News - Adobe financials impacted by move to cloud subscription apps

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Profit slips by 46% but company edges over analyst estimates for earnings.

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I will never be using Adobe software now, I don't want all this cloud crap. No wonder their profits are down, I don't want my software always linked to the internet! I'll just use GIMP for photo editing thanks

I'm not exactly keen on subscription software... even more so when it all stops working once you stop paying for the subscription, unless adobe have changed that recently. Adobe have one aspect of their business model that many others don't, they are the defacto (might as well say only) software used in graphic design/print etc and until there is something which is as good/better thats gets the same level of uptake professional users are screwed. There is no other option but to subscribe or use the old software, luckily it's not like adobe does much to the software year on year....

MS isn't much better with office, I'll be sticking with my office 2010 until I need to change it then I'm sure I can find a free alternative, at least they're not as stupidly overpriced.

I prefer the pay for software and then pay for an 'updates' subscription package along the lines of autodesk, you still get to keep the software even if you cancel the subscription. I don't mind this approach purely due to the fact I still have working software if I stop paying the subscription. Autodesk also have the option of renting continuously or for short periods.

You mean investor expectations of 'cloud' were unrealistic? Surely not. Maybe they should do a bit of market research before trying to coerce consumers into profit-pumping business models.

Serves them right. I too would never pay / month for any software. It works out to be more expensive in the long run. The software is never completely yours. You stop subscribing and the software stops working!

Unfortunately, this is almost the same model that other software like Norton Antivirus are following. You buy the software and after your 1 year expires, you no longer get new virus definitions. On older versions, you didn't get software updates but did get the virus definitions. Now, you have to pay twice!

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Originally Posted by OilSheikh

Unfortunately, this is almost the same model that other software like Norton Antivirus are following. You buy the software and after your 1 year expires, you no longer get new virus definitions. On older versions, you didn't get software updates but did get the virus definitions. Now, you have to pay twice!

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Luckily in the case of Norton there are other alternatives out there that are as good (or better) for free, sadly with 'industry standard' software that isn't the case :(

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Originally Posted by OilSheikh

Serves them right. I too would never pay / month for any software. It works out to be more expensive in the long run. The software is never completely yours. You stop subscribing and the software stops working!

Unfortunately, this is almost the same model that other software like Norton Antivirus are following. You buy the software and after your 1 year expires, you no longer get new virus definitions. On older versions, you didn't get software updates but did get the virus definitions. Now, you have to pay twice!

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The software is never yours (unless it is open source) you only have a licence to use it, and that licence can theoretically, be withdrawn at any time. With cloud or internet connections, that theory has become a reality.

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Originally Posted by LSG501

Luckily in the case of Norton there are other alternatives out there that are as good (or better) for free, sadly with 'industry standard' software that isn't the case :(

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IIRC Microsoft proposed annual licensing for Windows XP, but quietly dropped it in the face of opposition from the corporations, but I\'d lay a small amount of money that the technology is still built in there "just in case".

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Originally Posted by Wozza365

I will never be using Adobe software now, I don't want all this cloud crap. No wonder their profits are down, I don't want my software always linked to the internet! I'll just use GIMP for photo editing thanks

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This is a common error - it doesn't always have to be linked to the internet all the time. I've had the entire creative suite now for 2 years (maybe 3, can't recall now) and it doesn't need an internet connection to work. It verifies online once a month but that's it. People are generally always online anyway so I really don't see an issue. You'd generally have to update gimp etc from time to time as well.

Admittedly I only pay £22 a month for it but I honestly can't fault it. It keeps everything up to date, all the applications interact seamlessly and I always get the latest versions and most up to date features. Not to mention its the industry standard for many professionals in a lot of the creative industries.

Don't wanna sound like I'm trying to sell it (I don't work for for them, honest!) but I think a lot of people have made up their mind without having tried it.

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Originally Posted by Wozza365

I will never be using Adobe software now, I don't want all this cloud crap. No wonder their profits are down, I don't want my software always linked to the internet! I'll just use GIMP for photo editing thanks

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You use GIMP for photo editing. Wow! :geek: I could never quite get my head around it - then again that was 2 years ago, it's probably completely different by now. Inkscape, on the other hand, I really like.
And unlike the Adobe stuff, both of these are cross-platform. :D

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Originally Posted by aidanjt

You mean investor expectations of 'cloud' were unrealistic? Surely not. Maybe they should do a bit of market research before trying to coerce consumers into profit-pumping business models.

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I'm not that happy with Adobe's use of the "cloud" in this case - smacks very much of "oh, 'cloud' is the current buzzword, we'll tack that onto our PR material". To me, a cloud licensing scheme would effectively what us non-PR-obsessed old geezers called "floating licensing". Recollections of many happy (sarcasm) hours spent trying to get FlexLM working reliably...

And here I'm going to agree with you - while floating licenses, (okay, call it "cloud" if you must!), are pretty reasonable for businesses - they make slightly more than zero sense for a consumer setup. And it's the same deal with subscriptions - getting av definitions via subs are probably an okay use, but try and switch - for example - an OS to a subscription model and I'll avoid that product like the plague.

And here's what worries me, statements like "The number is set to grow further with when the Adobe abandons product license sales completely and switches to a subscription-only business mode" shouts to me that non-business products, specifically the "Elements" line (Photoshop and Premier), are going to be moved to this too in due course. In which case, Adobe can count me out as a customer (I've got Photoshop Elements at the moment).

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Originally Posted by OilSheikh

Unfortunately, this is almost the same model that other software like Norton Antivirus are following. You buy the software and after your 1 year expires, you no longer get new virus definitions. On older versions, you didn't get software updates but did get the virus definitions. Now, you have to pay twice!

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If you don't mind me saying that's a pretty scummy move by Symantec. No new features I can see the point of, but missing out on AV definitions means that the software is going to be as good as useless in 2-3 months. Thankfully there's plenty of alternatives, (free and otherwise), to save having to deal with that kind of arrogant nonsense.

Yeah I could have seen this coming, as should have their decision makers. Maybe they have some longer term projections that suggest it'll pick up after the initial dip.

Their software is good, but was always expensive. £9 a month for the photography stuff is pretty good to be honest - I'm fine with GIMP at the moment, but am tempted to switch.

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Originally Posted by peterb

IIRC Microsoft proposed annual licensing for Windows XP, but quietly dropped it in the face of opposition from the corporations, but I'd lay a small amount of money that the technology is still built in there "just in case".

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Don't they kind of already pay an annual license fee in some cases, it's just labelled as a support fee or similar. In a big business I would probably consider licensing an os with support if priced right, especially if it means getting rid of the it staff (sorry it guys :p) as it could save money. Pricing would be key here and if it just stopped working if you stopped paying or the 'subscription' was for the updates.

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Originally Posted by george1979

Don't wanna sound like I'm trying to sell it (I don't work for for them, honest!) but I think a lot of people have made up their mind without having tried it.

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Well I have tried cloud cs, cs6 was exactly the same when it was released, it still isn't the much different. And my email account, which is only linked with them, thanks them for the increase in spam from the 'security breach', luckily I had no bank details with them.


Crossy theres always gimpshop, which has a photoshop skin on top of gimp :)

Kalniel, this is meant to be a long term plan for adobe.... and I can understand why, get everyone on the subscription model where you have to keep paying to use it and then jack up the prices because as a user you're screwed because they would have you over a barrel, there is no other choice but to keep paying.

I'd still love to have revenue of 1 billion dollars a year.... Still 44 million dollars profit is quite a bad profit margin but still a profit.

They offer PS for about 8 quid a month. I spend that on coffee easily.

I hope now they will reconsider a retail version and make cloud optional.
I mean cloud is cool and all, but for small creative offices like mine, it may not be always easy to keep up with payments. Unlike the retail copies which work even if we have no money to upgrade to newer versions.
So if you have a couple of bad months you are in danger to be locked out from your tools of trade, because it is not like my utilities like power and water where I can negotiate the payment.

One plus point of a subscription service came to mind last night - at least with a subscription service you don't get the "hard sell" to upgrade to the latest/greatest version.

As an example, we're in Q3 of this year, yet Acronis is already pushing "True Image 2015" upgrades quite intrusively, (and at a price that exceeds what I paid for "True Image 2014" initially). It occurred to me that if Acronis were doing a subscription model then I'd just get TI2015 when it was ready.

Downside, of course, being the temptation to "deactivate" your software if you've not got a current subscription, in which case I'd argue strongly that you've not bought the software - you're merely renting it. :(