Adobe have announced that there will be no software upgrades or new Creative Suite software after the present CS6. Instead users will have to pay a monthly (or yearly) subscription in order to use the programs on the Adobe Creative Cloud. Once downloaded and installed the program will check and authorise the users subscription every 6 months to ensure that they still have the right to use the software.
Creative Cloud membership for individuals is $49.99 per month based on annual membership; existing customers who own CS3 to CS5.5 get their first year of Creative Cloud at the discounted rate of $29.99 per month. Students and teachers can get Creative Cloud for $29.99 per month.
If users just want one program, for example Photoshop, then the cost will be approximately $20 per month. The take up on the CC, Adobe say, has been phenomenal, however the company has been pilloried in blogs and on websites internet-wide for their actions.
I think my take on this is that it will no longer be possible to buy a program and own the license to use it, instead users will have to hire the facility to use Photoshop for example each month or yearly. Various bloggers have said that this could ultimately work out costlier for them and are looking elsewhere for a graphics package. I will stick with CS6 for now, Adobe say they have no plans for making Lightroom available only on CC so I shall be OK for a while. For amateur photographers however this could be bad news and will make them look elsewhere.
I wonder if we may see layers in Lightroom 6?
Details of Creative Cloud can be found here
sensored-view.com 