Adobe Creative Cloud

[Sareesh Sudhakaran]

I have bit the bullet and purchased a year's worth of Creative Cloud.

I actually welcome this system. I understand there might be teething pains, and I'm sure to grow a few white hairs dealing with service, but it seems every aspect of life has this problem nowadays.

Will Adobe raise prices after the year is up? I assume so, for my own sake and sanity. It's up to me to justify the expense, which is still cheaper than buying a whole boxed suite. When I compare it to an Autodesk Flame or an Avid system, the price is cheap.

Will I have problems with Adobe authentication? Sure, I expect so. Why? I have had problems with google, gmail, facebook, hotmail and yahoo, too. This is a fact of life now.

Am I concerned about privacy? Not really. I don't have to upload my files to the cloud if I don't want to. But if I want to, I can, which sounds cool. The Adobe Anywhere idea sounds cool.

Am I locked in to Adobe? Yes and no. It's a business, not a marriage. If I earn my money with Adobe, I can continue the business.

Do I trust Adobe? No. I've used Adobe since the beginning of my career 12 years ago. I know it like the back of my hand, but I don't trust them. Why should I? It's just a tool. If it doesn't work, I'll move on. As far as I'm concerned I'm taking an acceptable risk. Actually, all things considered, it's not risky at all.

Will the software work? I hope so. Even an installed boxed version can develop snags. That's why there is tech support. Will they help? Maybe, if you make a hundred calls. Factor that into your head before you begin, and it will seem okay. It's out of my control, so why worry about it?

I can use it on my mac and pc, and any other system I want, as long as I don't use it at the same time. I have no clue how Adobe will know I'm using it at the same time. Maybe they don't, but if they catch you they might terminate the agreement. That's a risk they're taking, which seems like a big risk.

All things considered, I think it will work out for me. Adobe has always delivered, so I have no cause for concern. Will it end in disaster? If yes, so what? My office could burn down, I might meet with an accident, or my clients might stop answering my calls. There are bigger problems in life than software.

I'll definitely post my experiences in the coming months. Expect a lot of twists and turns. I am.

[kaelaria]

I think that severely overcomplicates things...by a mile.  I would bet 99% of people boil it down to one simple thing.  Price.  A big increase in price.

[RFPhotography]

I think that severely overcomplicates things...by a mile.  I would bet 99% of people boil it down to one simple thing.  Price.  A big increase in price.

I think Sareesh has done what very few people commenting about this move from Adobe have done:  He's evaluated pretty completely and is looking at it from a business rather than emotional standpoint.  I think you have oversimplified by a mile.

Is it "a big price increase"?  For $50/month you get all of the Adobe applications.  Not just Premier.  For someone who uses multiple applications this is likely a price decrease.  If you consider the upgrade costs of Premier, After Effects, Photoshop (even higher if you buy Extended) and InDesign; which isn't an unreasonable product mix, you're probably saving money with the new subscription service.  I'm not familiar with SpeedGrade so don't know if it's a new product or one that's been around a while.  But if you toss the upgrade price of that in, along with, maybe, Audition, the price starts to ramp up pretty quickly.

[fredjeang2]

Speedgrade was arround for awhile
Before Been absorbed by Adobe.
For what I've heard, it was very
Appreciated by its users. Seems to be
A very capable color app.

[KevinA]

The big problem with the Cloud, is not wether the practicalities work for or against you, it wether you can trust Adobe with your work in the future.
They obviously want to keep you locked in good and proper, so what for the future, what other tricks, swindles or cheats would they be willing to enforce?

[Sareesh Sudhakaran]

I agree. Lightworks+Resolve Lite+Blender is awesome.