I know David Pogue, and I like him very much. He's not a professional photographer. To my knowledge, he's never owned or managed a photography business.
A few of his quotes that stood out for me:
"It should be obvious why Adobe is enthusiastic about rental software. First, it’s big money…if you use only one or two programs, you’ll pay much more by renting"
David neglected to mention the large number of photographers who got sucked into buying the Creative Suite packages, and then could no longer upgrade individual licenses. We photographers, who have working relationships with graphic and web designers, slowly grew accustomed to the convenience of at least having the software available on our computers. Some of us actually forced ourselves to learn some of that software so we could save money by maintaining our own websites and designing our own marketing and promotion output. Most of this software wasn't used daily, weekly, or even monthly, but it was nice to have when you needed it. Now, if you want it in the cloud, it will cost you much more.
"The most talked-about new feature is Shake Reduction, which is intended to fix photos that were blurry because the camera moved slightly during the exposure."
Do pros really care about this feature? Or was it designed for amateurs? Or was it never intended for photographers? What gives?
In this age of digital and large capacity memory cards, is it possible to have only one million-dollar shot with one minor flaw: camera shake? Is it me, or does this sound incredibly amateurish?
If I accidentally shook the camera in one frame, I move on to another frame, which is what we did in film days. I can't imagine relying on a software feature to "fix" the blur from camera shake, when I have so many other photos in my arsenal. Isn't that the point of a high-capacity memory card? (or a tripod?)
"In other words, the software improvements are welcome. The new pricing may not be."
The question is, do the improvements justify the price. So far, according to the noise I hear around me in NYC, many are screaming, "NO!."
"But Adobe isn’t offering the rental plan — it’s dictating it."
And no customer enjoys being dictated to.
"It’s possible that what angered these readers so much is my reference to the petition as “touching but entirely hopeless.” This is not a put-down of the petition. This is a simple acknowledgment that companies like Adobe have already factored in the anger…Even if the predicted number of angry customers abandon Photoshop, the total annual revenue for Photoshop will increase as a result of the rental-only program…That’s why the petition is utterly hopeless. Adobe won’t change its course, because Adobe doesn’t care about those people. It already considers them a lost cause." (from David's blog)
"Whether you do (trust Adobe) or not, there’s no denying that the big picture has changed. From now on, you won’t just cut monthly checks for your mortgage, your electric bill and your cable TV. Now, you’ll be cutting one more — for your software."
This past weekend, United Healthcare informed thousands of self-employed NYC photographers that their health insurance through HealthyNY would end Dec 31, 2013. They are no longer covering "sole-proprietor" businesses. This October, a self-employed photographer gets to choose from one of the ACA Exchanges, as if you are now among the uninsured. With such serious uncertainly facing those who own a photography business, Adobe picked a fine time to kick many of their loyal customers down and out. David neglected to mention this.