what happens when i cancel a membership

[Guest]

do i no longer have access to photoshop and all of the other tools? do basically have to pay a monthly fee in perpetuity now to use photoshop? that seems ridiculous.

[Chuck Uebele]

Pretty much. That's what the subscription model is: monthly payments.

[rayek.elfin · Accepted solution]

Small correction: Adobe may call it a "subscription", but the legally correct word for what the Adobe membership means is a rental model.

Adobe also misuses the word "buy" everywhere in their web pages when it would actually mean "rent".

Oxford Dictionary:

Subscribe “arrange to receive something, typically a publication, regularly by paying in advance“

Rent “pay someone for the use of“

The key difference is the word ‘something’: a subscription is usually for something tangible (magazines, for example) while renting is for the use of an object or service for a limited time.

Of course "subscription" sounds a lot friendlier compared to "renting". Microsoft and other companies use (abuse) similar marketing tricks.

[Guest]

Thanks. That's ridiculous. I'll just use gimp. Adobe, you are lame.

[davescm]

sebeticus wrote:

Thanks. That's ridiculous. I'll just use gimp. Adobe, you are lame.

Nothing ridiculous about it. You pay as long as you want to use Photoshop.

If you decide to cancel - convert any layered PSDs to flattened TIFFs that you can open anywhere and you still have access to all the images you created whilst you had Photoshop.

Dave

[rayek.elfin]

davescm wrote:

If you decide to cancel - convert any layered PSDs to flattened TIFFs that you can open anywhere and you still have access to all the images you created whilst you had Photoshop.

Dave

No need to convert layered PSD files - alternatives like PhotoLine and Affinity Photo open PSD files - and many Photoshop specific features are kept intact nowadays. Even smart objects in the case of PhotoLine.

[Test Screen Name]

But what did you imagine? That you could subscribe, cancel one day, and keep using the software? Who would pay?

[rayek.elfin]

Actually... (playing the Devil's advocate here) A number of software companies allow their users to keep a license after a certain amount of fixed rental time. And the term "subscription" implies that the user gets to keep something.

[rayek.elfin]

Gimp is okay. If you are willing to jump through hoops with Adobe sales and work with a much older and unsupported version of Photoshop, CS6 is still available for purchase.

Many users who dislike Adobe's rental model switched to alternatives such as Affinity, PhotoLine, Acorn, Krita, or a combination of applications. Of course, Photoshop Elements is still available as a full license too.