Adobe announced recently that it will be replacing it’s “Creative Suite” with a Cloud based subscription only model. No longer will consumers be able to purchase a copy of the latest version Photoshop, Illustrator, etc and use it as long as they wish. Instead, a mandatory monthly or annual fee will be required for continued use of the software.
So what do the Adobe users think of all of this? Well, according to Scott Morris, senior director of product marketing for Creative Cloud:
“Overwhelmingly, when you compare the people who’ve complained about the new model to the people who loved it, it definitely skewed heavily to the new model” he said. “Obviously we would not be making a decision this big if the percentage of people in that category was so big it was the wrong thing for us to do.”
So what do Adobe users ACTUALLY think of this “Cloud” based subscription model? Well, quite the contrary it seems. After reading dozens of comments from LinkedIn discussions, various blogs, and Adobe’s very own forums; the consensus is overwhelmingly not in support of this proposed move. It actually seems that over 90% of people are in opposition. A petition to Adobe is even in the works, with nearly 13,000 signatures so far and growing rapidly. Update: as of 5/31/13 the petition now has over 27,000 signatures.
So what are users so concerned about? Well, some of the common indifferences seem to be 1) Not being able to access work documents during times of financial hardship or after retirement 2) not being able to revert to an older version of a program if a bug or hack is encountered, 3) fear of future price hikes, and 4) Adobe not giving their customers any choice in this matter. Whether justified or not, people don’t seem to be on board with this new model. Apparently the folks at Adobe think otherwise.
Please share your thoughts below. What do you think of Adobe’s move to go subscription only? Are they shooting themselves in the foot or is this a fair move? I posted this article in the AIGA LinkedIn forum discussions…there have been some very interesting comments left by graphic designers and Adobe users.