I'll probably stick with "my" copy of CS6 until the cows come home. One challenge will be when important new cameras are introduced that you buy but don't get added to CS6/ACR. I guess I'll just use the manufacturer's RAW conversion (e.g. Canon DPP) or a third party converter (e.g. Capture 1, SilkyPix) to make a big TIFF that I can work on in PS CS6.
Trying to find out if I'm screwed or not.
I use CaptureOne for raw conversion, and CS5 for further PP, mostly Nik Viveza for local adjustments. I really can't think of any other method to efficiently do local adjustments. I think Viveza is brilliant.
The case is, I really don't feel any urge to upgrade CS5. Is this the heart of the case? the software is so good now, so people have stopped upgrading? I will continue to upgrade C1, and possibly Nik as well. So the qestion is, will future Nik releases be CS5 compatible? And even worse, will Adobe some day find out a way to make my CS5 license not work anymore?
Sami Ruusunen wrote:
I've been looking for an alternative for Photoshop for years. Sadly currently only real alternative is Pixelmator, but it's mac only. It opens photoshop files directly and support layers. Its only 15$ so it's cheap to try out.
I tried also Gimp briefly but it doesn't support CMYK so it was not useful for me.
What about Acorn? They just released an update. I have been buying these programs for some time now, and then not using them, just to give Photoshop some competition Maybe I should actually try one of them.
carstenw wrote:
What about Acorn? They just released an update. I have been buying these programs for some time now, and then not using them, just to give Photoshop some competition Maybe I should actually try one of them.
rattymouse wrote:
Adobe makes billions. They are not hurting for money.
A very 'weighty' response...so since they are making billions it is ok to steal from them? A lot of people evidently think this way, which is why we are in this position.
As I said, I don't like this (if I did I would have subscribed to CC instead of paying the full ticket for CS6) but it comes as no surprise. In practical terms it just means I and others will have to itemize the expense on our taxes differently.
Its all about piracy and of course things are going in subscription way (or say forced). Hopefully, it will be one license payment for WIN/MAC/Android/iOS... that will be game changer for pros....
If you think piracy should not be big deal for Adobe who is making billions, check India/China/South Asia...
This move is game changer and may force Microsoft to put its non-OS product on subscription only model too....
As physical outlets based selling/marketing is out of view now, we may see lot of camera manufacturer bundling thee software subscription for few months with new cameras sale...
So, from this point of view, you are accepting to stabbed in the back?
I'm tired of crap like this.
"Oh, what can I do? I will abide by the mighty corporate whims."
Sickening...
Am I pissed?
Yes.
And haven't even started yet...
asbalyan wrote:
Its all about piracy and of course things are going in subscription way (or say forced). Hopefully, it will be one license payment for WIN/MAC/Android/iOS... that will be game changer for pros....
If you think piracy should not be big deal for Adobe who is making billions, check India/China/South Asia...
This move is game changer and may force Microsoft to put its non-OS product on subscription only model too....
As physical outlets based selling/marketing is out of view now, we may see lot of camera manufacturer bundling thee software subscription for few months with new cameras sale...
asbalyan wrote:
Its all about piracy and of course things are going in subscription way (or say forced).
I don't see Adobe's service model helping to reduce piracy in any way. Photoshop's authentication has been cracked before and I see no reason why it won't be cracked now. I suspect that this new model will actually increase piracy due to it's relatively high monthly price and no option to own a new license. This is not Netflix giving you access to everything for $8 a month, this is Adobe giving you most everything for $50 a month (and that's with a year-long commitment). Big difference.
asbalyan wrote:
This move is game changer and may force Microsoft to put its non-OS product on subscription only model too....
Microsoft is definitely going in this direction but it's not because they are somehow being "pushed" by Adobe. It's because MS, like Adobe, now has mature software products. They have given up on being able to continue to provide true, valuable innovation and wall street won't let them downsize to just provide light, primarily maintenance releases, so they resort to these types of lock-in tactics to try to preserve revenue and profits.
I think these tactics will spur a market change similar to what has happened to PCs, with a move of the customer base to tablets and cell phones. In this case, a significant portion of the market will abandon complex products like Photoshop and Excel and move to lower-powered and lower-priced software that does 99% of what they need. Only some businesses and very dedicated hobbyists will stick with the sophisticated software at these prices and onerous lock-in terms.
jcolwell wrote:
I'll probably be looking into Capture 1. I'm glad I didn't get invested in LightRoom, just PS...
I am wondering if i may have just made a mistake tagging and organising all my shots in LR. I also have C1 Pro, but i tend to centre everything on LR because it integrates so well with online upload utils (zenfolio for me) and plugins like the Nik suite. C1 doesn't have such an ecosystem unfortunately.
jcolwell wrote:
I'll probably be looking into Capture 1. I'm glad I didn't get invested in LightRoom, just PS...
15Bit wrote:
I am wondering if i may have just made a mistake tagging and organising all my shots in LR. I also have C1 Pro, but i tend to centre everything on LR because it integrates so well with online upload utils (zenfolio for me) and plugins like the Nik suite. C1 doesn't have such an ecosystem unfortunately.
Yeah, well I guess my main reason for not using LR (and similar products) is that I don't want to relinquish control. That's why I don't like to have a software app catalogue and access my images. I expected the most likely problem would be assosicated with a corrupted catalogue file, or a product that becomes obsolete because the supplier goes out of business. I didn't think the software could just disappear into the clouds...
Eyeball wrote:
I don't see Adobe's service model helping to reduce piracy in any way.
I think it is true that the 'problem' regions will have a workaround shortly but the fact is that it is way harder to do for anyone that actually needs to get some work done.
Eyeball wrote:
Microsoft is definitely going in this direction but it's not because they are somehow being "pushed" by Adobe. It's because MS, like Adobe, now has mature software products. They have given up on being able to continue to provide true, valuable innovation and wall street won't let them downsize to just provide light, primarily maintenance releases, so they resort to these types of lock-in tactics to try to preserve revenue and profits.
I think these tactics will spur a market change similar to what has happened to PCs, with a move of the customer base to tablets and cell phones. In this case, a significant portion of the market will abandon complex products like Photoshop and Excel and move to lower-powered and lower-priced software that does 99% of what they need. Only some businesses and very dedicated hobbyists will stick with the sophisticated software at these prices and onerous lock-in terms. ...Show more →
This is an 'interesting' analysis, the only thing I will respond to is your suggestion that current software tools like CS are onerously overpriced. Excuse me if I laugh out loud as I reminisce on the 'golden years' of computing when a 90mb hard drive cost multiple thousands of dollars and (depending on your market) a single license seat of AVID (which CS PP now runs circles around) would approach five figures. If you are old enough to remember the price to process a 4X5 sheet of E6 you know that software and computers are cheap now, my monthly film and lab bill far exceeded the cost for a current CC subscription for a year.
I'm really not an Adobe cheerleader, I'm just amused by the tone of outrage and entitlement. I'll go away now.
The problem with the current CC pricing is twofold.
1) they are taking away the ability to purchase a perpetual license. Since the inception of Photoshop, you buy it, it's yours forever (until your computer can't run it). Now, you can't do this. It's not even am option anymore. Any money you are paying to keep current is only good until you stop paying. Even if it's 5 years down the line, you stop paying, you lose everything back to CS6.
2) It's WAY more expensive that the upgrade model they've had in place forever. So not only do you not get a perpetual license, you get to pay MORE for that luxury. Since I already own Photoshop, this is my pricing:
Current model: in 5 years, I can expect 3 upgrades at $200 each to stay current. That's $600 over the next 5 years and I get to keep the software forever.
CC model: In 5 years, I will pay $120 the first year and $240 for the next four, for a total of $1,080 in the same time period, and I own NOTHING. Stop paying, and I lose all upgrades.
But I find myself also unhappy about this change at Adobe-- and the rest of the software world. Only people it's good for are Adobe and the REALLY big institutional users who can add and drop licenses and keep everything up to date easily. It really hurts enthusiasts, small photo/video/publishing businesses and sole proprietors, and changes software from a product to a service.
Not just that, but it's charging more for the change. If Adobe offered PS for $2/month, I might take on the added burden of a service over a product (namely: I don't get to keep using the software when I stop paying). The high price of PS as it is now-- if we look at it like a service-- is that you're paying for, essentially, unlimited future use. As long as you can keep your hardware healthy, your copy of PS isn't gonna.. run out.
Now, we're paying MORE for less. And once we stop paying, you've got nothing.
miguel_13 wrote:
This is an 'interesting' analysis, the only thing I will respond to is your suggestion that current software tools like CS are onerously overpriced. Excuse me if I laugh out loud as I reminisce on the 'golden years' of computing when a 90mb hard drive cost multiple thousands of dollars and (depending on your market) a single license seat of AVID (which CS PP now runs circles around) would approach five figures. If you are old enough to remember the price to process a 4X5 sheet of E6 you know that software and computers are cheap now, my monthly film and lab bill far exceeded the cost for a current CC subscription for a year.
I'm really not an Adobe cheerleader, I'm just amused by the tone of outrage and entitlement. I'll go away now. ...Show more →
Not sure where you got the outrage and entitlement. I am not happy about the new "service" model though and I don't see what's wrong with expressing that.
I don't see what your reference to disk prices many years ago has to do with anything either. I assume you're not saying you would be happy paying "thousands of dollars" times 10,000 for a terabyte drive today. Technology advances, development processes improve, prices come down. The important thing is not how a product price compares to what it was years ago, it's how it compares to the value it provides today and the competition in the marketplace.
Adobe's prices being too high for the value the products' offered is exactly why Adobe is resorting to these lock-in tactics. If they were selling fine at what they were trying to charge, we wouldn't even be seeing this new scheme.
I do not believe that a company owes me something for free but it does irritate me when I see companies like Microsoft and Adobe, that develop a "pseudo-monopoly" by becoming an industry standard and then expect to continue to make the same revenue and profits without working for it, depending on lock-in and customer-exit penalties, instead of continuing to produce innovative products at a competitive price. The market will catch up with them eventually.
I've been using Capture One and DPP to post process my images and then used Photoshop or Capture One to complete the process.
With Adobe I was using Photoshop CS2, Dreamweaver 8, Fireworks 8, After Effects CS2 and Audition CS2, though was forced last year to upgrade CS5.5 (to keep the upgrade option available). Recently my Windows laptop was replaced by a MacBook w retina display which I dual boot Windows/Mac. Since boxed versions only allow installing on two machines same OS platform I was faced with 2nd copy of Master Collection or switch to Cloud which allows 5 computers regardless of OS.
In the end since I was taking a course I opted to buy at student pricing the Master Collection CS6 and install it on the Mac and not need to worry about the software expiring. Will likely upgrade the CS5.5 to 6 so both Windows and Mac use the same version. For CC it is a wait until such time it becomes necessary though the Adobe Edge Tools intrigue me but not enough to get a subscription since Fireworks is now EOL, I use Sony's Sound Forge more than Audition, Dreamweaver CS2,CS6 does what I need it to that leaves only Photoshop and After Effects I guess they will stay at CS6.
justruss wrote:
Only people it's good for are Adobe and the REALLY big institutional users who can add and drop licenses and keep everything up to date easily.
This actually is a potential nightmare for educational customers, some institutions and even smaller shops (independent designers, Photographers, web developers, etc.) The schools I have worked with have very, very limited IT folks and generally keep computers around for quite a while before a major upgrade. Same is true with professional colleagues regarding equipment. Professionals also do not like to mess with a perfectly working system and don't rush out to get cut on the bleeding edge. They all run a generation or two behind with the software (due to both cost AND compatibility with older hardware). Having the very latest version of CC all of the time will mean older hardware becomes incompatible quicker AND, just as bad if not worse, will require a more robust IT department (or headaches for the Pros) to trouble shoot every update (and Adobe has a TERRIBLE track record as of late with releasing buggy software updates). So, this move will actually put an additional cost/ personnel burden on many larger educational and institutional customers imo. I expect most will stay at CS6 much longer than any previous version (Heck, the school I'm with has yet to even upgrade to CS6!).
Jman13 wrote:
The problem with the current CC pricing is twofold.
1) they are taking away the ability to purchase a perpetual license. Since the inception of Photoshop, you buy it, it's yours forever (until your computer can't run it). Now, you can't do this. It's not even am option anymore. Any money you are paying to keep current is only good until you stop paying. Even if it's 5 years down the line, you stop paying, you lose everything back to CS6.
2) It's WAY more expensive that the upgrade model they've had in place forever. So not only do you not get a perpetual license, you get to pay MORE for that luxury. Since I already own Photoshop, this is my pricing:
Current model: in 5 years, I can expect 3 upgrades at $200 each to stay current. That's $600 over the next 5 years and I get to keep the software forever.
CC model: In 5 years, I will pay $120 the first year and $240 for the next four, for a total of $1,080 in the same time period, and I own NOTHING. Stop paying, and I lose all upgrades.
The price difference is way more dramatic if you own a bundle and need to pay $50/month.
BTW this is honestly ridiculous, I don't need EVERYTHING you make! I use 3, 4 packages, that's why
Production Premium is perfect for me.
So in 2 years, instead of paying one update - ~$300, Adobe wants me to pay $1200.
That's 4 times more.
And at the end I don't own it as Jordan mentioned.
Maybe I should actually try one of them.
! You are so funny...and full of it! 
