Adobe CC. The non hysterical response

[Gustavo Bermudas]

[Andrew Kimery] “Adobe alerts you to when updates are available but it’s up to you to download and install them. There’s no auto updating.”

I wasn’t referring to that, I currently have a cloud subscription that I’m stopping before I hit the new renewal rate, so I’m a bit familiar with how it works, but what I noticed is that nobody addressed the fact that let’s say if a student got an old computer and wants to download photoshop or after effects to learn it, he’s going to be downloading the newest version and not an old one he can learn, thus forcing the customers to always be updating your hardware. ANd also let’s say you upgraded to a new version and realized that you require a new video card, can you roll back?

[Todd Kopriva]

> let’s say if a student got an old computer and wants to download photoshop or after effects to learn it, he’s going to be downloading the newest version and not an old one he can learn, thus forcing the customers to always be updating your hardware. ANd also let’s say you upgraded to a new version and realized that you require a new video card, can you roll back?

Older versions will continue to be available for download from Creative Cloud even after newer versions are released. We are currently committed to having at least five versions available (e.g., when After Effects 15.0 comes out, you’ll still be able to download After Effects 11.0).

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Todd Kopriva, Adobe Systems Incorporated
After Effects quality engineering
After Effects team blog
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[Dennis Radeke]

[Bernard Newnham] “Since Todd is writing in this thread, perhaps he can give me a cost effective way of upgrading when the time comes. I know that a huge number of occasional users would like to know the answer.”

You can subscribe for a single month and come back when you have another job. You are not required to join for a year.

A lot of information can be found here: Creative Cloud FAQ

Dennis – Adobe guy

[Tom Sefton]

The CC costs less than my gym membership. For the last 5 years we have spent at least £700 per year on upgrading master collection. I can only see good things from this from our perspective.

I will hang on to our CS6 disks though….

[Mike Jackson]

I don’t post often, but I just have to weigh in here too. Not a day has gone by in the last 15 years that I haven’t used some Adobe product, and I have a lot of the same concerns as others here. With the downturn in the industry in Vancouver, I’ve had more than one month in the last couple of years when I would NOT have been able to make a $50 payment. I buy my software and hardware upgrades when a big job comes along, with a nice fat paycheck.

But my other two issues are:

VERSIONING – Sometimes something just stops working in an upgrade, and it’s not uncommon for me to have to go back to an older version of AE to get something done. Keep in mind that plug-ins get out-dated too, and more frequent updates might make it a lot harder (and/or more expensive) to keep your plug-ins functional and up to date. And I sure wouldn’t like to have to face the monthly bills if ALL my software goes this route. Yowch.

CONTENT OWNERSHIP – I am *incredibly* unhappy with the idea that Adobe can lock me out of my old projects unless I cough up some dough. That’s just not cool. As unlikely as it may seem right now, I need to know that if Adobe goes belly-up, or pulls a Final Cut X and changes the software to something I don’t want to use anymore, I can still access my back catalogue of projects, no strings attached. That’s a deal-breaker for me.

I’ll throw out an idea though Dennis – that second issue could be solved for me if after paying for an entire year (or even 2) of Creative Cloud, I got permanent usage of whatever version I’m currently on. Make it rent-to-own, and I’m onboard.

[Todd Kopriva]

> Sometimes something just stops working in an upgrade, and it’s not uncommon for me to have to go back to an older version of AE to get something done

You can still do that. In fact, it’s easier, since we are making all versions from CS6 onward available for download through the Creative Cloud service (at least five major versions) so that you’ll be able to choose which version to download and install at any time.

> Keep in mind that plug-ins get out-dated too, and more frequent updates might make it a lot harder (and/or more expensive) to keep your plug-ins functional and up to date.

The update frequency does not have any new impact on your third-party plug-ins. For After Effects and Premiere Pro, the plug-ins only need to be updated when there are changes in the API or other major changes, which shouldn’t change any more frequently now than they have in the past.

For example, for Premiere Pro, you needed to get new plug-ins from CS4 to CS5 because of the 64-bit port. There won’t be major changes like that with every feature-bearing update.

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Todd Kopriva, Adobe Systems Incorporated
After Effects quality engineering
After Effects team blog
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[Mike Jackson]

Cool, good to know. As someone who’s running a business, it’s a delicate balance for what makes a good update frequency – I want things to keep improving and adapt to changing technologies, but a certain level of stability is *also* mandatory.

So, solve the problem with access to old projects, using software that I will have effectively already paid money for, and I can happily roll with the rest. 😉

Unless every other company adopts this model too, and suddenly I’m facing a $1000 monthly bill just to keep working…

[Bernard Newnham]

[Dennis Radeke] “[Bernard Newnham] “Since Todd is writing in this thread, perhaps he can give me a cost effective way of upgrading when the time comes. I know that a huge number of occasional users would like to know the answer.”

You can subscribe for a single month and come back when you have another job. You are not required to join for a year.

A lot of information can be found here: Creative Cloud FAQ”

Thanks Dennis, I appreciate the reply – though I rather think that CS6 is going to last me longer than I originally thought. And there I was going around recommending PPro as the FCP replacement. I wonder if Grass Valley are planning on going cloudy?

Bernie

[Craig Sommerer]

Why would anyone want to keep paying indefinitely for old versions of software?

I’m one of the folks Adobe is trying to get rid of, those that upgrade their CS versions every other version or so. $’s are $’s, no matter where they come from and renting of these tools seems wrong, and for many of us it makes no fiscal sense.

I want to own the software license, not rent it. I highly doubt I’ll be a CC subscriber and as a Lightroom, Photoshop, AE and occasional Illustrator user, guess I’ll have to find a copy of CS6 and keep it viable as long as I can.

[Walter Soyka]

[Craig Sommerer] “I want to own the software license, not rent it. I highly doubt I’ll be a CC subscriber and as a Lightroom, Photoshop, AE and occasional Illustrator user, guess I’ll have to find a copy of CS6 and keep it viable as long as I can.”

From the Creative Cloud FAQ [link]:

For how long will Adobe continue to sell Creative Suite 6?

We plan to sell Creative Suite 6 for use on supported platforms indefinitely.

Walter Soyka
Principal & Designer at Keen Live
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
RenderBreak Blog – What I’m thinking when my workstation’s thinking
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