Change is always painful for people. \u00a0Even in the world of software. \u00a0Apple fired the first shot last year by eliminating boxes…their software became available only by download. \u00a0And now Adobe is continuing upon this inevitable path and some people aren’t happy.<\/p>\n
Specifically, Adobe is getting ready to offer\u00a0Creative Cloud<\/strong>. \u00a0What is it? \u00a0For $600 a year (or $50 a month) you can download, install and use Adobe’s entire Creative Suite Master Collection<\/em> (18 titles covering pretty much every Adobe flagship product). \u00a0You can do this on both Windows and Mac platforms.<\/p>\n But there’s more<\/strong>. \u00a0You get access to their entire suite of touch apps (which run on mobile devices). \u00a0You get access to Adobe Business Catalyst<\/em> (their all-in-one solution for hosting business web sites). \u00a0You get access to Typekit<\/em> (access to thousands of web fonts). \u00a0You get access to Digital Publishing Suite<\/em> (create mobile apps without programming). \u00a0You get access to Lightroom 4<\/em> (photo management) when it’s released. \u00a0And you get 20GB of cloud storage.<\/p>\n So why are some people mad?<\/strong> Well, they fear Adobe is moving to a pure subscription model, where you have to pay every month (or every year) or you can’t get your hands on their software (or at least the latest version of it). \u00a0Adobe claims this isn’t the case…at least not yet. \u00a0But ultimately, this is probably where all software is headed. \u00a0Just watch what Apple does in the next few years…they are usually great predictors of software evolution.<\/p>\n Regardless of speculating where the software industry may be headed though, a more urgent question might be “is Adobe Creative Cloud a good deal for me now?”<\/em>. \u00a0And the answer depends on what you do.<\/p>\n Take for example person A<\/strong>. \u00a0They spring for a box edition of Adobe’s Creative Suite Master Collection (currently $2,500 for a single platform version). \u00a0And they use it for the next 5-7 years without ever getting an upgrade version. \u00a0Simple math will tell you that Creative Cloud isn’t for them.<\/p>\n But then look at person B.<\/strong> They want or need the latest versions of Creative Suite, so they buy an upgrade with every new version. \u00a0And they also take advantage of the other features offered in Creative Cloud…like Business Catalyst, Digital Publishing Suite and Lightroom. \u00a0And they used both PC’s and Macs. \u00a0Again, going by simple math, Creative Cloud is a good choice for them.<\/p>\n In other words, Creative Cloud offers a lot of bang for the buck. \u00a0But you have to be a regular user of Adobe’s products (i.e. your livelihood depends on them) for it to make sense.<\/p>\n