DW in CS6 was broken in major ways. For Adobe customers that used the ‘monthly rent’ software and Creative Cloud (CC) a fix was provided. That started the flow of outrage toward Adobe. I was pissed that some people were getting fixes and because I bought the DVD based software and perpetual license I didn’t get fixes. Well, much later I did… finally. But, grrrrrrr!

This basically means the people using the install-from-DVD versions were second class users. Bug fixes were only available to them much later. In my case this meant I mostly continued to use CS5.5 after shelling out for an update to CS6.

Tech Crunch has published the article: Adobe Goes All-In With Subscription-Based Creative Cloud, Will Still Sell CS6 For Now But Will Stop Developing It. This article points out many of the advantages to Adobe for going with this new model for their software. Most of the Chicken Little’s and the frustrated having a hard time coping and are not considering the up sides mentioned there.

A big psychological point is the feeling of owning the software. With CS6 if your world falls apart, you can cut all expenses, move into your back bedroom, start over, and still have your creative tools. All you have to come up with is electricity. In this day an age that is no small consideration.

Analysis

The professional users that are speaking are seeing the change as reasonable. Adobe provides new tools with each version that save time. This is something Microsoft has not been able to do as well for most if its business users. For professionals that spend 8 hours per day (minimum) with images and/or video the time savings can easily pay for the updates. The time saved working with images or web sites is significant. The additional time saved typing a letter from version to version of Word is insignificant. So, this model is probably going to work better for Adobe and professional users of their products.

I am unhappy about the change and the apparent decline in the quality of Adobe products. But I am considering making the change. While the quality of the software is declining the conceptual quality of the user interface and the features being built in are simply phenomenal. Said another way: great stuff, but buggy as hell… well… DW not PS.

This new model is going to reduce the workload and simplify the development process for Adobe. For us that means fewer bugs and more new features sooner. And some of the new features are magic. You can’t do that stuff with software.

Also, to never have to upgrade the software and reinstall plug-ins and learn a drastically changed user interface… that should be a huge time savings.

But, if the economy declines any further (its way debatable once you get past the propaganda in the media and look at numbers) those gong with the new plan will lose all the nice new stuff and have to revert back to CS6. So, I am keeping my CS5.5 and CS6 install packages. If you use CS3 you know about getting the permanent offline software keys. I expect to be doing that with my 5.5 and 6 versions.

CS6

For now CS6 is being sold. Once the new model is in place (July 31, 2013) development on CS6 will stop, if it hasn’t already. I am guessing that means no new fixes… ever. You get it and its bugs for life. Fortunately PS CS6 is very stable.

The Future

Between now and July 31, 2013 users of CS3 and up can upgrade at a discounted price. Instead of $49/mo you can get the software for $29/mo. What they are not saying is scary. They are not saying for how long this rate will last. We can surmise that with annual subscriptions it will last a year, but then what?

If at any renewal point Adobe decides they want more money, they can raise the price. At that point you will have a very limited time to decide whether to continue or drop all your Adobe products.