Goodbye Photoshop

[fjrabon]

I think Adobe has already decided they're not going to be able to compete on the low end with Aperture, Nik, etc over the long run. In many ways it seems like it's a repositioning of CS into a new market segment. Well, really, taking CS back to the market segment it had occupied before the 'democritization' of photography/design.

Whether that's a sound business move is certainly up for debate, seems weird to give up the low end market COMPLETELY when you have such a good brand name.

Again though, it seems like people seem to mostly be upset with the way the payment works out, not the actual $ amount. Which just seems weird to me.

In a lot of ways though, this may be doing a lot of the people who are most upset with it a favor. Many of them probably could have had all their editing needs solved with the Nik suite or Aperture, anyway. I have CS6 and I only use it when I need to, which is pretty rare. If I didn't get it for free through my job, I don't even know that I'd buy it. I just don't find that I really, actually need layer masking for very much of the stuff I do, and most any other program does just as good a job at everything that doesn't require layer masking as PS does.

Now, the thing that probably sucks the most if this does cost market fragmentation, is that we lose the 'industry standardness" of photoshop. The great benefit of the ubiquity of CS was that it was so easy to find tutorials and/or classes on it. While I think a lot of other programs were actually more intuitive to use than CS, you could easily find a pretty decent tutorial for virtually any topic, on youtube, for just about anything you'd want to do in CS. If CS becomes primarily a "business professional" suite, with most people who don't do this for a living using other products, I fear it will be a lot harder to find information on any one in particular.

That being said, the google/youtube/Nik partnership does seem pretty promising int hat regard. They already go through fairly great lengths to offer tutorials, and if/when their products become more popular, I only imagine that will increase.

Regardless, it's a pretty interesting development, given that i'm fairly ambivalent overall on it, as someone who doesn't actually have to pay for CS. I do know that my bosses are very happy with the development, as from an accounting standpoint, they pretty much wish everything was a monthly lease. The 1.5 year update cycle drove them CRAZY from an accounting standpoint.

 

[fjrabon]

I know many people think a monthly payment is a way of life. It is not for me. When I buy something I want to own it. PS is not going to become like a cell phone or cable bill in my life. It may work for the high end user with big profits but I am just a guy that likes to take pictures and I will be dammed if they think I will make monthly payment to them.

You do realize that due to ToS agreements, even when you buy something up front, you don't "own it" any more than if you pay monthly. The only difference is that you currently pay your monthly subscriptions all up front.

 

[Tiller]

I'm wondering how the pricing will be for students? That's why I was going to buy cs6, bc it was cheap.

 

[Steve5D]

A move with the interests of the company in mind before the customers, is a move to lose customers' interest in the company.

The primary responsibility of any for-profit business is to itself. Making the customers happy is meaningless if it means damaging your business or your brand. To suggest that a company should act with the customer's needs at the forefront is short sighted.

I would be willing to bet a very, very large sum of money that Adobe did not make this decision without a mountain of market studies to support the decision. Whether we like it or not will, and should, be secondary to whether or not it makes sense to Adobe. Again, if they didn't think it would be profitable, do you honestly believe they would do it?

Are they going to subscription pricing for all of their products? I don't get that impression from the article, but I may have missed it, I suppose...

 

[Jad]

Photoshop by it self is only $20 a month for the cloud subscription, that's $5 a week.

If your complaining about $5 a week then your in the wrong profession or hobby people. Skip a few trips to starbucks and get over it.

Until they start raising prices and don't forget the tax that will most likely be added. I don't like a monthly payment at any cost. That is why I buy outright and pay cash for what I buy. I know that makes me an oddball in todays world.

 

[Tiller]

To suggest that a company should act with the customer's needs at the forefront is short sighted.

I'm sorry, but this is so incredibly wrong I have to say something. I generally try not to get into arguments, but I couldn't help myself this time.

If customers feel as if they're getting screwed, they'll walk away from the product. Even if they want it, and nobody else has it, humankind's innate pride will make people walk away from a business if they feel like they're not being treated well.

Again, no personal attack meant. I just think your point is flawed.

 

[Benco]

For me whether it's good value for money or not is a moot point, Creative cloud subscription isn't available for where I live, maybe it will be in the future but for now...that's it, bye bye Adobe.

 

[Light Guru]

Photoshop by it self is only $20 a month for the cloud subscription, that's $5 a week.

If your complaining about $5 a week then your in the wrong profession or hobby people. Skip a few trips to starbucks and get over it.

Until they start raising prices and don't forget the tax that will most likely be added. I don't like a monthly payment at any cost. That is why I buy outright and pay cash for what I buy. I know that makes me an oddball in todays world.

I dont think they are going to start raising prices anytime soon. the move to cloud only is a real hit to those who pirate forcing them to pay for what they use and Photoshop is one of the most common peaces of software pirated. This increase of paying users will keep the price down and allow for more money to go into development of the software.

 

[Benco]

If customers feel as if they're getting screwed, they'll walk away from the product. Even if they want it, and nobody else has it, humankind's innate pride will make people walk away from a business if they feel like they're not being treated well.

Quite, ideas like this are fine on paper but they never take into account the very prevelant willingness that people have to cut of their nose to spite their face. I don't like that a new concept is going to be applied across the board that will effectively deny me a product that I have been able to use in the past, even if they fix it I may well still say 'F..k you Adobe'.

 

[Majeed Badizadegan]

A move with the interests of the company in mind before the customers, is a move to lose customers' interest in the company.

The primary responsibility of any for-profit business is to itself. Making the customers happy is meaningless if it means damaging your business or your brand. To suggest that a company should act with the customer's needs at the forefront is short sighted.

Goes against basic, fundamental business concepts, and for that matter goes against common sense, but okay.

 

[Jad]

Photoshop by it self is only $20 a month for the cloud subscription, that's $5 a week.

If your complaining about $5 a week then your in the wrong profession or hobby people. Skip a few trips to starbucks and get over it.

Until they start raising prices and don't forget the tax that will most likely be added. I don't like a monthly payment at any cost. That is why I buy outright and pay cash for what I buy. I know that makes me an oddball in todays world.

I dont think they are going to start raising prices anytime soon. the move to cloud only is a real hit to those who pirate forcing them to pay for what they use and Photoshop is one of the most common peaces of software pirated. This increase of paying users will keep the price down and allow for more money to go into development of the software.

I will agree that there is a problem with piracy when it comes to all software. According to what I read at Adobe web site. It will be $30 to $50 per month for PS in cloud depending of the package. All of their software will be in cloud. So how that works if you use PS and Lightroom, I don't know. Maybe a separate fee each month for the programs you want to use. It could add up. This will benefit schools and businesses but not the individual. I guess we will have no choice in the long run because any new camera you buy won't be recognized by the older software.

 

[JacaRanda]

I know it stings guys, but seriously - It's almost always about the $$$$$ these days. There are millions of unhappy, disatisfied, disgruntled, ticked off customers all over the place. Guess what, somebody or some company did and does not give a damn.

I am with SteveD on this one. If Adobe's plan means profit to them, then we have to suck it up or move along. If their plan does not result in $$$$ then they will adjust and hope they can recover from the fallout.

EW&F That's The Way Of The World

 

[SCraig]

Photoshop by it self is only $20 a month for the cloud subscription, that's $5 a week.

If your complaining about $5 a week then your in the wrong profession or hobby people. Skip a few trips to starbucks and get over it.

Nope. Not gonna do that. It isn't the cost, it's the principle behind it. I blow more than $5 a day in soft drinks.

$30 a month is $360 a year or $720 every 2 years, so every 2 years you've paid for a copy of Photoshop. They are effectively forcing their customers into the 2-year upgrade period that they always want for people to do. I am not willing to do that.

 

[rlemert]

I don't use PhotoShop so this is somewhat academic to me, but the big problem I have with this is the same problem I have with everyone moving to the (somehow magical) "cloud" - it's putting control over what I do in someone else's hands. To give just one semi-hypothetical example, I could be in the middle of a project that I want to finish before I consider upgrading because I can't afford the time to learn the new features (or the risk of serious bugs that prevent me from completing my tasks). If the service provider decides to upgrade, though, without maintaining the old code, I'm screwed.

(For the record I do most of my work on 'a' cloud. This cloud is mantained by the company I work for, and everything I do on it is the companies business, so I don't really have control over it in the first place. Thus, I can stand the cloud at work - but not for my personal computing needs.)

 

[Buckster]

I don't need or want the whole creative suite. All I use from it is Photoshop. I've upgraded every time a new version came out, typically every 18 months, and I was okay with that cost for what I was getting. But there's no way I'm doing $600 per year just to use Photoshop. When my current CS6 stops meeting my needs for whatever reason, I'll be moving on to something else.