Cloud question (adobe screwing us?)

[Petros Kolyvas]

That’s a good point – we’re all discussing a hypothetical here for the time being.

The thing is, that we do have some information (from a cost perspective) to make a judgement on how the current Cloud implementation for certain user bases would affect them financially; but hopefully dispassionately.

Also, a few other situations are being explored on how a self-terminating license might change our behaviour in the long run – at the very least I think it’s good we’re here discussing all the possibilities – it helps each of us make an informed decision on whats right for us, our work, our businesses, our requirements.

I’ve never been an Adobe fan, but at the same time, never been a hater, because none of this requires any emotion to begin with. CS5.5. and CS6 were good products for us, looking for a workflow speedup over FCP legacy and it happened. We just recently ran an analysis on how much time we saved both ourselves and our clients over the last year with a CS6-centric workflow – it was shocking how much more work we were able to produce while increasing quality and lowering delivery time.

I am, however glad, that no matter what happens, CS6 was licensed for us in the traditionally way and I only hope that we can continue that trend as it works for us as a very small (but not single person shop.)

—
There is no intuitive interface, not even the nipple. It’s all learned. – Bruce Ediger

[Tom Daigon]

I have been and still am a big Adobe fan. And yes, this product has not been released yet so everything is hypothetical.

There’s nothing I would love more than for an Adobe staffer to grab me when Im at their booth tomorrow and tell me, “Dont worry. you can buy it like you could in the past (perpetual) or you can get it from the cloud. Its your choice”.

That would make me and thousands of others very happy.

Tom Daigon
PrP / After Effects Editor
http://www.hdshotsandcuts.com
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxPrG3WUyz8
(Best viewed at 1080P and full screen)
HP Z820 Dual 2687
64GB ram
Dulce DQg2 16TB raid

[Petros Kolyvas]

If you receive such love, would you mind sharing it with us here? We could send thank you letters to the staffer and such… 😉

—
There is no intuitive interface, not even the nipple. It’s all learned. – Bruce Ediger

[Tom Daigon]

I would be glad to spread the good word if I did hear something and was allowed to share it. 😀

Tom Daigon
PrP / After Effects Editor
http://www.hdshotsandcuts.com
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxPrG3WUyz8
(Best viewed at 1080P and full screen)
HP Z820 Dual 2687
64GB ram
Dulce DQg2 16TB raid

[Ryan Holmes]

I would like to know as well, but from everything I’ve read it seems that Adobe will cease selling boxed copies of CS on or around May 1, 2013.
https://www.petapixel.com/2013/03/13/adobe-to-stop-selling-boxed-copies-of-its-creative-suite-software-inc-photoshop/

Plus I believe the Cloud is gaining users by the thousands at this point. I believe its user base is over 300K already and hasn’t even been out for a full year.

From a PetaPixel post:
Adobe Creative Cloud is on a tear. At a press event we attended recently, Adobe revealed that the Creative Cloud signed 200,000 paid members in just 4 months, with 80% of the members opting for the annual plan. The service is seeing 8,000 new subscriptions every week.

Ryan Holmes
http://www.ryanholmes.me
@CutColorPost

[Aindreas Gallagher]

[Ryan Holmes] “boxed copies of CS”

maybe stop saying boxed copies.

it confuses the issue. Forget physical media.
the issue is whether or not I can make any form of definitive purchase of software, where the software represents my livelihood.

https://vimeo.com/user1590967/videos http://www.ogallchoir.net promo producer/editor.grading/motion graphics

[Ivan Myles]

An Adobe online sales rep just told me that multi-site users get the $69.99/month/seat team subscription and are not allowed to purchased multiple $49.99 memberships. According to the rep:

“Membership to Creative Cloud for teams includes everything you get in an individual Creative Cloud membership, plus administrative tools for centralized license purchase and management, increased storage capacity, and expert services.”

In that case, $840/seat/year is significantly more than purchasing upgrade licenses, even for Master Collection ($500 each from most recent release, $1000 each from two prior releases).

[Tom Daigon]

Yes, but this post made March 5 at the Toolfarm suggest that TLP licensing (which is a full purchase download I believe) could still get install disks ($20) for what they purchased (CS6 in this case).

I asked Adobe about this ad nausem on Twitter but havent gotten any response.

Tom Daigon
PrP / After Effects Editor
http://www.hdshotsandcuts.com
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxPrG3WUyz8
(Best viewed at 1080P and full screen)
HP Z820 Dual 2687
64GB ram
Dulce DQg2 16TB raid

[Petros Kolyvas]

And while I think Creative Cloud is a poor choice in in current “Teams” form for volume license customers, I know so many single-users for whom Creative Cloud is the first time they’ve giving any money to Adobe.

Many freelancers I know here, sadly, have rarely/never paid for their software and the thought for some of them of putting up the $1600-$1800 buy-in cost for a CS license is a lot as an initial sum. We could go into how they pay that much for a computer but somehow don’t see the same value in software, but that’s another philosophical discussion for another time.

To the issue at hand, Creative Cloud is a great way to start for many users who have no equity in Adobe software and only need “their” copy.

But I imagine the amazing uptake rates don’t reflect the position of volume license customers. Maybe businesses just need to start handing out “cloud” allowances to users and then it becomes a write off and a gift, as they’d get to use it at home for as long as I felt like paying for it. Still, the cost would be dramatically higher than it is now, but (at the same time) employees would feel like they’re getting a little something extra.

—
There is no intuitive interface, not even the nipple. It’s all learned. – Bruce Ediger

[Ivan Myles]

The linked article discusses digital distribution as the alternative to boxed sets:

As Internet connections become faster and more affordable, and as optical disc drives appear in fewer and fewer laptops, digital distribution appears to be the way the software industry is headed — even for software suites as heavy (in file size) as Adobe’s Creative Suite.