  What if Adobe were to fail utterly and fall off the face of the Earth?  What would happen with the software then?  Would your Perpetual license work any better than an expired Cloud license?

I wouldn't bet on it.

Adobe would stop maintaining its servers and would certainly not have anyone manning phones to help you with your licensing problems.  What I suspect would happen is all Adobe software that requires activation would just stop working.

In this situation - a complete loss of Adobe - we might turn to cracked versions of Photoshop, at least until some other company filled the void with a better product.

Thinking about this at this depth, I'm starting to think about the Cloud licensing model in a bit of a new light.

-Noel

Yeah, that's the idea.  Upgrade a Perpetual license with a Subscription license so as to always have the advantage of the latest and greatest.  For those who habitually upgrade their Perpetual license every release anyway I think I've shown that it's not that big a jump.

Does anyone know if the special $29.99 a month rate goes up to the full price after the 1 year contract is up?

-Noel

Yes, though maybe less attractive to someone who only bought Photoshop Standard upgrades every cycle.  The $19.95 a month deal would be more to their liking.

Is Captivate a part of the Creative Suite?  I don't have a good desktop video capture solution at the moment.

-Noel

Never heard of it nor do I see it on the list.

Mike_Abbott wrote:

 

 

Clearly the subscription model is hugely more profitable.

Well, maybe.  For those who buy the software as a download anyway, I'm not sure that Adobe makes more on selling them a subscription, except maybe that they might take the bait and buy into Photoshop more easily because of the lower initial cost.

The entire Creative Suite IS pretty expensive if bought all at once.

Whether they will keep the subscription rates in line with upgrade prices...  I imagine they will.  The software does have a certain value, and if they suddenly raised the price without the perception of added value, people will consider falling back on their old versions of Photsohop (such as what Lawrence said, above).  That should keep pressure on the pricing for quite a few years.

Does anyone know if you can buy a Perpetual license at upgrade pricing using a serial number from a Cloud subscription?  Or is it a one-way gate?

-Noel

If you look at all the public's buying habits it is all about monthly payments.  People are more concerned with the monthly payment on the house, car, boat, TV, or whatever than its price tag, and really do not care how much more it costs by the time the payments stop.

So with cloud pricing it is very attractive to the casual user.  Rather than shell out a thousand dollars or more you just rent it by the month. 
I assume you can stop and start subscription at will so that would make it easier to pay when you need it (after you figure out how to use it).  Therein lies the big rub to monthly rental, the learning curve.

Curt Y wrote:

 

I assume you can stop and start subscription at will so that would make it easier to pay when you need it

You have to agree to a 1 year contract if you want the lowest subscription rate.

It's never simple. 

-Noel

No, it's a 1 yr contract, with a penalty for cancelling.

Keep your head down.

I suggest perhaps using the term "photo session" vs. "photoshoot".

-Noel

It is unfortunate that Adobe has taken the step forward to basically deny license owners access to upgrades, especially to Photoshop. Many of us use Lightroom/Photoshop for photographic processing tools and now are being discriminated against.

In fact the pricing structure is:

For ME: Design Standard - 1299$, or Photoshop 699$

Cloud: All $49.99/month,

Upgrade: $29.99/month

Photoshop only $19.99/month

BUT THERE IS A PROBLEM ... not available in my region (South East Asia) so I have to purchase individual products ... with no upgrades ... and there was plenty said about inclusions for CS6 ... where is the Adobe support for customers NOT in the US region.

In fact the equivalent cost of upgrade from CS5-6 (I bought a full copy with Design Standard) was only $230 and yet a year of Creative Cloud membership (CS Only) is $240.

I guess we need to look at alternatives if Adobe isn't going support their customers.

Unfortunate though as I like LR/CS.

Yes it may be what was advertised but it implied that the VERSION was the thing that was kept up to date not new features that are a bit more than what a version would normally have as an update. It seems like a lure to the cloud as they make more money there than with us full lisence users who upgrade at our own pace and have the app whether or not we have a fat or lean month and I am not without the app if I can't pay. It is like rent-a-centre; where you may get half way through payng-perhaps fall behind enough that-you then loose the item you were paying towards. Perhaps adobe will soon implement early cancelation penalties too like AT&T? Think of it like time-warner and other big multi nats corralling users into a position of dependence. It's a harsh and predatory business model and removes the endusers rights to own the means of production!

Well Curt, You make the case for multi nats everywhere and succed in including adobe as just another predator in the corporate jungle. I had hoped better for them. The "Incentive" to use a thing does not make it feel any less like coersion or cartel-like.

adobe is all about money.. they care a sh*t about your complains.

Where are you getting these numbers and who is cooking the up. Just look at what the press does with numbers and polls are any correct.  Lets see how Adobe handles the bugs they just infected their cloud users with..

JJMack wrote:

 

Where are you getting these numbers and who is cooking the up.

Prices from stock chart posted by NY Stock Exchange.  Mid November stock hit low of 32.26.  Been steady increase in price since then and yesterday it closed at 35.50.  Today it opened at 37.60, although the price has declined since the opening.