Adobe Creative Suite is on the chopping block

[ravells]

I can see lots of reasons for Adobe to want to move to the cloud model. Harder to pirate (I'm guessing) as you will probably need an internet connection in order to use the software each time you run it. It makes it affordable for many more people (lots of whom I'm guessing are the current pirates). Assuming the price is $20 (say £15) a month, that comes to £180 a year and always having the most up to date version. Right now I don't think there's anything in the latest extended suite I feel that I desperately need over CS4 which I already have, but I guess that will change at some point.

[Nyarlathoteps_Evil_Twin]

I can see lots of reasons for Adobe to want to move to the cloud model. Harder to pirate (I'm guessing) as you will probably need an internet connection in order to use the software each time you run it. It makes it affordable for many more people (lots of whom I'm guessing are the current pirates). Assuming the price is $20 (say £15) a month, that comes to £180 a year and always having the most up to date version. Right now I don't think there's anything in the latest extended suite I feel that I desperately need over CS4 which I already have, but I guess that will change at some point.

Just a note on the web connection point above - you don't need to be online to use the software - it just needs to go online once a month to check your subscription is still valid. When you sign up you download the software apps themselves (that was a fun day for the entire collection) then can use them as you like.

My wife and I are both designers and having got sick of trying to keep multiple machines up to date with Adobe software, we decided to take the plunge and go with the Creative Cloud option. Fortunately we did it via our company so we're not personally forking out the monthly fee (we're paying two subscriptions, though that covers two machines each - one desktop, one laptop). I can totally understand the cost implications from a hobbyist perspective, but to counter that it does give you a lot of bang for your buck - we went for the full sub and now have access to ALL Adobe software - we're paying around £50/month for that which may seem a lot, but then every update comes as part of the subscription so no more shelling out for new versions. Over the lifespan of the software I personally think it is good value, but like I said I'm paying through my company not personally.

I know there's a lot of anger over this model among the design community in general, but my view is that Adobe have got to make some money somewhere - theirs is probably some of the most heavily pirated software around. I'm not saying that this new subscription model is a good thing from the hobbyist perspective, as in the past I've been there myself (i.e. not being able/prepared to fork out hundreds for a piece of software). One bonus aspect though is that I now have access to software I never had the chance to try out before as part of my subscription (I'm currently teaching myself After Effects).

That's my perspective - not great for everybody but kind of inevitable...