Adobe price rise rumor, again

[ac12]

Google, Apple, and Microsoft needs to get into this business.

MS has. Office is now a subscribed software.
Compare All Microsoft Office Products | Microsoft Office

The Google apps was free at one point, then I heard they dropped the free program, and you have to pay/subscribe.

 

[Angus Gibbins]

MS has. Office is now a subscribed software.
Compare All Microsoft Office Products | Microsoft Office

The Google apps was free at one point, then I heard they dropped the free program, and you have to pay/subscribe.

Apple have as well. Apple Music, Apple TV+, iCloud...

I'm pretty sure you can use Google Sheets/Docs/Slides for free but if you want to use G Suite (which you need if you want to use your own domain) it's subscription.

 

[Angus Gibbins]

One thing that annoys the hell out of me about the reporting on this is that Adobe didn't double the price of the Photography Bundle. The 1TB/$20 a month has been there for years. What they did was remove the lowest tier option.

 

[Angus Gibbins]

BTW, as a retired person, the subscription model is more of an issue than for someone pre-retirement and earning money.
I can keep using my old version of a sw that I bought, 5 or 10 years ago.
But in theory, with a subscription model, the sw could stop working as soon as your subscription ends. You are essentially renting the software.

The danger with this is, IF the company goes under, your software cannot "call home" and will shut down.​

This has happened with me to software that I purchased, and the company later goes out of business. So it fails when the sw "calls home" either on install (so you can use it but cannot reinstall it) or periodically during use (so could stop working).

A good/ethical software company will patch it so it doesn't need to call home before they completely go out of business.

A perpetual software package could stop working (with an OS update or similar), and if you're not under a valid support and maintenance agreement, you're as equally as hosed as a software subscription that needs to call home. If you have a subscription, generally you're entitled to the maintenance update that will resolve it.

I understand the frustrations but there are a number of benefits (other than the revenue) for the software vendor as well. Support and development costs and resources are minimised when there's a single version to support.

Also as someone who's worked in design studios and knows how stringent Adobe are with their commercial licensing, Creative Cloud is a huge win. (And let's face it, commercial licensing is where the money is).

 

[Angus Gibbins]

I would encourage anyone who has had enough of subscriptions to check out ACDSee Ultimate. It's got a catalog, RAW developer and layered editor in one and it's honestly an easy LR+PS replacement for most people.

Equally I'm plugging On1 Photo RAW. I've been a huge fan for a few years.

 

[tkbslc]

One thing that annoys the hell out of me about the reporting on this is that Adobe didn't double the price of the Photography Bundle. The 1TB/$20 a month has been there for years. What they did was remove the lowest tier option.

So the price didn't increase, but people will be spending twice as much money on the cheapest plan? That's some good salesperson math right there! One + zero = two?

 

[tkbslc]

MS has. Office is now a subscribed software.
Compare All Microsoft Office Products | Microsoft Office

The Google apps was free at one point, then I heard they dropped the free program, and you have to pay/subscribe.

MS Office is available standalone. $150 for a home license. You can also use it in a web browser for free with 5GB of storage. If you do subscribe, for $70 a year, you also get 1TB cloud space.

All google apps (Docs, Mail, Drive, etc) are free with 15GB of storage. You do give them the right to analyze all your stuff (but not share it) for marketing and research purposes, though. The only additional cost is for isolated corporate accounts or if you need additional storage space beyond 15GB.

Apple doesn't have any free versions, and their services really only work with Apple devices. But also doesn't use your data for marketing as they are not a marketing company like Google.

 

[Linh]

Equally I'm plugging On1 Photo RAW. I've been a huge fan for a few years.

I really wanted to like this, but felt it was just too early still (as of last year, haven't re-tried this year). I still contend I like the LR CC goal, mobile/desktop editing synced. But LR CC isn't anywhere near ready to at $10/mo alone, IMO. And not sure it's worth it in the long run anymore because what I want likely won't happen.

Looking at C1 as I can probably upgrade every other cycle, but it's a steep up front cost.

I'm still contracted out for half a year, and technically, they didn't pull the plan just yet, it's just hidden. $10/mo is on the border for fair for me as my photoshop use has gone down. So here's to hoping for competitors to bring up their game. Now only if they can also work on a Chromebook, heh.

 

[D7k1]

I really wanted to like this, but felt it was just too early still (as of last year, haven't re-tried this year). I still contend I like the LR CC goal, mobile/desktop editing synced. But LR CC isn't anywhere near ready to at $10/mo alone, IMO. And not sure it's worth it in the long run anymore because what I want likely won't happen.

Looking at C1 as I can probably upgrade every other cycle, but it's a steep up front cost.

I'm still contracted out for half a year, and technically, they didn't pull the plan just yet, it's just hidden. $10/mo is on the border for fair for me as my photoshop use has gone down. So here's to hoping for competitors to bring up their game. Now only if they can also work on a Chromebook, heh.

 

[Ranger Rick]

Pretty clear that Adobe has little-to-no credibility in the market, given the confusion they have repeatedly created with their various mixed messages over the past few years. Thus the rumors and confusion. One big website quoted a "clarification" from Adobe the other day, and that "clarification" was a summary of the various stories floating around the internet: $10 plan still available, go to a certain webpage or call in, we are trying various pricing schemes around the world, blah, blah. Certainly not confidence inspiring.

 

[Angus Gibbins]

So the price didn't increase, but people will be spending twice as much money on the cheapest plan? That's some good salesperson math right there! One + zero = two?

The price didn't increase. The $20/1TB plan didn't change. If the price did increase, it would be $20/30GB.

It's not sales person math, it's factual information. I didn't say I agree with it, but it's an important detail.

 

[Angus Gibbins]

Apple doesn't have any free versions, and their services really only work with Apple devices. But also doesn't use your data for marketing as they are not a marketing company like Google.

Apple have a free iCloud tier that includes iWork web apps. I'm pretty sure iWork apps for macOS and iOS are completely free now as well.

 

[DanS]

The price didn't increase. The $20/1TB plan didn't change. If the price did increase, it would be $20/30GB.

It's not sales person math, it's factual information. I didn't say I agree with it, but it's an important detail.

How about this then, they are experimenting with squeezing new customers more, by making it harder to purchase the $10 20GB plan!

 

[Angus Gibbins]

How about this then, they are experimenting with squeezing new customers more, by making it harder to purchase the $10 20GB plan!

Better.

 

[ralf-11]

Adobe is "testing the boundaries" -- like an unruly teen, they want to see what they can get away with.

 

[tkbslc]

The price didn't increase. The $20/1TB plan didn't change. If the price did increase, it would be $20/30GB.

It's not sales person math, it's factual information. I didn't say I agree with it, but it's an important detail.

Sorry, I'm not going to let you win this one!

If I could previously pay $10 and now I have to pay $20, then it costs me double.

Imagine you were paying $50 for 150Mbit internet, and suddenly your ISP drops everything except their existing $150 Gigabit plan. When your minimum possible bill is now $150 instead of $50, you wouldn't be telling me that the price of internet service did not go up.

 

[Angus Gibbins]

Sorry, I'm not going to let you win this one!

If I could previously pay $10 and now I have to pay $20, then it costs me double.

Imagine you were paying $50 for 150Mbit internet, and suddenly your ISP drops everything except their existing $150 Gigabit plan. When your minimum possible bill is now $150 instead of $50, you wouldn't be telling me that the price of internet service did not go up.

But the price of their $150 gigabit plan didn't go up. It's still the same plan.

Their minimum offering did increase though, I'll give you that.

 

[Angus Gibbins]

Had a think about it overnight. Communication and perception plays a lot.

The proper way to do this would've been to announce "We're killing the 30GB plan, if you're already on it you're grandfathered in". If Adobe had done that it probably wouldn't've been so bad.

 

[pake]

My first reaction was "Cr*p! I need to change my tools!" but then read more about it and checked my subscription status on Adobe's site. Luckily the site said my subscription is about to be renewed for the old price next month. So I can breathe at least for a year again. But I'm sure they will increase the price eventually and I better start testing the alternatives in the near future. I hate the subscription type and prefer "pay once and forget about it".

 

[Angus Gibbins]

I don't have a problem with the subscription model. For software that I care about I tend to upgrade every version/year so the TCO tends to level out for me anyway.

I do think overall subscription service is a better deal in most cases, but I don't trust Adobe to stay fair.