Rob Steinberg

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Cloudy Conditions: Adobe Gets Bold

Posted by Rob Steinberg on Tue, May 14, 2013 @ 02:59 PM

Tags: cloud software, Adobe, creative cloud, graphics

Creative Cloud

Adobe is forcing everyone into the cloud. I'm torn, for several reasons.

It's all good for Adobe. It’s a nice, regular, ka-ching. Smoothed revenue generation. As soon as you license, the clock starts. You have to act quickly to get the lower upgrade price. It's still pretty ham-handed, and the replies are not too favorable to Adobe. They’ve been catching heat on Facebook and Twitter too.

The $20 per month for an upgrade from CS6 seems like a good deal. Like the first free sample from your corner purveyor of joy. But no information of what happens once they have you. How much are you interested in trusting them?

Secondly, the feature set across the board is pretty mature. I haven't been overwhelmed by the last two releases. Some "nice to have" stuff, but nothing that's a slap my forehead, how could I have lived without that. A lot of our customers don't upgrade quickly, but wait for things to settle down in a dot release. Many skip a version. That's no longer a money saver.

You could wind up paying for new features you're not ready for. Is there a graceful way to downgrade if things blow up? Or revert?

Lastly, it depends on how well the licensing is executed. Putting production at risk is never a good idea.

Just try explaining to your client you blew the deadline because Adobe had an issue with your license.

I'm quite curious as to others’ reactions. How do <you feel?