Major Pricing Change for Adobe Upgrades Coming

[John Wheeler]

If you don't like what you read below about the change, I suggest you provide customer feedback to Adobe (links and info provided near end of post on how to do that).

Just a couple days ago Adobe revealed on their blog their new pricing policy that will only allow discounted prices on upgrades for CS6 for only those that hold CS5. Here is the quote from that Adobe blog:

"For customers who prefer to remain on the current licensing model, we will continue to offer our individual point products and Adobe Creative Suite editions as perpetual licenses. With regards to upgrades, we are changing our policy for perpetual license customers. In order to qualify for upgrade pricing when CS6 releases, customers will need to be on the latest version of our software (either CS5 or CS5.5 editions). If our customers are not yet on those versions, we’re offering a 20% discount through December 31, 2011 which will qualify them for upgrade pricing when we release CS6".

Here is the link to that Adobe blog: http://blogs.adobe.com/conversations...ml?PID=2159997

I believe that there are many Adobe CS users that will not be able to afford the subscription model, nor an upgrade with each cycle. I would encourage Adobe to consider alternatives such as tiered pricing based on users on older versions of CS. I think this a bad business move for customers and also for Adobe.

Here are some ways to contact Adobe to provide our feedback.

1) I have started a thread on Photoshops official feedback website: http://feedback.photoshop.com/photos...y_notification
If you want to provide feedback you can post here, yet don't forget to post on the feedback site/thread.

2) Here is an email for Brian Hughes a senior Photoshop Product Manager who has encouraged customer feedback including directly to him bhughes@adobe.com

I encourage all to post their thoughts and share this information with other Photoshop users by propagating this information to other social media on this new pricing policy. Adobe will listen yet only if enough customers provide feedback.

Netflix and Bank of America recently stepped back from some onerous price increases when their customers provided very strong feedback. Adobe needs to hear your concerns (all IMHO of course).

[lkroll]

Commented this already at the DPR forum. I'm a GIMPer anyway, and my only benifit for me having CS5 is ACR (better then any open source RAW processor that I've tried). Don't plan on getting a new camera any time soon and don't plan on paying $200 plus for upgrades every other year. CS5 is more then good enough. That new re-focusing technology (which I still am suspect about) would be a motivation to get CS6, but otherwise, what benifit will CS6 have over CS5. That's the real question folks will be asking. There were major advances from CS2 to CS5 (my last upgrade path). Still, GIMP's only getting better and so far it's still free.

[creativeretouch]

It looks like everyone is happy with this solution

Personally, I still use CS3 on my MacBook Pro. I wanted to upgrade to CS6 now as CS3 is not a 64-bit application and it is good to upgrade time to time. And to be honest I don't miss anything in CS3 ... And workspace within CS3 is much more useful for my workflow as well ...

Actually, I found the idea to rent software which I don't use every day as very interesting. But why are we forced to pay every month? I would like to see pay as go model, just pay for one month only. Yes, you can stop your subscription but you need to renew it in six months again (I thing I have read something like this on their webpage).

I don't like this kind of attitude ...

Few useful links:

Scribus - open source desktop publishing software (instead of InDesign or QuarkXPress): http://www.scribus.net/

Lightworks - free video editing software (instead of Premiere or Final Cut X) - The King's Speech - an Oscar winning movie was edited within this software: http://www.lightworksbeta.com/

Regards,
Filip Zamorsky

[plugsnpixels]

Didn't Steve Jobs say Adobe lost its soul when John Warnock left? It's almost as if they're trying to drive customers away. I thought the lesson learned by Quark several years ago would have proven useful...

The good news, as Filip said, is there are alternatives that will take you a long way toward doing what you use Adobe apps for, for free or cheap. I've always loved Photoshop, but I have no use for Illustrator or InDesign (I've been using the late, great Canvas X for my integrated publishing needs). Acrobat Pro is useful but buggy. I never liked Dreamweaver, even when Macromedia owned it, but really like the (also late, great) GoLive CS2. I have on hand alternatives for each of these that are Lion-compatible (I use Macs).

If you're enrolled in higher education you may get attractive discounts on Adobe stuff, but with strings attached.

[creativeretouch]

http://macperformanceguide.com/blog/...bePricing.html

[lkroll]

I wonder how Lucis Arts is doing. They went the extreme Pro route with their software. If they were successful, I guess Adobe noticed. Still bet Adobe didn't do a bell curve analysis for maximum profit to sell ration. If they did, I guess I will stand corrected.

[plugsnpixels]

Lucis products have a reputation for being the most expensive individual plug-ins ever offered. LucisArt 3 is dead for the Mac but still available for Windows (price unknown: "The LucisArt Store is temporarily closed. The store is being updated. The Store will reopen November 11" [which was two days ago]). IIRC it was a few hundred dollars.

Lucis Pro 6 ($595-!) is still available for Windows (32 & 64bit) and on Mac OSX Lion and PSCS5 (but as 32-bit only, which probably will not ever change: "Currently there are no plans to develop the 64-bit Macintosh software. Lucis Pro is not guaranteed to work in subsequent versions of Photoshop or Photoshop Elements as there is no way of knowing what 32-bit support will exist in the future"). Lucis Pro requires a hardware dongle (extras of which are $60 a pop) and international customers must consider customs costs when ordering.

The way I understand it, the price is so extreme because the seller of Lucis products pays licensing fees to the actual owner of the technology (a university health center), subcontracts its actual development as a plug-in to a NY-based company and outsources its graphics and web design needs to two different companies. Plus perhaps because 10 years ago this technology was unique and they could get away with it!

The person selling Lucis products is a very nice and committed individual (I used to feature her products on my website several years ago) but I think she has become a victim of rapidly changing post-processing technology. For instance, a single preset in Topaz Adjust [the plug-in most often compared to LucisArt] can closely mimic what Lucis Pro does at 1/12 of the price without a dongle AND Adjust offers a ton of other effects that Lucis doesn't. FWIW, Scott Kelby reviewed Lucis Pro 6 and besides throwing a fit over the dongle, called it a "one-trick pony". (I actually have Lucis Pro 6 and never find a need for it. But where is my dongle-?)

But as I described above, the seller is trapped in a bad business model that she cannot adjust for current market conditions because of the obligations to those third-parties who own, code and help brand Lucis technology. I would not call this route "successful" – I can't see this being a tenable position for too long with all of the current lower-priced and much more capable competition. Going forward, Mac users would be ill-advised to buy into this outdated technology, so that market has most likely closed for good.

[kav]

They'll do what they want simply because they know people don't have a "good" alternative to the software they produce.

[plugsnpixels]

Adobe, you mean? But even there, free, shareware and commercial alternatives are maturing so Adobe really can't get too smug. Like the Arab dictators. The people eventually rose up and toppled them.

[kav]

I know but new software isn't going to dethrone them overnight. There really aren't any valid contenders to do so right now so we'd at least be stuck with it for a couple years. With CS5 you needed a minimum of CS2 to get upgrade pricing. Now it's a minimum of CS5 which is just really bleh. I'm wondering what the policy will be for those who upgrade to CS5 from CS4 right before CS6 is due out. Will they be floated or have to buy two upgrades back to back?

By the way what commercial alternatives did you mean? I really haven't come across any fully featured ones on the level of photoshop.

[plugsnpixels]

There are a number of imaging (in particular) apps that have been around a bit that can fulfill many people's needs (ie, layers, blending modes, shapes, support for plug-ins and such). For Photoshop, Pixelmator comes to mind (see an interesting though dated comparison here). Photoline 32 is not pretty but may well be the closest thing to PS.

For free, GIMP or Paint dot net. CMYK support is usually the sticking point for print professionals, though.

[kav]

I'll probably just keep an eye on it until CS6 is about to come out. Adobe isn't the only one to try to go the subscription model route. Really it doesn't surprise me. I don't think this was a minor policy decision.

[plugsnpixels]

I'm a bit worried about 6 too in terms of my higher ed lab installations. Campus IT is now working directly with Adobe as opposed to individual departments making maintenance purchases, so who knows how 6 will complicate my life as an IT person... The last version we got ourselves was 5.5 and all went well in terms of lab deployment.

Speaking of subscriptions, I don't like that concept or cloud computing either. I understand the convenience intended by the latter (though it's odd we're returning to dumb terminal computing like they had in the '70s), but I like my software archived and available for installation LOCALLY. I don't want to worry about changing terms of service (or disappearance of service!). I'm also not comfortable with my documents floating around on Google's servers, which is why I don't do it (though I admit my email is doing just that...).

In a related matter, having to activate plug-ins online via an authentication server is enough of a PITA sometimes, but again, I understand why it's done.

[lkroll]

It is sort of bizarre isn't it plugs; I still remember the VAX system at the college I was attending. At first glance, it seemed cool and fast enough, but I still like all my data/applications local. Cloud's OK if you intent to to share files/pictures with others, but to do complete computing in the cloud is like using a VAX system on a more global audience. What happens when the cloud crashes; takes everybody out with it. Not a good idea, or am I reading too much into this? Anyway, I'm sticking with local for as long as technology allows me to do so.

[plugsnpixels]

I agree; though it's not the case any longer, at home I was on dial-up for so long I needed EVERYTHING local-! ;-) And some people still are restricted online by necessity, as we discovered when OSX Lion came out and had to be downloaded and of course such folks got upset. Later on a flash drive version was offered.

I worked at a local newspaper back in the early '80s and we used what I assume were dumb terminals (illustrated below in a pic I took of my colleagues. Notice the under-utilized typewriter. The girl at rear still works there! That's a pneumatic tube at right, for sending items upstairs to Composing). I think the DMV uses our old terminals now, ha!

[kav]

Originally Posted by lkroll

Cloud's OK if you intent to to share files/pictures with others, but to do complete computing in the cloud is like using a VAX system on a more global audience.

We don't really have the power or internet bandwidth to do that today. None of the current networks or hardware in place would be able to take this kind of abuse. Now this doesn't mean it won't happen within a few years, but it could really suck when you're outside of metropolitan areas. I live in one so it wouldn't affect me here, but there are plenty of places that still don't even have reliable mobile phone service regardless of provider. The companies that have gone to the subscription model charge quite a lot for it. The typical thing is to charge a fee equivalent to the cost of one upgrade as an annual fee. Yeah you pay less up front which lowers the cost of adoption for new users in some cases but overall it's quite a price hike. If you own a lot of expensive software it adds up essentially being forced into an annual upgrade cycle rather than passing on bad releases.

[plugsnpixels]

Which reminds me, our campus is also trying to do virtual labs. Let's run 20 copies of Photoshop over the network!

The subscription model as adopted by the major players can only serve to drive people to the independent developers, at least if the boss isn't buying or you can't write it off.

I've also heard rumors that Apple may one day force anyone selling Mac software to use the App Store or their software won't be recognized/digitally signed on Macs or something of that nature.

[plugsnpixels]

Playing around with Pixelmator 2 as a PS alternative experiment, which I don't do often enough. You can use a lot of PS keyboard shortcuts and many menu items are similar. Doing this piece, I used the magic selection tool while clicking and dragging it to adjust the tolerance on the subject's background, inverted it, then refined the selection, making it smooth which created the melting away effect. I next added Quartz Composer effects to the subject before playing with the background layer's color.

I was not able to find where to make drop shadows, and it doesn't seem you can use third-party plug-ins other than various Core Image units you can find online. Also, I don't see CMYK.

But if I had Pixelmator and no PS, I could still do a lot of creative and corrective work. Layers and blending modes are present, you can add vector shapes, etc. etc.

[kav]

No cmyk support would be a dealbreaker for me. If it had that I'd actually look at it. Even if I liked it I wouldn't drop photoshop today. Right now I just need to remember to update at some point before CS6 debuts. so as not to get stuck without an upgrade path. It used to at least go more than one version back. They will probably annoy a lot of people with this.

For someone like me, I know how different blending modes, tools, and layer types respond specifically in photoshop. I know what to expect in general, so I don't see myself switching anytime "soon". It's more a case of I dislike the direction their upgrade policies have been drifting. The filters and plugins aren't such a big deal to me. It's the painting, adjustment, and layer toolkit.

[plugsnpixels]

At worst, CS5 will still serve you for some time if need be (if for some reason you missed the upgrade).

[Kraellin]

there is a certain percentage of adobe customers that will always buy the next version. but, i have to say, this seems a foolish move on adobe's part. i like the idea of a tiered upgrade. that makes much more sense, but more or less forcing successive version purchasing is going to make some seek alternatives or to just keep their 'old' version for much, much longer. that starving artist that cant really afford the successive purchases is going go, 'let's see, spend money to eat or buy the next version of CS just to keep up... eat!'. but he might spend a bit to go from 7 to cs6.

the thing is, adobe isnt losing any sales by allowing a jump from 7 to cs6. the buyer who waits several versions to upgrade isnt going to pay retail anyway. he's going to go on ebay or some other similar site and buy it for cheap. or, he's going to wait for a deal from adobe and do it that way. i got cs2 for $150 and cs3 for $5, both from adobe directly over the phone. i then bought cs5 at the retail upgrade price. there are always deals. so, i've gotten 3 different versions total for less price than one retail version of a new install. there are always deals!

so, i have to agree that this is a bad move on adobe's part.

has anyone seen a feature release on cs6 yet?

[plugsnpixels]

Craig, here are some stories about new CS6 features:

http://photorumors.com/2011/10/31/ad...nshots-leaked/

http://www.appleinsider.com/articles...e_suite_6.html

[Kraellin]

thanks, plugs

photoshop for ipad. that's an interesting one. i already have at least one of their apps for ipad but it's a far cry from photoshop. i think it's a cut version of one of the elements versions. not real impressive, but a huge discount on price.

[John Wheeler]

Originally Posted by Kraellin

so, i have to agree that this is a bad move on adobe's part. has anyone seen a feature release on cs6 yet?

Well I know for sure of one spectacular thing that will be in CS6 if you upgrade.................... the ability to upgrade to CS7 at a lower cost than full price which is what you will pay if you stick with CS5 and then upgrade to CS7 . Sorry, just practicing for a marketing job at Adobe

And kudos to those that are sending their customer feedback directly to Adobe.

Adobe certainly is making a strategic move with this pricing change. They are doing their best to pave a smoother path for those of previous revisions to upgrade to CS5 at a discounted price now. Whether this is overall a good strategic move for Adobe only time will tell. What I do know is based on this forum and discussions on about 5 other forums and personal contacts, (and what Adobe may not have intended) "is" that Adobe's move has triggered many small businesses to do some strategic rethinking on their Adobe investments. Alternative software may not be good enough for many of Adobe's customers. These customers are not just looking at alternatives. They are also looking at scaling back on the number of "seats" (licenses purchased) and purchasing fewer suites and just getting individual products where needed. Actually, for cost efficiency, these measures probably should have been done anyways. Adobe's move just brought it to a head. Adobe's new strategy may also create a vacuum for some customers that don't come along for the ride. Nature (and business) abhors a vacuum. If the vacuum is large enough it will motivate ways to fill the hole. We shall see.

[CJ Swartz]

Thanks, John! I had heard about the pricing policy change, but hadn't heard about Brian Hughes email availability - sent him my disapproval note. I'm wondering whether the large companies will be against this plan or whether they will just pass the costs along? I'm ready to just keep using my CS5 for a long while - just like my '94 Honda Accord.

[John Wheeler]

I am also a member of NAPP (70,000 members) and their forums. There have been parallel very active threads on their forums with messages being sent to NAPP upper management about our concerns (very similar to ReTouchPRO). Just this morning Scott Kelby head of NAPP came out with an open letter to Adobe against new upgrade pricing plans and suggesting alternatives. This is great news and here is the link to his blog and open letter. At least some upper management listens to its customers. I hope Adobe wakes up and does so as well.
http://www.scottkelby.com/blog/2011/archives/22903

ADDED EDIT: I sent a PM to Doug Nelson to see if there were some avenue where he could come out in support of his 230,000 ReTouchPRO members as well with some message that will get to Adobe. Now that would be really really helpful as an even bigger voice to Adobe.

[CJ Swartz]

John - you beat me to it -- good for you !!

Thanks to Scott Kelby for his "Open Letter to Adobe Systems" - I know that Adobe will listen to him because of his subscriber base, but wonder whether they will agree to make changes. Everyone concerned needs to add their voice to the email campaign to Brian Hughes (link above in John's initial post), Scott Kelby's Facebook post about his blog letter, and everywhere else possible.

[creativeretouch]

We can only hope that camera manufacturers like Nikon or Canon are not coming with similar business strategy and we will not get forced to upgrade to every new model ...

[Tony W]

Like many here I have invested a lot of time learning CS5 (just starting to scratch the surface!) and over the years been loyal to the brand mainly because I felt that it was/is best in class. I cannot remember my first version but I tended to skip every other version ending with CS5.

At this time and until CS6 is released I cannot think of a 'killer feature' that I want or need (including the deblurring shown recently). So it seems likely that I will be content until CS7 released.

Having said that I am in principle against the subscription route and the fact that CS5 may not be eligible for upgrade to CS7 at a discount concerns me.

I do hope that Adobe can hear the wake up call from its customers.

[lkroll]

It was sort of worth it to me to upgrade from CS2 to CS5 (gpu acceleration, content aware, and a few additional cool tools though I admit I've not really used them much since I'm a GIMP guy, but $215 was a lot to pay for an upgrade so I don't spend money that often until I have no choice). I have no problem upgraded every 3rd like I did (started PS 5.5, PS 7.0, CS2 and now CS5), but to be forced to upgrade every cycle now doesn't make sense to me and I hope I don't get a cameral that requires a new version in order to use my camera's RAW file in CSx any time soon. Main motivation even using Photoshop is RAW processing and might just wait a while and just use Lightroom (as long as it's reasonable and doesn't require to upgrade every cycle) a few years from now. If any of you guys know of a reasonable cost effect replacement to ACR that's decent, please let me know; UFRaw doesn't cut it for me (yes, I have it and sometimes use it rarely, but it's no where near an ACR replacement).