Wow. Guys, this is just the new release of PhotoShop with anew licensing scheme that applies only to the new version. Some reactions sound like someone just forbade to sell food or something. No one stole anything you had yesterday!
I am not a pro. I have been an amateur for the last 41 years (I'm 50). I have done a few exhibitions and sold a few prints. I consciously chose not to go pro because it was absolutely obvious that I would not be able to feed myself with photography, let alone live comfortably. I learned to do something else very well and I now live very well and am able to practice photography the way I want.
Despite being an amateur, I do use LightRoom and PhotoShop, like many of us, as everybody but Adobe knows, it seems
Ah, and I pay for what I use. That's what the real job is for.
It seems to me the two main points of contention are price and dependency. Actually dependency is not new. Maybe some only realised it now, but our PhotoShop files have always been proprietary. What is new regarding dependency is that *if* we upgrade to PhotoShop CC, we will have to pay monthly and when we stop paying we loose access to the layers.
I know I am only restating things, but bear with me.
Who feels pressure to upgrade? Not me. Ah yes, if and when I buy a new camera, I'll have to upgrade. Wait. I'll have to upgrade LightRoom. I can keep a very old PhotoShop with only a very minor inconvenience. Yes I am on Windows. I chose that too, for the very reason that Apple has no concern for continuity and makes breaking changes to every single release of their operating system. How a "pro" can choose to use Apple and then blame Adobe when Apple breaks the compatibility with a major trade application is beyond me, but that's just me.
By the way, are these the starving pros we are talking about? They use Apple? And they starve? Hello?
So, if and when I buy my next $2000 camera (I am not a pro, so the D4 and 1D-X are of no use for me), I am not going to moan a very long time if I choose to pay $20/month for an essential software.
Since when photography gear is inexpensive?
Ah, the revenue is disappearing, Yes, I know. It happens in a lot of other businesses, all the time. Those people move on.
Being a pro photographer is running a business. If one goes into running a business without a solid business plan (been there, done that), it fails. In any kind of business. If the market conditions change, businesses fail and others spring up from nowhere.
When I see a business owner getting all caught up with a commodity that is available from just one supplier and has not factored in that that supplier might change its pricing structure, I see bad management, not an unlucky poor photographer trapped by a big meany corporation.
Now, for the complains about Schewe's style. Guys, who forces you to read him? It is written Schewe in bold at the top left of all his posts. I, for one, learn more from him than from all the other posts combined. So, no, he should certainly not be the one to be kicked out. Please.