Many years ago I was very much against the idea of “renting” software. When you buy a product, it’s nice to know that you have “purchased” something so that that item can continually return value for it’s useful life. As software versions have become more and more blurry with the ease of updates, the fundamental interaction with customers changes. With more and more subscription services in our lives (cable, phones, media, etc) the idea of software on a subscription bases becomes more palatable.
Content aware fill was the big ticket item for me that came in Adobe Photoshop CS5. I’ve used it time and time again in the trial versions and it’s really a nifty feature. I’m used to using Dreamweaver for PHP development as a code editor from my days at Macromedia. I’m now an Adobe Photoshop Lightroom user as well.
Creative cloud basically has two different options:
- A single app for $20 a month
- The entire Creative suite for $50 a month
Both plans require a one year commitment. They have a month by month plan for $75 to get access to all the CS apps. Since Dreamweaver and Photoshop were the killer apps for me, both of them would have run $40 a month. Adobe was running a special for upgrade users at $30 a month so I took it.
What does that get me? A one year license with all updates to:
- Photoshop
- After Effects
- Adobe Premiere Pro
- InDesign
- Flash Professional
- Illustrator
- Fireworks
- Adobe Muse
- Dreamweaver
- Audition
- SpeedGrade
- Prelude
- Lightroom
- Flash Builder Premium
- Acrobat XI Pro
- Creative Cloud Connection
- Edge Animate
- Edge Code (Preview)
- Edge Inspect
- Edge Web Fonts
- Typekit
- PhoneGap Build
- Business Catalyst
- Story Plus
That’s a lot of software that usually runs $2500 bucks for a permanent license. Adobe knows there are a number of users out there like me who can’t justify spending that kind of cash for an initial or recurring investment. My hunch is they are tapping down into the market of more causal users to extract more revenue for those who are set to grow into using more of their apps.
Since I have a current version of InDesign, I’m more likely to use it and strengthen my dependence on Adobe. Time will tell a year out to see if this was the right move for me. I’m thinking smart move Adobe.
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