Adobe Systems, the maker the popular Creative Suite that includes Photoshop, Illustrator, Flash, After Effects, Dreamweaver and Acrobat has announced the current versions will be the last. The company will discontinue the sale of “one-and-done” boxed or purchased software in favor of a cloud-based “software-as-a-service” scheme.
Many readers will need an English translation of that: Adobe is abandoning the sales model that allows customers to purchase a software license and continue using it as long as they wish. The new paradigm will be a subscription-based model requiring customers to connect to the internet and pay for a time-limited subscription and continue paying as long as they use the program.
A number of Information Technology pundits see this as the future of software and to my knowledge Adobe is the largest company yet to make this move. The most telling facet of this decision is that Adobe believes internet connectivity is now ubiquitous enough they can afford to kiss off any customers not connected to the net. If you cannot connect to the internet you will have a hard time using their software.
Adobe’s “Creative Cloud” applications are still installed on your local computer and are not “in the cloud,” rather the internet is used for file storage, synchronization, etc. Because Adobe will no longer be selling boxed software or disks, users will download the “Creative Cloud” applications and subscribe online.
Coincidentally, the announcement of this news from Adobe came on the exact same day I was involved in helping my friend Gary to recover his computer that had finally become so unstable he was unable to use it. Fixing his problems involved doing a complete replacement of his old Windows Vista software with Windows 7 and reinstallation of all his software, including Adobe Photoshop, etc. This was a lot easier said than done because some of our conversations went like this:
Me: “Okay Gary, where is the installation CD for Photoshop?”
Gary: “I dunno, I bought it years ago, not sure I still have it around here any more.”
Me: “Then do you have your receipt, your account number, or anything?”
Gary: “I dunno, that was all years ago.”
Well, it was not quick or easy but we did eventually find the installation medium and serial numbers for all Gary’s software, but not before Adobe threw one last obstacle in our path. When you reinstall one of their programs you must have the serial number, and if the program you bought last year was an upgrade of an earlier version then you also have to have the other serial number for the prior version you bought many years ago.
After going through this frustrating ordeal I think Gary was glad to know that in the future he will not need to keep track of all those different Adobe serial numbers… customers only need to have a valid credit card number with an adequate credit limit. Gary was somewhat less enthused with the idea of paying hundreds of dollars to Adobe for his software, then paying again next year, then again every year after that.
For Adobe, the benefits are clear. Their new subscription model ensures a stable revenue stream and will drastically reduce software piracy. For customers, there the benefits of having software that is constantly kept up to date, and no more serial numbers to misplace.
For the Information Technology world as a whole, the growth of subscription-based software as a service may bring about an increase in the popularity of lower-priced software alternatives. Adobe’s Photoshop is a good case in point because a certain percentage of its users are sure to decide that using a free program such as Gimp is better than paying hundreds of dollars every year.
Occasional Reporter contributor Charles Miller is a freelance computer consultant with more than 20 years IT experience and a Texan with a lifetime love for Mexico. The opinions expressed are his own. He may be contacted through his web site at SMAguru.com.