Adobe Creative Cloud

[Oldboy]

I've always had Photoshop since I brought the full version at half-price. I've upgraded to keep it current and now use CS6. Not happy about Adobe putting the newer version into the cloud, as I don't think a server is that secure from hackers or local power outages. If you need to work on a photo for a client but the server has gone down then, that could lose you business. Also, any problems with a new release could cause your PC to crash, but you would be unable to isolate the problem, whilst using the rest of the software. It's strange that software is the only product that you can buy but never own, as that right remains with the producer forever. 

[ABERS]

With no disrespect to anyone, but I can't believe that Adobe did not undertake some extensive market research before going down the cloud route. They must have known there would be a degree of antipathy towards their decision from a percentage of their customer base and also realise that those that do not use their products anyway would continue to shun their products.

As far as cost is concerned there is still an offer available for current Adobe customers for a monthly fee of just 8 pounds or so a monthly, the only proviso is you sign up for a year, after which you can jump ship.

As I understand it the Cloud version is not supported on Vista, otherwise I would give it a go.

[Hinfrance]

Alan, I am a long time Adobe customer - I have had three versions of Elements and two of Lightroom. The £8 per month offer is only open to those who have previously purchased a full version of CS, ie those who have already donated a shed load to the company. It is for a limited time, before racking back up to £18 per month (they don't say when), and has only been introduced as a result of the outcry against their full price policy and collapse in sales. So whoever they paid to do their market research got it really really wrong. And, as per, it's cheaper in the US than on this side of the pond. TBH if I could get it for £8 per month (or better still $9) I might be tempted too. Actually $9 would be a no brainer, despite never getting an enduring licence.

[donoreo]

Not happy about Adobe putting the newer version into the cloud, as I don't think a server is that secure from hackers or local power outages. If you need to work on a photo for a client but the server has gone down then, that could lose you business.

That is not how it works.  The software is still on your computer and it does not check every time that you have a paid licence.  I cannot remember all the details, but it will work if it cannot reach the Adobe servers a couple of times. 

[Andrew]

OK, let's address what Adobe has actually done with its Cloud Software concept - and it may also understand why their market research shows they're on a winner.

Adobe is putting all of its software onto the Cloud system for licence via the Cloud system, with exception to LR & Elements which for the mean time can be purchased as per the old system.

How did they get the idea this was a wonderful idea?

Well, market research probably asked the following 2 questions
"Do you think it is expensve having to pay £500 for a copy of Photoshop CS* and then another £200 every 2 years to update it?" - of course, it goes with saying the answer would have been a yes.

Next quesion:
"If Adobe put all of their software (approx val £2000) onto a server and let you have access to it for just £200 per year inc updates, would you think that a bit of a bargain?" - wonder what the answer was?

I had a full copy of Photoshop since V6 and never really enjoyed it. I just can not grasp the concept of layers, I understand the principle - but the working is a dead loss for me. Lightroom on the other hand is right up my street and does exactly what i want, and with v5 - at a price i'm happy with. The Photoshop was sold earlier this year and nicely paid for my upgrade to LR v5.

But for many others, especially the pro and keen amateur/ semi pro market - £200 pa for Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Dreamweaver, Fireworks + movie stuff - it really is a good price - just not for me.
Or to put it another way - the cost of 2 new EHD's each year to back up a;; those lovely images you're capturing 

[Hinfrance]

The Creative Cloud is £46.88 per month, or £562.56 per annum. The lower figure was for Photoshop and Lightroom only.  Looking at the Adobe UK, it looks like the £8.78 per month plan is not limited to previous owners of CS, as the US offer is. Given the upgrade price of Lightroom as a stand alone, this is beginning to look like reasonable value. I just wonder what the renewal price will be - and there's the rub.

[Hinfrance]

I downloaded the trial of Photoshop CC last evening. I haven't even bothered to open it because the first question I asked on the forums was how do I migrate my plugins. The answer is you can't. All of your plugins have to be replaced with CC specific ones. Now, it may be in time that the plugin houses produce these, and some may have already done so. Some of my plugins, however, are legacy items that will never be updated. So that's the end of my CC experiment before I even reached first base.

As an aside, I spotted from the browsing I was doing through the CC sites and forums that in the first few months they had 350,000 subscribers, but by the the end of the year the number is forecast to be 250,000. So it's really working well, NOT.

[jinky]

I am in  2 min ds about this. I have cs6 and lightroom 3.4 which both "do me" in real terms. Would I gain anything from getting Lightroom 5 as the update. Also re: H`s comments I have some florabella plug ins on cs6 - poor but as I rarely use them but got an offer price as well as  free dxo plugins and the nik software. Would these export to any new version of cs6 or would they be lost on the upgrade. I did lose some useful plug ins when I went up to cs6 as they didn`t work with 64 version.

[Hinfrance]

. . . free dxo plugins and the nik software. Would these export to any new version of cs6 or would they be lost on the upgrade. I did lose some useful plug ins when I went up to cs6 as they didn`t work with 64 version.

In a word, no, none of your existing plugins will work with Photoshop CC. If there are CC compatible versions available then you will have to get and install them. 32 bit 8bf plugins will not work with 64 bit editors unless they are ported (Cubase and Reaper do this in the audio world for 32 bit VSTs although they tend to work better in the 32 bit versions). This problem works against Serif's Photoplus in 64 bit too, although Topaz plugins are available in 64 bit versions. I don't know about 64 bit Nik as it is incompatible with Photoplus, but I guess they are 64 bit too.


But as you already have CS6 there is nothing stopping you from keeping that and installing Photoshop CC as well if you want to.

[hssutton]

The Creative Cloud is £46.88 per month, or £562.56 per annum. The lower figure was for Photoshop and Lightroom only.  Looking at the Adobe UK, it looks like the £8.78 per month plan is not limited to previous owners of CS, as the US offer is. Given the upgrade price of Lightroom as a stand alone, this is beginning to look like reasonable value. I just wonder what the renewal price will be - and there's the rub.

Maybe the catch is, you have to join before 2 December 2013. This suggests the cost will increase at the next subscription date, with no indication of what the cost will be.

However £8.75 is a great deal for anyone wanting to get into Photoshop for the first time. Not so sure if you have already have CS6 and spent a great deal of money on Photoshop upgrades. Plus there's no mention of what the cost will be post Christmas.

[Hinfrance]

I've read up a bit more on the plugins issue, and it seems that opinions differ. Adobe's support is pretty useless, but Topaz labs were pretty helpful. They suggested just simply copying the plugins folder from a 64 bit application (I used the Photoplus folder) to the plugins folder in PS CC. Low and behold, it works on my system  . .  so far. I have tested the Nik collection and most of my Topaz plugins and they all work. as these are the main ones I use I can live without retrospective compatibility of the older plugins, so if the rest of my mucking about with it goes well there will be another customer signed up before the end of the month. Might only have it for a year though, because if next year they try to up the annual price by more than inflation I'll jump ship.

[Andrew]

Got another e-mail and tweet of 'Adobe' professionals advising me why i should sign up.

HDR, Panoramic creation via image stitching, Content Aware Delete, Camera Shake removal, Layers, Better image repair and touch up tools & a couple more.

So, given I use Photomatix for HDR, can't work with layers, believe camera shake removal is a step of automation too far, already having Content aware Delete lite - they've managed to say that i should pay the £120 pa for something to create pano shots via stitching images together.

Fairly sure i can find something that does that job for a one of purchase off less than £120 - or, and this may sound a bit far fetched - i could just use the panoramic feature on the X-Pro 1 and capture it all in 1 shot!

TBH, this cloud computing stuff reminds me of the main frame era, when some one like IBM installed a mainframe for a few hundred quid, then tied you into a maintenance contract to keep it going - and any exit of contract would leave you without access to all the data you had processed and created using said mainframe. It's nothing more than a licence to print money... 

[donoreo]

TBH, this cloud computing stuff reminds me of the main frame era, when some one like IBM installed a mainframe for a few hundred quid, then tied you into a maintenance contract to keep it going - and any exit of contract would leave you without access to all the data you had processed and created using said mainframe. It's nothing more than a licence to print money... 

Or even older....when IBM made tabulating machines.  They did not sell the machines, they leased those, but they sold the punch cards.  Without the cards, and you HAD to use IBM cards, you could do nothing. 

[Oldboy]

TBH, this cloud computing stuff reminds me of the main frame era, when some one like IBM installed a mainframe for a few hundred quid, then tied you into a maintenance contract to keep it going - and any exit of contract would leave you without access to all the data you had processed and created using said mainframe. It's nothing more than a licence to print money... 

IBM maiframes where never cheap. 

[Andrew]

My information may be a bit off, but my point was spot on - once you got the machine in (whether tabulating or mainframe) you were then hooked and had to cough up what ever IBM considered to be reasonable, or lose every aspect of your work up to that point.

Cloud computing seems as thogh it is heading that way - and i find that very worrying.