So I’m sure anybody in the photo industry or similar has heard the news from last week that Adobe announced their “Creative Cloud”. It’s surely been one of the most heated forum discussions I think I’ve ever seen across almost all the photography forums. Adobe’s news is also a major game changer (for better or worse) for how media professionals and consumers adjust to this new workflow in today’s ever changing world of media technology and software.

For those who aren’t up to speed on what the big deal is here and why there is so much chatter going on, let me give you a brief rundown. Basically Adobe is going to a subscription based service for all of their software excluding Adobe Photoshop Elements and Lightroom. Everything else goes to either a $20 a month for one program or $50 a month for access to all their software, including Lightroom in that. Both prices are for annual subscriptions respectively. Now Adobe is offering some deals. For all users of Photoshop CS3-CS6 you can subscribe for the first year for $9.99 for just Photoshop.

Now initially when I heard this I got out my pitchfork and torch and was ready to signup and join the masses. However I decided to let the jets cool, give it some time and check out what some of the folks in the industry were saying. Adobe’s Tom Hogarty had some interesting things to say and Scott Kelby spent an entire hour trying to defend himself from crazy ranting photographers accusing him of coconspiring with Adobe or something to that effect. Lots of fun discussions anyhow.

So after all this, here’s my take on it. If you’re just a Photoshop user, you should be rightly upset. With their Creative Cloud Photoshop goes from being $199 every couple of years or so for your upgrade, to $440. Not the best deal. And certainly not for a lot of users or for folks on a budget. Adobe’s argument on this is that you won’t have to wait for updates, they will be streamlined and released whenever Adobe wants. Don’t know if I get too excited about this argument.

Now on the flip-side of this, if you’re a design or media firm or use multiple programs, this actually turns out to be a pretty good deal. You now have access to everything Adobe puts out such as Photoshop, Premiere, Dreamweaver, InDesign,etc. and all for $50 a month. Also Adobe is including Lightroom with this even though it’s still allowing non-subscription purchases of it.

Photographers are passionate about their software and Photoshop by itself has been around a very long time and is engrained in a lot of people’s workflow. Adobe’s move on this one hasn’t been very graceful especially in regards to the photo community and this particular program. I really think they may have to do some sort of bundle or arrangement with this as the backlash has been pretty huge.

My own experience with Adobe has been both negative and positive over the years. I think their software is brilliant and they have some incredibly talented people working for them. I use both Lightroom 4 & Photoshop CS6 for my workflow and love both programs.
However my experience with their customer service has been, well let’s just say not very rosy over the years. That part of things could use some work.

How we do business, consume media and even edit our images continues to change and evolve rapidly. Even the old fashioned holding of the disc in our hand of the software we purchased is now history.

To find out all the rest of the nitty-gritty details visit:
http://www.adobe.com/products/creativecloud.html?promoid=JQPEQ