Adobe heralds subscription-only future for Photoshop and Creative Suite

[James]

OK, I know this going to sound pretty dumb...

What happens if you are offline for an extended period of time? Creative retreat? Or even just a long vacation away from internet access? Does the product work standalone after install/verification? Or is it an always-on DRM scheme?

[ImaNihilist]

OK, I know this going to sound pretty dumb...

What happens if you are offline for an extended period of time? Creative retreat? Or even just a long vacation away from internet access? Does the product work standalone after install/verification? Or is it an always-on DRM scheme?

It works like all previous versions of CS – if the suite can't reach the activation server it just lets it run. So if you sign up for CC, activate, then block the activation server via hosts file you can safely terminate your service with them and keep using it. It's not 100% infinite though. Every 6m or so you have to reactivate, or whenever you get some kind of weird error (which happened in the old system as well). Under the old system it wasn't infinite. Even a valid volume license key would have to successfully ping the activation server like once a year or once every two years. In essence, every key "expires" and had to be refreshed somehow.

[ImaNihilist]

Trust me people that have paid for over a decade on this software are not happy. The software does not have to boxed, but an online version we can save to a DVD that can run when we install it on a NEW PC is vital for some people.

The problem is the cost of even just 600 bucks a year is a problem for small businesses. Small businesses are likely to be the ones that skip a version before they upgrade to save cash, they are not what the new adobe software pricing model is looking for. Even I used a 20% coupon off to upgrade my copy of Dreamweaver from adobe.com and I skipped at least a version before I upgraded that piece of software.

Being a creative professional is one thing, BEING a hobbyist or freelancer is another. You do not want to anger those two markets.

The hobbyist/freelancer market rarely paid for CS anyway. If you're a freelancer this is actually great, since you don't have to drop $2,500 on anything. You can just expense the measly $50 back to clients.

Moreover, for those who don't upgrade every year, what's the big deal? Just buy CS6 today and then don't worry about it for 4-5 years.

[richardginn]

OK, I know this going to sound pretty dumb...

What happens if you are offline for an extended period of time? Creative retreat? Or even just a long vacation away from internet access? Does the product work standalone after install/verification? Or is it an always-on DRM scheme?

The creative cloud program right now as Adobe has it is not always on DRM. They do say you have to validate your software licenses every 30 day through the web, but I am not sure how that works if you are in an area with poor internet access or even away from the internet for lets say six months.

[richardginn]

The hobbyist/freelancer market rarely paid for CS anyway. If you're a freelancer this is actually great, since you don't have to drop $2,500 on anything. You can just expense the measly $50 back to clients.

Moreover, for those who don't upgrade every year, what's the big deal? Just buy CS6 today and then don't worry about it for 4-5 years.

Clients though do not want to see increased pricing though.

The big deal with not upgrading every single time a NEW version of the software comes out is to save money or that the updates are not even worth it.

Dreamweaver CS5 had a solid feature update, Dreamweaver CS6 though does not.

Sure some people have CS6 and will rot on it until death, BUTT how long can it completely work though. Will windows 9.0 run it well?? Will 10.0??? Photoshop CS2 can run on a windows 7 machine, but load up a complex .psd file created in the CS6 version and you can wind up with parts of the file that will not load up right at all.