Luminous Landscape Forum

Raw & Post Processing, Printing => Digital Image Processing => Topic started by: John Camp on May 13, 2013, 11:13:22 pm

Title: Question for Schewe
Post by: John Camp on May 13, 2013, 11:13:22 pm
Jeff, there's been a lot of talk about various ways that CS6 could go obsolete -- that operating systems change, that new cameras are no longer supported, etc. If somebody were to press a gun to your head and ask you to make a prediction about how long LR5 and CS6 would be commonly and easily functional, without jumping through your ass or mothballing computers or any of that...just commonly and usably functional...

How many years would you give them? Four? Five? More or less?

If you were determined to keep one as (commonly and easily) functional as possible for as long as possible, would you go with Mac or Windows?
Title: Re: Question for Schewe
Post by: BernardLanguillier on May 14, 2013, 12:32:45 am
Jeff, there's been a lot of talk about various ways that CS6 could go obsolete -- that operating systems change, that new cameras are no longer supported, etc. If somebody were to press a gun to your head and ask you to make a prediction about how long LR5 and CS6 would be commonly and easily functional, without jumping through your ass or mothballing computers or any of that...just commonly and usably functional...

I don't think I am Jeff, but here is my view anyway:

1. It depends on the platform you're on (Win or OSX),
2. Odds are much worse in the Apple world because of the faster pace of OSX upgrades and the fact that it is becoming next to impossible to install an older OS on a newer hardware.

Think of the following worst case scenario:
1. Apple release OSX 10.9 on Sept 1st 2013 (very likely),
2. The current version of CS6 is not compatible with OSX 10.9 (TBC but pretty likely)
3. Adobe decides not to patch CS6 to make it compatible with OSX 10.9 (unclear, it seems they wrote somewhere they would provide a patch... but I couldn't find any official statement),
4. Your Macbook pro dies on Sept 2nd (unlikely... but who knows),
5. You buy a new Macbook pro on Sept 3rd, shipping with OSX 10.9,
6. You try to install OSX 10.8 on your brand new laptop on Sept 4th, but fail to do so... (pretty likely).

-> CS6 reached its End of Life for you on Sept 2nd 2013... or any day your current Apple hardware dies.

Assuming that Adobe does patch CS6 for OSX 10.9... the same threat will show up again after Sept 2014 when Apple releases 10.10... yes they are now on a yearly release cycle (I'd personnally be surprised if CS6 worked on 10.10 without any change, it hasn't happened for years on OSX as far as I can recall). So at best... you have 16 months of peace of mind ahead of you... after that you'll probably be at the mercy of any hardware failure unless Apple decides not to make any change in 10.10...

This scenario is a lot less likely to happen in the Windows world because 6 typically doesn't happen. MS is very careful to make it possible to install newer versions of Windows on older hardware and their release cycle remains slower.

But... hey... Adobe doesn't officially authorize a change of platform unless you upgrade to a new release of CS/PS... and there is no new release planned for the boxed version... so it is already too late to switch from OSX to Windows... unless you have outstanding negotiation skills or are willing to buy a new Windows PS license from scratch.

Cheers,
Bernard
Title: Re: Question for Schewe
Post by: Schewe on May 14, 2013, 12:42:06 am
Adobe has said it will do upcoming OS upgrades for CS6 in the near (foreseeable) future...OS X 10.9 is due soon and Windows 8 Blue as well. So, after 10.9 & 8.Blue I don't expect a lot of major OS gyration for a while. (I really hope this is true)

In the past, Mac has had some hard tech lines drawn in the sand...the switch from OS 9 to OS X was a line that made old software obsolete. When Apple switch from PPC to Intel cpus, there was another hard line–although it was several years–OS X 10.4, 10.5 and 10.6 before PPC code was finally dropped in 10.7. 10.8 drew another line when it stopped supporting non-64bit cpu.

I don't see Apple making those kind of massive changes (although I could be wrong) so I see Photoshop CS6 to be able to be run for years to come. How many years? I don't know...but +3 for sure, prolly +4, maybe 5+. Possibly longer but that's in Apple's hands.

For Windows, MSFT is far more reluctant to drop backwards compatibility because, well MSFT is far more conservative than Apple. CS6 will still run with Win XP SP3 and above. No problems running in Win 7/8 and if there is an issue with 8.Blue, I think Adobe will honor their promise and do a update for compatibility. After that, I see +4 - +5 years easy.

For Lightroom it's slightly different. LR4 dropped Win XP support. LR5 is dropping OS X 10.6.x support. But I do think there will be a LR6 that retains a perpetual option (no promises but that's my guess–with cloud functionality that might be interesting and compelling but not required). I see LR as a hybrid tweener app that will cross the perpetual/subscription model. I

But, I think LR5 will run for years +3 on Mac easy, more likely +4, +5. On Windows, +4 easy, prolly far more. The code base is more modern than Photoshop so there wasn't a lot of old cruft left in when developed. That makes it easier to maintain the code base and requires much less backwards compatibility issues.

So, I think LR5 (I would suggest getting the LR5 upgrade for the features and to extend the useful life) and Photoshop CS6 are good for multiple years with a slight edge to MSFT because they care more about backwards compatibility. But I would NOT jump from Mac>Win or Win>Mac because of Photoshop CS6 or LR5.

While Adobe was prepared for pushback because of the killing of CS7 and going subscription only for the former suite apps, I'm not sure they were prepared for the volume and viciousness–particularly for the small pro, non-pro Photoshop users. That's a group that Adobe simply doesn't have expertise in dealing with.

Don't discount what Eric Chan wrote in his post on this thread: Re: Moving on from Adobe, need some final Lightroom advice (http://www.luminous-landscape.com/forum/index.php?topic=78214.msg627516#msg627516). Parse what he wrote carefully. And let me correct a slight fact, Eric isn't an exec, that's true, but Thomas is actually an Exec VP (I think that's his current title) these days so while Thomas ain't a "suit" (I actually saw him in a suit once-pretty dapper, but it was only for a wedding) and not "in charge" of of major Adobe corp direction, he has a say...and I don't think Thomas is happy with how things have transpired.

My thoughts, one week into the DECISION.

I've been dealing with Adobe directly since Photoshop 3 days (June, 1995), I was the first external alpha tester for Photoshop 4 (not CS4, the version 4 that shipped Nov, 1996) and I've seen Adobe do a lot of, uh, questionable things and making some, uh, less than stellar decisions. The whole Creative Suit initiative was great for Adobe but really kinda sucked for Photoshop. The last true independent version of Photoshop was version 7. Once Photoshop CS was released, Photoshop was held captive by the Creative Suite. Let me repeat what I've said before, Photoshop is successful IN SPITE of everything Adobe has done, not because of ANYTHING Adobe has done over the years...

Photoshop 7 was also the last version that a small core of photographers had some major influence over the feature set Photoshop developed. People like Martin Evening, Bruce Fraser, Seth Resnick, Katrin Eismann and a few others (myself included) knew how to work with Mark Hamburg who was the Photoshop "architect" till then. Mark "washed his hands" of Photoshop when the Creative Suite occurred...and turned his attention to, well, Lightroom–where a core group of photographers helped drive LR development.

It would be wrong to look at Adobe as a single entity...yes, corporations are considered a legal entity, but it's really more of a community. Don't for a second presume everybody inside of Adobe agrees with what "Adobe" has decided to do. But understand everybody in Adobe will be very circumspect with their criticism. The engineers on Photoshop are the cream of the crop. If you were a talented engineer who was really into digital imaging, where would you want to work? But Adobe is really good at circling the wagons when under fire (I think this counts as Adobe being under fire?)

A lot of people are pissed off at Adobe (both inside and outside of Adobe) at the "decision" to take their talents to subscription...yes, a lot of people seemed to also be really pissed at me for pointing out the obvious–that Photoshop was never developed for the photo industry but for "graphics" pros. That Adobe is a company that is good at developing pro apps and pretty poor developing apps for consumers. They still suck at consumer apps and marketing (otherwise they would have launched CC a lot better). Yeah, ok...my attitude doesn't make what I tell people easier to swallow, but I am what I am...I call it as I see it. I let the chips fall where they may.

Of all the apps Adobe has ever developed, Lightroom is the ONLY app that was designed, engineered and marketed directly at photographers–all types of photographers, non-pro and pro. Guess which app is still available as a perpetual license? Lightroom...you can read a lot into that decision. Yes, you can get LR via the cloud but you can but it as a perpetual license and even buy it from the Apple app store. Why? Well, the LR product/marketing team actually does have a much better understanding of the photo industry than Adobe in general does.

So, for the short term, people should evaluate the sea change and wait for what happens over time. Don't jump off the cliff just because things look dark...it's darkest just before dawn. Adobe may have given smaller 3rd party developers the opening they've needed for years to try to wedge an opening into the industry. I think this could be good for the industry, long term, if competition ends up breeding excellence. But don't count out Adobe from looking at the landscape and developing something interesting to come up with something above Photoshop Elements but less than Photoshop. That's why I started the thread: If Thomas designed a new Photoshop for photographers now... (http://www.luminous-landscape.com/forum/index.php?topic=78240.0)

So, hopefully, this will be mildly useful to offer a way of looking at what happened only a week ago...so, unless you have an immediate need for buying new hardware (that would create a line in the sand) I would suggest bidding you time and see what shakes out in the next year or so. I do think LR5 is a worthy (although not huge) upgrade...that's due soonish. Photoshop CC is a useful (although not huge) upgrade over CS6. The upside is Adobe has committed to making Camera Raw 8.x work in Photoshop CS6–so, buying a new camera doesn't screwup you AC updates. Beyond that, there's always the free DNG Converter option.

Bottom line? Chill out and let's see what happens. Nobody has to do anything immediately.
Title: Re: Question for Schewe
Post by: Schewe on May 14, 2013, 01:50:50 am
Think of the following worst case scenario:
1. Apple release OSX 10.9 on Sept 1st 2013 (very likely),
2. The current version of CS6 is not compatible with OSX 10.9 (TBC but pretty likely)
3. Adobe decides not to patch CS6 to make it compatible with OSX 10.9 (unclear, it seems they wrote somewhere they would provide a patch... but I couldn't find any official statement),
4. Your Macbook pro dies on Sept 2nd (unlikely... but who knows),
5. You buy a new Macbook pro on Sept 3rd, shipping with OSX 10.9,
6. You try to install OSX 10.8 on your brand new laptop on Sept 4th, but fail to do so... (pretty likely).

Adobe has said that there would be OS compatibility updates...presumably for Mac OS 10.9.x and Windows 8/Blue. After that, prediction becomes less likely to be accurate.

Also note that Adobe has said that ACR 8.x will run in Photoshop CS6 and provide new camera support (but not CC features) and there's always the free DNG Converter moving further forward.

It isn't likely that anything Apple or MSFT will do will kill Photoshop CS6 in the near term...at least several years out.
Title: Re: Question for Schewe
Post by: Schewe on May 14, 2013, 01:59:14 am
The CC model brings a new concern, perhaps.

This thread isn't about the CC model, it's about how long Photoshop CS6 and LR5+ will last on Mac or Windows...do you have something to add about that issue?

Adobe has said they will do at least some OS updates to Photoshop CS6. LR5 will run on Mac OS X 10.7.x+ or Windows 7+ So, the question is, how long can one hold out using a perpetual license? I think 3+ years minimum, likely 4+ or more–depending on the platform.
Title: Re: Question for Schewe
Post by: Rand47 on May 14, 2013, 02:05:36 am
Quote
This thread isn't about the CC model, it's about how long Photoshop CS6 and LR5+ will last on Mac or Windows...do you have something to add about that issue?

Sorry, wrong place to post.  Deleted.

Rand
Title: Re: Question for Schewe
Post by: Wayland on May 14, 2013, 03:00:34 am
Always worth buying up old machines from people on the upgrade path and keeping some spare hardware just in case.

Title: Re: Question for Schewe
Post by: BernardLanguillier on May 14, 2013, 04:33:23 am
Adobe has said that there would be OS compatibility updates...presumably for Mac OS 10.9.x and Windows 8/Blue. After that, prediction becomes less likely to be accurate.

OK, that's one good piece of info. Then we only need to start worrying in 16 months from now when 10.10 is released. :-)

Cheers,
Bernard
Title: Re: Question for Schewe
Post by: Mark D Segal on May 14, 2013, 09:05:44 am
I wonder whether Adobe has a truly professional COMMUNICATIONS team trained to interact with the broad community of their customer base in order to find out what will work best for customers in terms of an upgrade path, rather than making the kind of "ex cathedra" decisions we are seeing from them.

Bernard is right on the money about a key difference between MS and Apple: MS is far more attentive to legacy than Apple is, but, Jeff, it's not because they are more conservative, it's because, unlike the situation for Apple, most of the world is on Windows - the corporate world that largely keeps the world going. Apple makes a great computer and a great operating system - personally I much prefer it to Windows which I used from 1991 to 2010, but frankly, looked at objectively, Apple is a bit-player in the bigger world of desktop, corporate computing. And it's the corporations that are conservative - they need to be. The cost and disruption of upgrading these systems in large corporations is enormous and that's why such a large number of them are still using Windows XP, believe it or not. That will have to change by next year, but it goes to show what drives what behaviour.

There are MANY Mac users still on 10.6 (including myself) because of applications that won't run on 10.7+, we need, and they never will. Did Adobe bother to find out what percentage of Mac users are on 10.6? I read somewhere it's about one-third. That's huge. A SENSIBLE corporation would have made LR5 backward compatible at least to Snow Leopard, if not Leopard, just to help people along the transition - and at the same time announce the FUTURE cut-off point for backward compatibility so people will be forewarned. I don't like waking-up one fine morning to find out that the latest version of the application I depend on most will not work on my computer unless I upgrade it and lose functionality for some other stuff I can't replace. It's just a jungle out there - perhaps to some extent unavoidable for well-known reasons, but both Adobe and Apple could go a long way to reduce the worst effects of it; but they don't because it will cost them money and they are prone to discounting their customers' money far more readily than their own. It's really as simple as that.

I fully agree with you that I would not switch back to Windows for any of this. To answer John Camp's original question, for the time being the real fall back for Mac users is to install Windows either under Bootcamp or as a VM under, for example, Parallels, and install a second copy of LR there. Then one has the flexibility to work between the least-worst solution depending on the situation at hand. But the ultimate solution is to get more responsible corporate behaviour out of both Adobe and Apple.
Title: Re: Question for Schewe
Post by: John Camp on May 14, 2013, 09:26:59 am
Jeff,

Thanks.

JC
Title: Re: Question for Schewe
Post by: rasterdogs on May 14, 2013, 10:08:42 am
Jeff,
Thanks, your communications about all of this are one of the brighter sets of ideas and communications that I've seen.

Too bad that Adobe corporate hasn't done something akin to this.

No matter how this all shakes out it will make an interesting bidness school study.

Cheers,
Mr. Rasterdogs
Title: Re: Question for Schewe
Post by: john beardsworth on May 14, 2013, 10:12:53 am
There are MANY Mac users still on 10.6 (including myself) because of applications that won't run on 10.7+, we need, and they never will. Did Adobe bother to find out what percentage of Mac users are on 10.6? I read somewhere it's about one-third. That's huge. A SENSIBLE corporation would have made LR5 backward compatible at least to Snow Leopard, if not Leopard, just to help people along the transition
FYI my estimate is 8-9% of Mac users. That's based on very similar visitor stats at two Lightroom sites, one of which is mine, and is about the same proportion as when Adobe dropped support for Windows XP.
Title: Re: Question for Schewe
Post by: kingscurate on May 14, 2013, 10:30:02 am
John beardy,
Nice to see your a red!!
Title: Re: Question for Schewe
Post by: Mark D Segal on May 14, 2013, 10:30:26 am
FYI my estimate is 8-9% of Mac users. That's based on very similar visitor stats at two Lightroom sites, one of which is mine, and is about the same proportion as when Adobe dropped support for Windows XP.

Other evidence I turn-up on a web search indicates 28% to 30% as of several months ago. Maybe the difference reflects the larger community of people who don't use Lightroom and/or report to the sites you mention.
Title: Re: Question for Schewe
Post by: hokuahi on May 14, 2013, 10:34:46 am
Thanks Jeff, for such a clear, levelheaded answer.
Title: Re: Question for Schewe
Post by: john beardsworth on May 14, 2013, 10:43:03 am
John beardy,
Nice to see your a red!!
Ha! Just about to format a new drive - "RVP".
Title: Re: Question for Schewe
Post by: Jim Kasson on May 14, 2013, 10:43:13 am
My thoughts, one week into the DECISION.

A great post, Jeff, and one filled with what we need right about now: perspective, reason, and a fine-grained understanding of the facts.

Jim
Title: Re: Question for Schewe
Post by: Mark D Segal on May 14, 2013, 11:00:12 am
A great post, Jeff, and one filled with what we need right about now: perspective, reason, and a fine-grained understanding of the facts.

Jim

I agree. Very sensible advice - especially the conclusion.
Title: Re: Question for Schewe
Post by: Justan on May 14, 2013, 12:31:47 pm
With regard to supporting older OS platforms, There are possibilities. First the virtualization technology available to Windows is called Hyper-V. Hyper-V runs on some versions Windows 7 and 8. I don’t know off hand if Hyper-V runs on all versions but didn’t check. Hyper-V also runs on x64 server platforms beginning with Windows Server 2008. On most 64-bit workstation platform through Windows 8 it’s possible to install Windows XP (and more recent OSes) as a virtual machine. The same is true for the server platforms, except that one can run Windows workstation and/or server platforms back to Windows 2003 on the server platforms.

Based on Hyper-V support, as technology advances move along, it is very likely that support for older Windows OSes will continue to be around for a long time. This suggests that it’s possible to run current and/or older versions of PS and related for just about as long as the OS platforms can be run from virtual machines.

The potential gotcha here is if Adobe turns off support for activating older editions of their software. I have no knowledge about that.

I agree that not only is there no reason to corner oneself by being hasty, at the very worst, one can always rent the CC platform long enough to convert their documents, if needed or desired, to another format. It’s never wise to put a case of arrogance ahead of a $20 bill, imo.
Title: Re: Question for Schewe
Post by: Jim Kasson on May 14, 2013, 12:55:35 pm
Based on Hyper-V support, as technology advances move along, it is very likely that support for older Windows OSes will continue to be around for a long time. This suggests that it’s possible to run current and/or older versions of PS and related for just about as long as the OS platforms can be run from virtual machines.

Good advice. However, there are still opportunities for incompatibility in a hypervisor environment. I came very close to getting my Imacon Precision II running under a virtual version of Windows XP running under the Microsoft hypervisor. The project ultimately failed because of my inability to find a virtual display driver that met the requirements of Flexcolor.

Jim
Title: Re: Question for Schewe
Post by: Justan on May 14, 2013, 02:30:47 pm
^Yes there are.

I don’t know what you mean by virtual display driver, but there are problems associated with showing “true color” by way of RDP. There are some solutions, depending on the OS one is connecting to and from. Take a look at the content at the following link. It might help http://support.microsoft.com/kb/278502

Title: Re: Question for Schewe
Post by: RFPhotography on May 14, 2013, 06:00:58 pm
Bernard, MS is also careful to build backward compatibility into the Windows OS so you can run older versions of software and use older device drivers.  Some criticise MS for that, saying it makes the OS bloated and contributes to bugs and security flaws, but it also means you're not hooped and forced to upgrade all your software when you buy a new computer.  That's the more important aspect in this case, I think, as opposed to being able to install a newer OS on an older machine.
Title: Re: Question for Schewe
Post by: mouse on May 14, 2013, 07:37:08 pm
...... and is about the same proportion as when Adobe dropped support for Windows XP.

Please clear up my confusion.  Which Adobe products will not run on Windows XP?
Title: Re: Question for Schewe
Post by: Jim Kasson on May 14, 2013, 07:49:56 pm
I don’t know what you mean by virtual display driver, but there are problems associated with showing “true color” by way of RDP.

I don't have any modern virtualization experience, and my previous experience with AIX and VM was only as a user, and two decades ago at that. So my terminology is probably wrong. I'm talking about the software that, in a real machine, acts as the display driver. In a virtual machine, it could actually be that same code, but it might not be. It's acting as the driver for the virtual display, which is in general different from the driver for the physical (hardware) display and graphics adapter. The driver for the virtual display can only implement functionality supported by the virtual hardware presented to it by the hypervisor. In my case, the virtual display driver and/or virtual hardware couldn't support the combination of resolution and bit-depth demanded by Flexcolor.

That was years ago, and the Imacon scanner is now on indefinite loan to John Sexton, so it's not a problem I want to solve any more. My difficulties serve as an object lesson that virtualization is no panacea, especially when the programs running on the virtual hardware make specific demands on that hardware that the virtualization software may not support.

Thanks for the link, though.

Jim
Title: Re: Question for Schewe
Post by: sniper on May 15, 2013, 11:18:01 am
Thanks to the OP and to Jeff for a helpfull and informative post.
Wayne   
Title: Re: Question for Schewe
Post by: SZRitter on May 15, 2013, 11:44:00 am
Please clear up my confusion.  Which Adobe products will not run on Windows XP?

Not sure overall, but the new Creative Cloud stuff won't. Wouldn't be surprised to see that Lightroom 5 didn't either. All our PCs at work are XP based, so it's off to convince the bosses for new PCs...
Title: Re: Question for Schewe
Post by: Rhossydd on May 15, 2013, 11:44:52 am
Wouldn't be surprised to see that Lightroom 5 didn't either.
Support for XP was dropped at LR4
Title: Re: Question for Schewe
Post by: Justan on May 15, 2013, 12:40:46 pm
I don't have any modern virtualization experience, and my previous experience with AIX and VM was only as a user, and two decades ago at that.

Thanks for explaining. Twenty years ago, in 1993 Windows 3.11 had been shipping for about a year. (BTW, VMware didn’t ship its first product “VMware Workstation” until 1999, shortly before Windows 2000 server was released.) In 1993, not a lot of companies were designing hardware intended for virtual environments. There were few specifications for this environment at the time. So, no surprise your scanner did not work in the environment.

Since then, virtual technology has come a long way. There is currently a long list of specifications for use with virtual machines, and when the specifications are followed, it usually works.

Quote
That was years ago, and the Imacon scanner is now on indefinite loan to John Sexton, so it's not a problem I want to solve any more.

Understandably.

Quote
My difficulties serve as an object lesson that virtualization is no panacea, especially when the programs running on the virtual hardware make specific demands on that hardware that the virtualization software may not support.

Not really. While I agree that virtualization is not a panacea, it reads as if the difficulties you experienced were the result of trying use a scanner with a platform for which it was not designed.

Anywho, what I’m trying to express is that Microsoft has a stated 10 year product life cycle for their professional and enterprise platforms. For instance, Windows Server 2008 R2 was released in late 2009. Due to this, one can run current and not so current editions of Photoshop and the OSes PS runs under with virtual machines, or in some cases directly from the console through at least the year 2019. As an aside, MS almost always extends their support for their professional or enterprise platform by a year or two.

The latest edition of Windows Server is called Server 2012, and it also supports about the same OSes as Server 2008 R2. So, if one wanted to, they could probably run current PS CS6 software with new hardware through about 2023 or so.

Quote
Thanks for the link, though.

Yer welcome.

Title: Re: Question for Schewe
Post by: ripgriffith on May 15, 2013, 02:09:37 pm
My thoughts, one week into the DECISION.

This entire post should be required reading for all whose knickers are or will be in knots because of this current kerfluffle over Adobe CC.  It is careful and cogent, and well worth thinking through.  Well done, Jeff!
Title: Re: Question for Schewe
Post by: Jim Kasson on May 15, 2013, 02:51:45 pm
Not really. While I agree that virtualization is not a panacea, it reads as if the difficulties you experienced were the result of trying use a scanner with a platform for which it was not designed.

The scanner software was designed for Windows XP. I was trying to use it under Win 7, using the Microsoft Virtual PC product. http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=3702

I think it would have worked if I could have made Flexcolor happy with the display driver. OTOH, I might have run into troubles with the SCSI interface had I made it past the display driver problwem.

Jim
Title: Re: Question for Schewe
Post by: Simon J.A. Simpson on May 15, 2013, 03:08:21 pm
Thanks Jeff.

Really helpful insight and very nicely put.
Title: Re: Question for Schewe
Post by: Jeff Magidson on May 15, 2013, 10:53:35 pm
I own Photoshop CS5 and would love to upgrade to CS6 so I can resist CC as long as possible but the upgrade is not available for purchase anywhere that I could find! Poof, the upgrade option has vanished with the introduction of CC. Anyone have any tips on this? I'm certainly not going to buy a full version of PS6 for $600 just to get the upgrade.

~ Jeff

 
Title: Re: Question for Schewe
Post by: Mark D Segal on May 15, 2013, 11:04:09 pm
I own Photoshop CS5 and would love to upgrade to CS6 so I can resist CC as long as possible but the upgrade is not available for purchase anywhere that I could find! Poof, the upgrade option has vanished with the introduction of CC. Anyone have any tips on this? I'm certainly not going to buy a full version of PS6 for $600 just to get the upgrade.

~ Jeff

 

This may work, but not sure: (a friend found it in another list-serve email exchange between other people trying the same thing): http://is.gd/6KJeMY (http://is.gd/6KJeMY).
Title: Re: Question for Schewe
Post by: Mark D Segal on May 15, 2013, 11:33:31 pm
This may work, but not sure: (a friend found it in another list-serve email exchange between other people trying the same thing): http://is.gd/6KJeMY (http://is.gd/6KJeMY).

I should add, I checked on it when I learned of it and it did lead to an official Adobe upgrade page (unless by now they've pulled it). I don't know whether it allows you to actually still purchase the upgrade, because I didn't try - I already had purchased my upgrade via the usual Adobe upgrade cycle when it become available way back when.
Title: Re: Question for Schewe
Post by: davidh202 on May 15, 2013, 11:41:26 pm
I own Photoshop CS5 and would love to upgrade to CS6 so I can resist CC as long as possible but the upgrade is not available for purchase anywhere that I could find! Poof, the upgrade option has vanished with the introduction of CC. Anyone have any tips on this? I'm certainly not going to buy a full version of PS6 for $600 just to get the upgrade.

~ Jeff

https://www.adobe.com/products/catalog/cs6._sl_id-contentfilter_sl_catalog_sl_software_sl_creativesuite6.html?start=10

Hit the buy button on Photoshop CS6  at $ 699 (tricky), it  then asks "I want to Buy?" with a little down arrow ...hit that to choose from  full to  upgrade  at $199. 99 choice and your good to go. Don't wait too long as they might pull this at any moment. It is download version only no box if you have registered version of CS5 on your MY Adobe products page then it will automatically recognize your qualification to upgrade. I did it on Sunday with no problems at all ...
One more note...I did this a home but to get the second machine download, for some reason I could not get the download on my other work machine using IE 10 on Win 7 Pro but used Google Chrome to get through the Adobe Flash blockage I had. ;-)
David
Title: Re: Question for Schewe
Post by: PECourtejoie on June 04, 2013, 03:34:12 am
Bernard, I'm a bit surprised by your post, especially those two sentences:
"The current version of CS6 is not compatible with OSX 10.9 (TBC but pretty likely)"

and:

"(I'd personnally be surprised if CS6 worked on 10.10 without any change, it hasn't happened for years on OSX as far as I can recall)."

What makes you believe that?

I'm currently running Photoshop CS4, CS5.1 and CS6 on Mac OS 10.8.3 without problem, 3 versions that were released before 10.8 was available.

I don't know if you could amend your post, but I'm afraid that many might look too much into that, and that more FUD would spread from it...
Title: Re: Question for Schewe
Post by: BernardLanguillier on June 04, 2013, 06:02:22 am
Bernard, I'm a bit surprised by your post, especially those two sentences:
"The current version of CS6 is not compatible with OSX 10.9 (TBC but pretty likely)"

and:

"(I'd personnally be surprised if CS6 worked on 10.10 without any change, it hasn't happened for years on OSX as far as I can recall)."

What makes you believe that?

I'm currently running Photoshop CS4, CS5.1 and CS6 on Mac OS 10.8.3 without problem, 3 versions that were released before 10.8 was available.

I don't know if you could amend your post, but I'm afraid that many might look too much into that, and that more FUD would spread from it...

My comment arose from the fact that Adobe themselves mentioned they were considering releasing a patch to ensure compatibility betweeen CS6 and 10.9.

I am glad to read you are able to run older versions of CS on 10.8.3, it seems my comment about past compatibility was mistaken. Now are you confident that this will remain possible moving forward knowing that the degree of interaction between apps and some OS layers like OpenCL are what they are today?

Cheers,
Bernard
Title: Re: Question for Schewe
Post by: yaredna on June 08, 2013, 09:02:35 am
I tried moving CS3 for a dead computer (Win7) to a newer hardware (Win 7 too). Called Adobe, theyrefused to allow me to deactivate my wife's CS3 suite from the dead computer. See my rant in other topics.

My guess is: 3 - 4 years max, until one motherboard or graphic card of your computer dies.

Not enough to bet your career or your business on.



Jeff, there's been a lot of talk about various ways that CS6 could go obsolete -- that operating systems change, that new cameras are no longer supported, etc. If somebody were to press a gun to your head and ask you to make a prediction about how long LR5 and CS6 would be commonly and easily functional, without jumping through your ass or mothballing computers or any of that...just commonly and usably functional...

How many years would you give them? Four? Five? More or less?

If you were determined to keep one as (commonly and easily) functional as possible for as long as possible, would you go with Mac or Windows?
Title: Re: Question for Schewe
Post by: Bart_van_der_Wolf on June 08, 2013, 10:31:43 am
I tried moving CS3 for a dead computer (Win7) to a newer hardware (Win 7 too). Called Adobe, theyrefused to allow me to deactivate my wife's CS3 suite from the dead computer.

Hi,

That's serious. Keep pushing back at them, call, write letters, send emails. It doesn't bode well even for CS6 owners. Once a hard disk dies, or other hardware comes into play, who knows if (re-)activation will be available, despite a perpetual use license ...

Cheers,
Bart
Title: Re: Question for Schewe
Post by: indusphoto on June 08, 2013, 02:34:04 pm
I tried moving CS3 for a dead computer (Win7) to a newer hardware (Win 7 too). Called Adobe, they refused to allow me to deactivate my wife's CS3 suite from the dead computer. See my rant in other topics.


This is serious. How long will Adobe keep their Activation server active supporting old license keys?

The perpetual license does not look so perpetual after all ! Perhaps I should look for a crack for my legitimate copy of CS6.
Title: Re: Question for Schewe
Post by: Rhossydd on June 08, 2013, 03:33:05 pm
This is serious. How long will Adobe keep their Activation server active supporting old license keys?
In the case of CS2 they just openly published serial numbers that didn't need activation. (just Google Adobe giving away Photoshop CS2 to see the confusion that caused).