**Danger Will Robinson** **Danger Will Robinson**

[John Pale]

I have mixed feelings about this. On one hand, It feels wrong…but how different is it, really…

I mean…in practical terms…do we really own it now? I use it for a year…an upgrade comes out..I fork over some money..I never use the old disk or backup file of the previous version again. Sure, I “own” it, but what’s it worth….??

But you raise an interesting point, I have not thought of……if I opt out…say, suddenly I go insane and decide to like editing on FCPX, and move to that full time…I can’t easily revisit my old edits in PPRO without reacitivating my Creative Cloud Account…I can’t just fire PPRO like I can fire up FCP 7 now when I need to revisit something I did a few years ago..without paying the piper… Not cool.

What happens to my CS6 when and if I “upgrade” to Creative Cloud? Do I not own that anymore?

[John Pale]

Oops. I see Dennis answered that in another thread….

“Chris, if you have an existing ‘box’ copy of CS6, that is still yours. If you started a creative cloud membership today, you would have access to CS6 apps and when the next version comes about, you would immediately have access to it. If your membership lapsed or you decided to stop, you would still have CS6 with you.”

I guess that’s a bit of a relief. But going forward…if I edit something in 7, I will never be able to open it without a Cloud membership. Adobe owns my ability to re-edit perpetually.

[Dan Stewart]

Perhaps this is a response to being on the most pirated of all time charts so consistently.
But I think it’s just going to cause them a torrent of new problems..

[Aindreas Gallagher]

nope – you still own 6. Dennis clarified that, and in a way – seeing as how upgrade pricing expires after a single version now (or will by next rev) – you are pretty much on the treadmill either way.

But if, as you say, you shift in terms of what you are at at some point – all the work built up with the suite to that point is always still accessible to you, if you own the software – because that software fundamentally belongs to you.

If you go with the cloud – adobe control paid access to your files and creative work in perpetuity. I find that a very uncomfortable proposition somehow.

Plumbers don’t rent their pliers. they own their toolbox for good reason – the tools represent their livelihood.

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

[Don Walker]

[John Pale] “Adobe owns my ability to re-edit perpetually.”

Hey Dennis Radeke, can you go a couple of offices down the hall and see if Shantanu Narayen, would like to enter into the discussion to calm Aindreas’ very legitimate concerns?
We all know what happens when Aindreas becomes angry with big corporations! (look what has happened to Apple’s stock price…… Aindreas did that)
I really do wish that the ‘nice friendly Adobe” would speak to this on the level.

don walker
texarkana, texas

John 3:16

[Mark Dobson]

[Aindreas Gallagher] “What’s worse, if you think about it this way – the files, the personal output you create are your own right? but if for any reason the financial agreement is suspended – the personal intellectual copyright material you have created can never be opened or modified again.”

Aindreas – I agree with you!

It’s not only the financial agreement it’s also dependent on having an ongoing online connection. I simply can’t see, even in the advanced capitalist sector of the world we live in, how Adobe can justify this business model.

Could this be a direction that Apple could expand upon?

[Walter Soyka]

[Mark Dobson] “It’s not only the financial agreement it’s also dependent on having an ongoing online connection. I simply can’t see, even in the advanced capitalist sector of the world we live in, how Adobe can justify this business model.”

I understand and sympathize with the concern that if you stop subscribing, you can no longer open old projects.

However, there are also a lot of misconceptions about Creative Cloud, and the “ongoing online connection” is among them.

From the Creative Cloud FAQ [link]:

Do I need ongoing Internet access to use my Creative Suite applications?
Because your Creative Suite applications are installed directly on your computer, you will not need an ongoing Internet connection to use them on a daily basis. However, you will need to be online when you install and license your software, and at least once every 30 days thereafter. The software will alert you when you need to connect to the Internet for a license status check.

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
Creative Cow Forum Host: Live & Stage Events

[Mark Dobson]

[Walter Soyka] “From the Creative Cloud FAQ [link]:
Do I need ongoing Internet access to use my Creative Suite applications?
Because your Creative Suite applications are installed directly on your computer, you will not need an ongoing Internet connection to use them on a daily basis. However, you will need to be online when you install and license your software, and at least once every 30 days thereafter. The software will alert you when you need to connect to the Internet for a license status check.”

So on top of checking whether your payment has hit their account they need to check the licence status as well? They are getting as bossy as the UK Government.

[Walter Soyka]

[Mark Dobson] “So on top of checking whether your payment has hit their account they need to check the licence status as well? “

That’s kind of how the whole thing works. When you pay for a month, they validate your license for the month. If you don’t pay the next month, last month’s license naturally expires and they don’t re-authorize a new one.

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
Creative Cow Forum Host: Live & Stage Events

[Sandeep Sajeev]

SaaS makes a lot of sense for software companies. The benefits for the end user are questionable. However, if the model is not specifically tailored to the market it is being pitched to, it is unlikely to have any impact at all.

As I mentioned on the other thread, I’m in India, and piracy is a huge problem here. You are not going to make people stop pirating software when the ‘deal’ you’re offering is what it currently is – around 1000 USD annually, payable upfront per license. This is absolutely the wrong way to go about combating piracy. Price it sensibly or nothing changes.

A week after release I will be able to walk down the street and pick up a copy of the entire suite for the price of a sandwich and a coffee.

I have an anecdote for Adobe – A big design house was raided last year by the Indian Police/Anti-Piracy Branch. They found multiple copies of unlicensed software, chief among them Adobe products. What did they do? They shook down the Directors of the design house for around 1000 USD. That’s a little more than the cost of 1 Photoshop license here.

This is what Software Companies are dealing with – corruption through out the system.

For those of us who actually run our businesses legally, this new model makes no sense at all. AND the current pricing structure is not going to entice ANY of those companies/individuals pirating your software to go straight.

On a personal note, as an editor who does mainly agency driven work with a Flame/Quantel finish, I get all my design elements from other vendors. I ask them to give me everything in layers and I comp them in FCP or these days Smoke. So I have been satisfied with my Pixelmator license for more than 2 years (on the rare occasions when I’ve had to do something). And I have never had an issue with any vendor refusing to give me layer exports.

I would question however, how many of the assets I’ve received over the years have been generated on licensed Photoshop/Illustrator/AE seats.

Personally, I have had no pressing need to invest in the Creative Suite, but I was tempted to consider Premiere as an alternate to FCPX. This ridiculous new subscription model – hey pay us approximately a 1000 bucks upfront each year if you want to have access to your work ensures that that is not going to happen.