Just a general question (or three) arising from this.......
If one already has "normal" versions of Lightroom and CS6 installed, and subsequently takes out a subscription to CC, is it "legal" to sell the registration keys for the now-redundant "perpetual licenses"?
I'm not sure what Adobe says, but in most countries it is legal.
And how would one "deactivate" the perpetual LR before selling? (I can see the option on CS6 but not on LR)
I don't think there's a formal de-activate: just uninstall it. Or install the CC version, which removes the perpetual licence version, installs the CC version (which is identical) but the important thing: it changes the licence key from your perpetual licence to the CC key.
And, thirdly, how much of a risk is there in disposing of the perpetual licenses? My understanding is that, if at any time one stops paying the subscription, the CC versions will become completely unusable (rather than just the updates ceasing) and it would then become necessary to switch to a different product.
Your guess is as good as mine. I'm keeping mine, in case I ever stop paying the CC bill.
Adobe have demonstrated amply that their back end systems are not really fit for purpose. They've lost huge quantities of user data, not all of which was encrypted, and their systems sometimes screw up, locking users out of their accounts (and shutting down rental software). My software runs, but many of the links in the Adobe CC app perpetually take me to a page that says "We're sorry. Something seems to be wrong on our end. Please try again later.". By "later" I assume they're talking decades.
I hope these are teething problems, and their systems will get better - but this is another reason why I'm keeping my LR5 and PS CS5 perpetual licence: I simply don't trust Adobe to be sufficiently competent to keep my CC version running when I need to use it.
A disadvantage (for the user) of rental software is that it takes away from Adobe the incentive to innovate. They're getting our money simply to (try to) use their software. They don't need to motivate us to buy upgrades any more.