Bye, Bye Lightroom perpetual licenses .... No Lightroom 7

[Alan Goldhammer]

Of course Adobe wants to push things towards cloud computing because there is more money to be made there.  the can tack on storage fees to the subscription price.  I don't know whether Adobe is creating their own data farm or whether they are leasing space from the big players such as MSFT and AMZN.  I've been using Amazon Simple Storage for several purposes over the past several years because it is the cheapest and most reliable cloud storage site that I could find.  I think right now I pay just over $2/month for storage.  The one factor that nobody has mentioned is that cloud storage is great IF you have a really fast Internet connection.  Uploading images to the cloud, although simple, can take a lot of time unless you have speed.   Remember download speeds are usually much faster than upload speeds so watching streamed movies and shows from Netflix, Amazon, or other sources is a piece of cake compared to waiting for hundreds of D810 images to upload.  Obviously once they are uploaded things should be OK but you better hope your cloud provider has build in redundancy so that files are not lost or corrupted.

What if you are out in the field and want to start working on images in the cloud model of LR.  Do you think it will be easy to upload files?  Do you think a hotel is going to allow you to corral all of their bandwidth?  There are some practical issues here that have not been discussed.

I'm not necessarily pleased about the loss of the perpetual license version of LR.  I could care less what "indefinitely" means.  My only complaint is that I am now being forced into paying a monthly charge for a tool that may or may not be upgraded with tools that are useful.  The changes between LR1 and LR6 were pretty much profound between major versions though less so between LR5 & LR6.  Some people have already commented on the utility of some new things that have been implemented in the current subscription model.  That's fine too but again no guarantee that things will continue apace moving forward.  Adobe has you by the cojones and can do what they want.  It is nobody's interest to see a monopoly prevail as we have ample history what happens when that occurs.

My hope is that this move will spur companies such as Serif to move forward with their own DAM program to accompany Affinity Photo so that we do have increased competition.

[ButchM]

If Adobe want to make people nervous, they're going about it the right way!

John

John ... just how long are the marketing team and upper management going to get away with these semantic snafu's?

For a company with all the resources they have available, there is no logical explanation for how they are doing things. It seems as hard as they try ... even after extensive surveys and research ... they just don't seem to be capable of grasping common sense when they choose product naming conventions or basic comprehensive product web design.

The vast majority of confusion that has occurred over the past day, can be laid at the feet of the 'Einstein' in charge of marketing. It's like they are still soundly asleep at the wheel and have no clue about human nature let alone their traditional customer base.

[ButchM]

I don't think it's obvious and it's not clear to me because I have no inside knowledge of what they are planning to do; but I expect that "classic" will be here for a long time to come. If they discontinue it in an effort to force me onto "cloud computing", it's goodbye Lightroom.

I recall that same sentiment being shared about perpetual licenses right after Adobe introduced CC. 'A long time to come' could be years measured by the fingers on one hand ... and a digit to two left over.

[Mark D Segal]

Adobe has you by the cojones and can do what they want.  It is nobody's interest to see a monopoly prevail as we have ample history what happens when that occurs.

Well Alan, I don't know how you feel about your cojones, but I don't feel that Adobe has me by mine - but then again I may just be operating at an exceptional level of insensitivity or naivete, time will tell. :-)

Back to serious, I agree with you in one sense - uncertainty about what they will do going forward. The truth is we just don't know. But then again, nothing is guaranteed except death and taxes. But that said, there is competition, we do have options and the structure of the industry will continue to evolve. I'm not too concerned, because the evidence of how they are managing the Photography Bundle has on the whole been pretty good.

[Mark D Segal]

I recall that same sentiment being shared about perpetual licenses right after Adobe introduced CC. 'A long time to come' could be years measured by the fingers on one hand ... and a digit to two left over.

As I just suggested to Alan, we don't really know. It's all speculation. My own speculation is that we will have many years of the "Classic" option. But if I'm wrong I may be one of the first people to adopt another platform that would be resident on my hard drive along with all my photographs.

[pegelli]

I think Adobe's position is pretty clearly stated here: Hogarty

Isn't that the guy who also said perpetual LR licences would continue for upgrades as long as he was the product manager?
How many times does he think he can fool his customers, for me once is enough 

[Alan Goldhammer]

Isn't that the guy who also said perpetual LR licences would continue for upgrades as long as he was the product manager?
How many times does he think he can fool his customers, for me once is enough 

No he said "indefinitely" and John has already given us the dictionary meaning of the word which means not forever.

[Rhossydd]

I am now being forced into paying a monthly charge for a tool that may or may not be upgraded with tools that are useful.

You don't have to buy into it. If LR6 works for you now, just stay with it and enjoy not having to upgrade :-)

[pegelli]

No he said "indefinitely" and John has already given us the dictionary meaning of the word which means not forever.

Alan, I think he said two things, and used both the term indefinitely as well as "as long as I am the product manager", at least that's what digitaldog posted here earlier.

Same fellow and same blog where he wrote:


Q. Will Lightroom become a subscription only offering after Lightroom 5?
A. Future versions of Lightroom will be made available via traditional perpetual licenses indefinitely.

Didn't he say it would be perpetual as long as he was the product manager too?

[Eric Myrvaagnes]

You don't have to buy into it. If LR6 works for you now, just stay with it and enjoy not having to upgrade :-)

That's exactly what I am doing. But I will also be looking at Affinity Photo.

[David Mantripp]

Sure, one would expect this with the release of a new product. They want it noticed big-time. I wouldn't read much more into it than that.

First, they came for the Aperture users.  But I wasn't an Aperture user, so I didn't care...

Then, they came for the Lr 6 users, but I subscribe to CC, so I didn't care...

etc.

(tongue in cheek, by the way)

[john beardsworth]

The vast majority of confusion that has occurred over the past day, can be laid at the feet of the 'Einstein' in charge of marketing. It's like they are still soundly asleep at the wheel and have no clue about human nature let alone their traditional customer base.

140 characters can completely change the news agenda, so maybe it's all a clever way of getting people talking about nothing else?

[Mark D Segal]

140 characters can completely change the news agenda, so maybe it's all a clever way of getting people talking about nothing else?

Pulease, let's not go there!  :-)

[adias]

Unless I missed it on this thread nobody addresses the other advantage of cloud computing - performance. Adobe can provide very powerful image processing by rendering images in their server farms. Scott McNeil's dictum "the network is the computer" is real now. This has the potential to offer performance gains not achievable on your average desktop.

[Rhossydd]

nobody addresses the other advantage of cloud computing - performance.

Until you want to work somewhere with no internet connection.

[Alan Klein]

Fascinating! What was good and fine for you is now evil for others?

I have news for you... the business of business is to make money for its shareholders. At least in free, frowing economies.

I never said it was evil.  In fact, I think it was brilliant on their part.  I wish I owned some Adobe stock when they did it.  But, that doesn't mean it's good for the users.  Spending a lot more for the same product doesn't seem like an advantage to me.  The argument that Adobe did this for their user base is just silly.  It was all about maximizing profit and extending the life of a mature product that would have declining sales going forward. 

They could have offered the Cloud as an add-on to "classic" LR.  Then those who need that could buy it.  The rest of us could ignore it at no additional cost.  But they didn't do it that way.  They forced everyone to go to the cloud as an excuse to provide a monthly fee for LR that you pay for the rest of your life.  Alimony's cheaper.   

[jrsforums]

I never said it was evil.  In fact, I think it was brilliant on their part.  I wish I owned some Adobe stock when they did it.  But, that doesn't mean it's good for the users.  Spending a lot more for the same product doesn't seem like an advantage to me.  The argument that Adobe did this for their user base is just silly.  It was all about maximizing profit and extending the life of a mature product that would have declining sales going forward. 

They could have offered the Cloud as an add-on to "classic" LR.  Then those who need that could buy it.  The rest of us could ignore it at no additional cost.  But they didn't do it that way.  They forced everyone to go to the cloud as an excuse to provide a monthly fee for LR that you pay for the rest of your life.  Alimony's cheaper.   

First, they have not forced anyone to go to the cloud.  The ol’ Photographer’s bundle is still available, as is, for $9.99. 

I suspect, for the market theatre aiming at with the new “LR CC” they needed a new, simpler design.  A PhD system, as in Push Here Dummy.  Time will tell if they meet their objective. 

I also suspect, that they will support Classic as long as there are enough users paying the fee.  That, of course will depend on function they provide vs competitive offerings....normal business dynamics.

[Mark D Segal]

Until you want to work somewhere with no internet connection.

Or you have poor connectivity,
Or their servers get hacked and your stuff is "appropriated",
Or they have prolonged outages from denail of service attacks,
Or, or, or for whatever reason you lose access to your photos or become shutr out of using the application.

Thanks - I'll be a "stick in the mud" and carry on doing it all locally.

[Mark D Segal]

They forced everyone to go to the cloud as an excuse to provide a monthly fee for LR that you pay for the rest of your life.  Alimony's cheaper.   

No they have not forced every one to go to the cloud. The application remains in your hard drive along with the photos - at least with the Classic version, and they are allowing you to carry on working with the latest perpetually licensed version without paying another cent - it's just that people who do that won't get the new features available with the subscription based upgrades. And if alimony is cheaper Alan, it doesn't say much for the negotiating skills of the recipient! :-)

[Alan Goldhammer]

Thanks - I'll be a "stick in the mud" and carry on doing it all locally.

Until they stop supporting it as they have LR6 stand alone!!!