Adobe Creative Cloud (or: Monopolies in Action)

[IndigoPrime]

At the high-end, those seem more like one-offs than the norm (and the very high-end bits of funding are more often for products that have some seriously popular mainstream appeal). I just don't see anyone raising many hundreds of thousands of dollars for an Illustrator alternative that could go head to head with the Adobe product. It's also a truly colossal undertaking. Even with a large team of amazing developers, you're talking many months of development to get anything that would resemble the tool people might want. Additionally, you'd have the problem of feature creep that Adobe itself has suffered from. What should an Illustrator alternative be? Who should it appeal to? What features should it have? Everyone will have their own personal favourites, and that in itself could cause all kinds of issues.

In a sense, Macaw is perhaps the closest equivalent to what you're talking about: a successful design app project, aimed at taking over from existing companies, and doing it better (in this case, for web design). But even then, Macaw has a razor-sharp focus that an Illustrator alternative probably wouldn't have, if it were to appeal to all. And if it weren't, you basically end up with Sketch anyway, which we already have (at least if you're on the Mac, although perhaps Windows equivalents might exist).

[radiator]

Dipped my toe into Photoshop CC.

Very first time using it, go to use the Liquify filter, which immediately crashes my computer. Yeah, I'll stick with my rock-solid CS5 (which crashes about once every six months), thanks.

[Banners]

With the latest version out today, this stubborn old hold-out has once more been tempted to abandon his CS6 version and sign up for InDesign CC.

My reason is not for the potential of any new features (which remain underwhelming to me), but that a subscription comes with access to TypeKit. I'm about to spend around £50 on a couple of fonts – which would be the same price as three months' access to CC, where I'd get the fonts throw-in.

But the catch is, of course, that along with all the issues about things like losing access to CC files and the inability to upgrade InDesign, Illustrator and Photoshop as a package, I would also lose access to these fonts if I ended the subscription. And, ultimately, I keep coming back to the thought that the limiting factor in my design work is not the software I use but my own creativity and (in)ability. So, despite the temptation, it seems that Adobe have once more failed to take earn my money.

I upgraded to CS6 almost three years ago exactly. Given that timeframe, it would now seem a sensible time to upgrade again. Indeed, if the new InDesign CC and new versions of Photoshop and Illustrator were still available as a retail/download version, I'd buy them all straight away (ideally as a Suite, like in ye olde days). I would buy a retail version as I would be in control, and my livelihood would not be dependent on a monthly 'tax' paid to an arrogant and ignorant corporation that puts shareholders rather than customers first.

But every time I think about and then resist taking the plunge, l wonder how long it will be until I eventually succumb or am forced to sign up to CC. Are there many CS6 hold-outs left?

[Jim_Campbell]

But every time I think about and then resist taking the plunge, l wonder how long it will be until I eventually succumb or am forced to sign up to CC. Are there many CS6 hold-outs left?

Unsurprisingly, there's me. I'm still waiting for a few bugs to be ironed out and features (that are on the development roadmap) to be added to Affinity Designer and I'm going to attempt to move my workflow to it entirely and just keep CS6 for any clients that absolutely must have live Illustrator files.

Cheers

Jim

[Steve Green]

Yep, still on CS6 here.

90% of my work in CS is After Effects. One company has moved over to CC that I work with. Most other people I work with are CS6 or older.

I'm holding out as long as I possibly can - the main obstacle is that AE only saves back one version, for collaborative work.

The actual updates to AE have been pretty average from what I've seen so far.

From what I've read, they're falling short in subscribers

http://techcrunch.com/2015/03/17/adobe-picks-up-517k-creative-cloud-subscribers-in-its-fq1/

Grasping at straws that they might relent and re-introduce some form of CS for the holdouts - I can't imagine they'd jack prices on CC this quickly before users are too deeply embedded.


Autodesk are doing the same rental nonsense, but their monthly fee is a lot more than Adobe's - good luck with that one.

[Jim_Campbell]

Grasping at straws that they might relent and re-introduce some form of CS for the holdouts - I can't imagine they'd jack prices on CC this quickly before users are too deeply embedded.

As I said somewhere upthread — I have no problem with people who think (usually incorrectly) that CC is a better deal for them. Subscription model works for them? Fine. However, I don't see why they couldn't roll up all the CC updates once a year and issue a new CS version on a traditional retail perpetual license.

Cheers

Jim

[Steve Green]

Yeah, I'm the same - there's a lot of blinkered people about who only see 'it only costs me x amount a month' and can't get there head around someone wanting a larger annual upgrade.

CC is fine for ramping up teams for companies, and if someone really wants it I wouldn't want to stop them.

I'd just like the option that's served me well for years to still be there, without Adobe patting me on the head, and saying 'it's simpler this way'

[Banners]

Cheers, fellas.

I could see how a subscription could get you access to premium things like Typekit, cloud features, storage, screen-sharing (which we used to have for free), web publishing and the new Stock images etc., but I'm sat here wanting to give Adobe several hundred quid for new versions of their software, and they don't want to know...

[SuperSurfer]

I'm on Adobe Creative Suite 5 mainly using Indesign, Photoshop and a little bit of Illustrator. All those CS5 programs do what I need them to do.

At the company where I do the bulk of my work we upgraded a few months ago to Creative Cloud. Other than being 'up-to-date' I can't really think what the advantages are. In fact the Macs were upgraded as we couldn't go beyond CS4.

I'm nearing the stage where I will have to upgrade my own computer and software as my Mac is almost ten years old. My operating system is ancient so I can't use recent versions of Safari browser which means some websites don't load properly and when they do, it is with limited functionality and so less security. As a stopgap measure I downloaded an alternative browser but that makes web browsing quite slow.

When I do upgrade my computer I can't see an alternative to going for CC. I do need to be compatible with software used with my main place of work.

But the catch is, of course, that along with all the issues about things like losing access to CC files and the inability to upgrade InDesign, Illustrator and Photoshop as a package, I would also lose access to these fonts if I ended the subscription.

Lose access to fonts yes, but you won't lose access to CC files. Once CC is up and running there isn't really any noticeable difference to working the 'old' way. Your files exist on your computer or server unless you put them on the cloud. I think you can export CC Indesign files as .IDML (or whatever the current format is) and open those with older versions of Indesign though you might lose some formatting functionality.

[Banners]

I think you can export CC Indesign files as .IDML (or whatever the current format is) and open those with older versions of Indesign though you might lose some formatting functionality.

That's the theory, but say in a year I decide to cancel CC because they put the price up, and go back to CS6, it's not really practical for me to export 100s of design files. Also, I wouldn't like to trust that the exports would be entirely reliable.

[Jim_Campbell]

When I do upgrade my computer I can't see an alternative to going for CC. I do need to be compatible with software used with my main place of work.

You can still buy CS6, if that helps...

Cheers

Jim

[SuperSurfer]

...say in a year I decide to cancel CC because they put the price up, and go back to CS6, it's not really practical for me to export 100s of design files. Also, I wouldn't like to trust that the exports would be entirely reliable.

Reverting after a while would indeed be a pain. I can think of one newer function in Indesign which doesn't export. No doubt there are more.

You can still buy CS6, if that helps...

Surprised Adobe are still selling CS6.
CS6 £1,227.54
CC £328.02 per year (but who knows how much in future)

Shelling out on a new Mac and £1227.54 is scary.

I reckon I upgrade software roughly every four years. Which kind of makes it seem worthwhile for me to go for CC with the benefit of being compatible with work. And then they will have me firmly by the you-know-whats.

Must say I am not looking forward to upgrading computer and the hassle of transferring files. Not even sure which Mac I will go for.

[Jim_Campbell]

Must say I am not looking forward to upgrading computer and the hassle of transferring files.

There's no hassle, except with Adobe software, which shouldn't be a problem if you're installing a freshly purchased version. Once you have your new Mac, deauthorise and then uninstall your Adobe applications.* Run Time Machine.** Hook the TM drive up to your new machine and migrate.

The first time you boot your new Mac up, it will ask you if you want to migrate from another machine. Click 'Yes', attach the TM drive and leave it. If you don't want to do it the first time you boot up, simply run 'Migration Assistant' at any time and it will ask you if you have a Time Machine back-up you want to use. It's brilliant.

Cheers

Jim


*You can't migrate them. Even if you wanted to carry on running your old version, you still need to do this, and then install on the new machine from the original disks.

**Given the age of your machine, it's possible you're running an OS older than 10.5, which was when Time Machine was introduced. However, 10.5 runs on the pre-Intel Macs and you can pick up the boxed disks pretty cheaply on eBay.

[Steve Green]

Also, if you use AE you can only save back one version, so currently you'd have to save back from 2015 to 2014 to CC and then to CS6.

Not sure about Premiere - hopefully the other apps are marginally less idiotic.

[SuperSurfer]

Thanks for that Jim.

In the meantime I have a whole load of file tidying to do on this machine.

Last time I upgraded I used IIRC Apple Migration Assistant which was good. Except I mistakenly thought it would transfer programs, emails and that I could transfer my work files manually. It pretty much cloned everything on my previous Mac.

I am on 10.6.8. I used to use Time Machine until my external drive filled up. I have a still boxed 2TB external drive I am yet to hook up.

Yes I have read your last blog post and I fear I will pay the price for not heeding that important advice.