flashinm wrote:
Hilarious. Adobe completely changes it business model, leaving customers angry and in limbo all for the sake of reducing software piracy. It takes the software pirates ONE DAY to find a work around. Maybe Adobe should look at hiring this Ching Liu fellow.
I don't see the humor in theft.
Of course, we don't know that there has been a successful theft, if one defines success as long term use of a product. Adobe has long been plagued by the theft of their products, and almost certainly anticipated the theft of their newest software a possibility if not a probability. With Adobe's requirement the software must verify itself periodically, one would think they have the built in ability to foil theft successfully, at least on a long term basis.
Maybe hilarious isn't the right word, but it's got to be a huge kick in the pants considering the time and effort they put into the creative cloud, only to have it undone on day 2 (assuming this pirated copy works). It has to be deflating. Maybe they should just accept that people who steal software are going to steal it and focus on keeping their paying customers happy.
I'm a paying subscription customer, and I'm happy.
I don't know why one thinks Adobe will sit idly while their product is being pilfered? I have confidence Adobe will plug any security holes that are leaking, and secure their software.
Of course, we don't know that there has been a successful theft, if one defines success as long term use of a product. Adobe has long been plagued by the theft of their products, and almost certainly anticipated the theft of their newest software a possibility if not a probability. With Adobe's requirement the software must verify itself periodically, one would think they have the built in ability to foil theft successfully, at least on a long term basis.
Adobe has said themselves that the move to CC and away from the "perpetual" model was not primarily to reduce piracy.
From the DpReview interview:
DpReview: Is a subscription model less prone to piracy?
Adobe VP of Creative Solutions, Winston Hendrickson:
While service options that connect to our servers are inherently less prone to piracy, once a user downloads software to their computer the piracy threat is the same as for our perpetual products.
The reason behind the subscription-only move is the logistics of supporting two sets of software. The last 12 months of development was brutal. And there were results we were not happy with. We have decided to focus on the CC products.
The move to CC appears to be purely motivated by securing a constant and guaranteed income stream from customers (by locking said customers into a life-long subscription only plan).
Tariq Gibran wrote:
Adobe has said themselves that the move to CC and away from the "perpetual" model was not primarily to reduce piracy.
From the DpReview interview:
DpReview: Is a subscription model less prone to piracy?
Adobe VP of Creative Solutions, Winston Hendrickson:
While service options that connect to our servers are inherently less prone to piracy, once a user downloads software to their computer the piracy threat is the same as for our perpetual products.
The reason behind the subscription-only move is the logistics of supporting two sets of software. The last 12 months of development was brutal. And there were results we were not happy with. We have decided to focus on the CC products.
The move to CC appears to be purely motivated by securing a constant and guaranteed income stream from customers (by locking said customers into a life-long subscription only plan). ...Show more →
The irony being that Microsoft of all companies has shown that you don't need to support two sets of software, just two authentication options at installation. Office 2013 authenticates against either a license key (perpetual) or an Office365 account (subscription) and sets the local auth check appropriately (Perpetual doesn't re-authenticate unless some hardware/software change triggers, O365 checks monthly or quarterly depending on subscription type, and checks type at every auth check to handle subscription changes as it can bill monthly or yearly).
This even affects updates. subscriptions get updates indefinitely, including all major releases. Perpetual gets updates for the installed major version but not major feature releases.
grahamb3 wrote:
I'm a paying subscription customer, and I'm happy.
I don't know why one thinks Adobe will sit idly while their product is being pilfered? I have confidence Adobe will plug any security holes that are leaking, and secure their software.
!! You can buy any pirated software you like here in China (and probably most everywhere in Asia). Adobe is not going to stop piracy. It is lunacy to think that they have solved this problem. Phoning home can be defeated just as easy as any other DRM scheme.
Our investigation currently indicates that the attackers accessed Adobe customer IDs and encrypted passwords on our systems. We also believe the attackers removed from our systems certain information relating to 2.9 million Adobe customers, including customer names, encrypted credit or debit card numbers, expiration dates, and other information relating to customer orders.
As far as cc goes, I opted to find alternate solutions. Its too expensive, insecure, greedy, and adobe has demonstrated time after time they are not capable in this realm.
Tariq Gibran wrote:
The move to CC appears to be purely motivated by securing a constant and guaranteed income stream from customers (by locking said customers into a life-long subscription only plan).
If you read Adobe's 2012 SEC filings they as much say so in forward looking statements to their investors ... including warning investors that there may be a dip in revenue while transitioning from perpetual licenses to subscription model. Their 2011 SEC filings make preliminary reference to the same.
"The impact of this business model shift based on the product offering and the subscription pricing will affect the revenue and cash flow to Adobe. As customers make a shift from paying upfront for the use of our software in the perpetual model to the new subscription model where they pay over time, reported revenue and cash flow will be lower in the short term when compared to the historical perpetual model. However, over time we expect this business model transition will significantly increase our long-term revenue growth rate by (1) attracting new users, (2) keeping our user base current and (3) thereby driving higher average revenue per user. Additionally, our shift to a subscription model will increase the amount of our recurring revenue that is ratably reported, driven by broader Creative Cloud adoption over the next several years. ...Show more →
Well the issue I see is creative powerhouses. I ran IT for some big guys, and this reminds me a lot of quark is many ways....we see where that went.
I can say very few of those guys were yearly upgrading, and they were buying license server stuff. In anything in which I'm involved, adobe is screwing themselves. And despite what hey say their motivation is ip theft. The issue is, companies such as adobe, much like the movie and music industry equate pirated copies to lost sales.
If, and it's unlikely, cc manages to quell privacy, all you'll see is gimp take off, pixel actor we'll even better, and in cases like mine, I bought perfect photo suite which does most of what I needed to do in photoshop, by giving me layers, masking tools, etc.
I would expect this experiment to last a year, then boxed copies to be back on shelves. Most large companies atpre accountable for expenditure to the public, and while the monthly costs can be a mortised more easily and represent better on fiscal quarter, roc analysis and long term detriment will eventually outweigh that. At least in my experience.
IT is a cost department, all software talks into it...and it's also the department, being a cost department, that is under constant scrutiny.
These are obviously just my conjecture, but I did work for two huge music (at the time VIBE AND SPIN)magazines, digital, and interbrand. None of them subscribed to too many seats or upgraded yearly.
The only way I see it working is if the tco comes closer to 3-4 years not 1.5.
RustyBug wrote:
If you read Adobe's 2012 SEC filings they as much say so in forward looking statements to their investors ... including warning investors that there may be a dip in revenue while transitioning from perpetual licenses to subscription model. Their 2011 SEC filings make preliminary reference to the same.
I wonder how much more of a dip they'll see now that Adobe will have to deal with the fallout from their customers' account and credit card data being stolen, along with the source code for some of their software...
I think at this point I am done with Adobe. I think that instead of resetting my password, I will simply kill my account. I don't know if they are out of touch, or in touch, but they are no longer serving my personal needs. CS6 and LR4 will likely be my last Adobe purchases.
I think Adobe's assumptions implicit in the last 2 sentences may not be well founded. Time will tell.
Design Premium CS6 may well be my last Adobe purchase. With updates from NIK/Google and onOne (I just purchased the forthcoming update "8" to Perfect Photo Suite and have the NIK "Collection" by Google), not to mention Topaz Labs, I might never need "new capabilities" from Adobe.
!! You can buy any pirated software you like here in China (and probably most everywhere in Asia). Adobe is not going to stop piracy. It is lunacy to think that they have solved this problem. Phoning home can be defeated just as easy as any other DRM scheme.