I look at it differently.
I remember paying $$$$ for the software, then a year (or less) later paying $$ for an update or patch. Repeat for each software and the set ends up being very expensive. Do it all over again every couple years unless they offer an “upgrade discount” for previous users, but still $$$.
Now, for only $20 a month, I get always current, always patched, Lightroom, Photoshop, Bridge, plus a few more, AND 1Tb of Cloud Storage, access to Adobe Support....just $20 a month. A pizza DELIVERED costs more than that! So, I just get one less pizza a month.....and get ALOT more value and use of my $20. Hmmmm....$240 a year.....would take me 4 years to hit my 2 year cost in the previous model.
I like this new model better.
I see your point, but it comes down to how folks use software. Most of my use over the years has been productivity or utilities, i.e. MS Office, Norton Utilities (back in the day when you could actually DO something with it
), and some form of inexpensive 2D CAD program. I used Photoshop Elements for photo editing. I didn't "upgrade" every year, for the same reason that I don't "upgrade" cel phones every year. Most of the latest and greatest bells and whistles are just that, bells and whistles, and frequently have little impact on the functionality of the program, other than creating a new learning curve
. My long time CAD program is a perfect example. I bought it way back in '99, at the time it was a product of an Autodesk competitor. Used it for years, but then had a computer crash, only to discover I had all these drawings in a proprietary format, but had lost the source disks. In the meantime, Autodesk had bought out the company and program and changed the name to AutoSketch. Other than changing the name and the letters of the proprietary format extension, it was exactly the same program, and remained basically the same through several "new" versions. They've now dropped it entirely, never really did support it, and now find myself in the same situation of lots of drawing files and no way to read them. You'd think I'd have learned my lesson about saving stuff in a proprietary format on the first go round
.
Switched over to Apple in the last couple of years, and that's a different paradigm, the standard productivity type programs are included, making a new computer ready to go to work right out of the box, and updates are also included at not charge. iMovie seems to be a fairly okay hobby level video editor, and it's included with my Mac.
The other issue is packaging. You list 3+ programs plus Cloud storage in your monthly subscription cost. But what good does that do me if I'll only have a use for one of the programs and don't need/want the storage? Now let me set up my own package ala carte, and I might be interested. But again, keep in mind, I'm only talking occasional hobby type use, strictly for my own enjoyment, not something I'll be using to make money with.
The final straw for me was all the nightmare reviews folks were posting on getting the subscription working, and the general decline in reviews for Adobe products across the board, not that Adobe is the only one with that issue. But if I'm going to invest the time and money into learning a new program, I prefer starting with something that is well respected in the first place. IMO, Adobe has been going downhill for a long time, and the recent reviews only lend weight to that opinion. And again, Adobe isn't the only one. Okay, I'll get off my soap box now, I hadn't intended to get so long winded. Later, and thanks to all for your suggestions, will continue to look into them.
Dave
