Tech Tuesday—Adobe Creative Cloud Preview

Unless you’ve been living on a deserted island for the past week, chances are you already know that Adobe has made a big, bold move with its Creative Suite products. Rebranded as Creative Cloud, Photoshop CC (as it is now known) and all other suite components will be subscription-based only. Don’t panic yet: CS6 (including Photoshop) will continue to be available as a perpetual license product and will be supported by Adobe, at least for a while. But if you want the latest updates and features, you’ll need to go to the cloud.

Not surprisingly, the news–announced at this year’s Adobe Max conference–has caused quite a stir (and even a petition against the move). You can read more about it in John Rettie’s Digital Guru column in the coming July issue of Rangefinder and on the Adobe site, but here are a few quick facts. (Read the full FAQs here.)

• The software is downloaded to your computer so you don’t need an Internet connection to use the application but you do have to log on every 30 days to validate your license. However, you have a grace period and can use the software for 99 days without going online.
• Various subscription options are available including annual membership or, for a higher fee, a month-to-month membership. Plans include those for individuals, teams, enterprise, students/teachers for either the full complement of products or a single application.
• Special discounts are available to current owners of CS3 and later for the first year. For example, a single application (only one per customer) will cost you $10 a month with a one-year commitment but you’ll need to join by July 31, 2013.

Be sure to read the fine print and do the math before you join up. A cloud-based subscription may make sense for your business. Then again, you may be one of many who would rather own than lease. What are your thoughts? Will you be subscribing? Staying with your current version of Creative Suite? Looking for an alternative? Let us know.