Posted on 06/06/2013 11:59:26 AM PDT by Racehorse
Adobe . . . has made a bold move to abandon their customers . . . and force them into a subscription sales model which some of us might remember from the 1950s door-to-door book and encyclopedia sales women who sold my mom a set.
Only now . . . Adobe abandoned all their customers.
From now on . . . you don't get rent to own. You only get to rent . . .
What do you think?
I think their applications are tremendously over priced.
It makes pirating more difficult.
All I know is their Flash player updates every freaking day.
I’ve bought every upgrade since PS 4.
Won’t be buying any more.
Farewell, Adobe.
Ping
“It makes pirating more difficult.”
Pirating is what built companies like Microsoft. Young enthusiasts would cobble together hardware and then pirate software. Microsoft made it insanely easy to pirate their software. In my opinion, this was no accident. Once the enthusiasts got familiar with the Microsoft product, they required those products when they went into the working world, (or even specified Microsoft for their companies).
I welcome the major software vendors pushing for the software as a service model. Linux has made huge strides. As vendors lock things down, Linux will grow. It’s the nature of things.
Does this mean we can’t watch Flash videos anymore without paying? I recently found a freeware substitute for Acrobat called Sumatra, so I can still work with PDFs.
The Columbia House Record Club appears to be their model.
My new computer actually came with substitute programs for Adobe apps. And it’s quite refreshing as I’m not being pestered to update them every day.
I guess my Adobe Creative Suite 4 will have to hold up for ten more years, until a decent replacement for InDesign pops up.
I’ll keep my eyes open for decent replacements for DreamWeaver ... Expression ain’t it.
Someone will find a way to encapsulate the software for ‘local’ use on computers and put it on torrent. Subscription will make it easy for Adobe to spy on anything anyone does. Some businesses have no choice but to comply, but use for entertainment purposes will be limited.
There are a lot of factors, both legit and not for these companies (MS being the really big one) moving to subscription-based software...
Revenue - It is essentially a way to force consumers and businesses to “upgrade”, even if they don’t want/need too. For those who hold on to hardware longer, and thus may not be able to run the “latest and greatest” versions of an application don’t pay to upgrade what cannot be upgraded. With a subscription-based distribution model - even if you don’t care to upgrade, you will still be a steady stream of revenue to Adobe (or Microsoft), as you will have to continue paying to USE their software.
And further - what is to stop the same developer from drawing a line - we will not support versions oder than _____, and we will not sell you a subscription to continue using said software - so it will no longer work after ______date. Upgrade to a newer version or you are just out of luck... ?
And related to the revenue stream - subscription-based distribution places another obstacle in front of software piracy. Through the validation/verification process used in most subscription-based applications, additional checks for “authentic” licenses is much easier - as it happens every time the app is used.
Thanks, Salamander;
I own a license for Adobe Master Collection CS6. I will also not be buying more.
Corel and Quark Express are both offering stuff to disgruntled Adobe customers . . . like we could decide to switch within two months or even at end of the Summer.
To beat down Adobe, competitors need to extend their offers out to a year, dontcha think? Short term offers don’t amount to much.
GIMP
‘nuff said.
Given the amount of money I used to have to spend to keep my Adobe programs up to date, the new subscription model at $50 a month is extremely cost-effective. And with that I get additional applications I previously chose not to buy because I don’t use them that much.
As for the rent/own question, I was always under the impression that in the User Agreement of most software (which no one ever reads) it has always said that the user does not “own” the software. Instead you owned a limited license to use it. So I don’t see that has changed so much.
Microsoft going the same way, you will soon not be able to buy any mainstream software; but will only be able to subscribe to a product code that will be good for one year. The software itself will be downloadable from their web site.
I think “The Cloud” will quickly destroy any company that tries to monopolize document applications.
Just yesterday I tried to use the “Find Text” function on my “free” Adobe software, and they wanted me to subscribe.
No thank you.
I tried to convert the document to Microsoft Word, and Adobe blocked that, too.
This looks like the perfect opportunity for MSFT, GOOG, or Oracle to step in with FREE document software as part of a larger software package.
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