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If you have any suite of CS3 or newer you can get an annual subscription for $29 a month. After the first year it reverts to the normal subscription pricing. Not too shabby for the entire line-up of Adobe products.

 prototype, on 23 April 2012 - 05:29 AM, said:

I find their whole subscription program disingenuous. Sure, some people will find it a good deal, but everything is priced to push you to subscriptions, which they can disable if you don't continue to pay. (Sure, they say they won't, but they also said their apps were on an 18-24 month cycle, and you could upgrade from three versions back, too.)

For example, upgrade to Photoshop extended is $349. For $50 more you get the Design Suite Premium. How does that many any sense whatsoever? Oh, right, pay $30 a month. And they promise to upgrade every year. So at $240 a month, that doesn't sound so bad. But for lots of people, who were used to skipping upgrades (which is not allowed any more once you have CS6) can no longer do that.

Me? I upgrade every version. So I suppose it makes sense to buy a year's subscription to Photoshop. It's my main tool. (Though Lightroom 4 is taking over a lot of that now.) Been using it every day at work since '92. But is there a subscription for the Design Suite Premium? No. I have to pay $50 a month, or $600 a year, or I have to pay $400 a year for just the Design Suite Premium in a box, with no access to all the other apps or the online stuff.

Greed has turned Adobe into another Microsoft or Google. And it's just pathetic that there aren't way more protests over this ridiculous set of policies. Monopolies can't help themselves.

This post has been edited by leicaman: 23 April 2012 - 06:48 AM

This Creative Cloud may or may not prove popular, but what I want to know is:

1. Whether the new version of InDesign will generate ePUb of high enough quality the code doesn't have to be hand-edited.

2. Whether Adobe and Amazon have worked together to create a KF8 export function of ID.

@Inkling

1. The ePub export for InDesign CS6 has been dramatically improved. Now inline frames will write the proper code for color, position and padding. You also now have the ability to set left/right float for custom anchored objects. Here is an overview of more of the new features for ID CS6 http://www.lynda.com...es/97407-2.html

2. No, there is nothing directly in CS6 that allows you to export to Kindle. However there are plug-ins from amazon that will let you do that.

Sorry, but Illustrator is even older than Photoshop, so the assessment of it being the oldest component of the CS suit is erroneous if trivial.

"The Design Standard package and the Master Collection contain all of the elements of the Design and Web Premium and the Production Premium. The Design Standard caters mostly to print designers while the Master Collection gathers all the programs together in one box or download."

I'm fairly certain that Design Standard only includes a subset of the Master Collection or indeed the Design and Web Premium!

 leicaman, on 23 April 2012 - 06:44 AM, said:

Oh for crying out loud - look, software publishers need revenue to stay in business and pump out those updates you were criticizing them from not delivering on. Way to try to have it both ways...

Subscriptions and maintenance in leu of upgrade pricing are an acknowledgement of the market - the reality is there isn't much more leeway for new licensing. Markets for traditional computers are pretty much saturated.

So, while the subscription pricing may not appeal to everyone - be thankful for those who it is appealing since it will help keep updates down for the rest of us.

Unless you think Adobe should just provide updates for free, that is...

With the Creative Cloud will you be able to use CS6 on more than one computer? I have a laptop and two computers I use all the time. Can I install the programs on each machine for the $50 a month?

 DocNo, on 23 April 2012 - 08:23 PM, said:

I think the special offer of $30 month is right on the mark. To me, that's the sweet spot; it got me to pre-order for the year! I do think that $50 month is a bit steep. I'll have some some to think about it and perhaps Adobe calculates that I'll bite after a year. I think it's interesting that they offer up all 14+ apps to you. We all know that we won't be using them all because, oh yeah, there's a learning curve!

 DocNo, on 23 April 2012 - 08:23 PM, said:

I concur, Adobe is a business and only stays in business by making money. Get too big and make too much profit and all of a sudden you're greedy? Companies by design, especially publicly held ones, are designed to maximize profit. You may as well be asking the sun not to shine.

Time will tell whether or not the subscription model proves more profitable, but personally if you use more than 2 or 3 items in the suite I think you're actually coming out ahead... I guess it depends on how often you upgrade though.

 DianeMeyer, on 24 April 2012 - 01:09 PM, said:

I'm curious about this as well. As a freelancer I'm all over the place with my stuff, using multiple computers, owned by me and clients. The term "Cloud" suggests being able to access from anywhere but I'm sure there's limitations on where you can log in from otherwise people would just share accounts. Maybe they limit it by simultaneous log ins? IPs? I'd be curious to hear more details on this. Wasn't able to find anything on Adobe's site.

 DianeMeyer, on 24 April 2012 - 01:09 PM, said:

This is exactly my question too.
Does anybody know the answer??

Thanks

Trying not to stray off topic too much, but:
I just bought CS5.5 since it offered a free upgrade to CS6, and gave me the 5.5/5.1 revisions that would allow me to better support clients locked into these versions.
HOWEVER... Acrobat X Pro will not reliably launch or stay open for more than a minute or two. I've rounded up all of the usual suspects (caches, permissions, de- and re-installs) to no avail. A quick search shows this is a widespread problem, but no one seems to have an answer.
I need a fix, and a strong reassurance that CS6 won't deliver even more headaches.