It was a marriage made in heaven. I purchased Photoshop shortly after switching
to digital photography. I had never paid
so much for software before but Adobe had a winner. About once a year, Adobe would release a new
version with marvelous new features. I
willingly upgraded each time up to Photoshop 7.
Adobe never released Photoshop 8. They announced Photoshop CS instead. They started breaking the software into
modules that interacted with each other.
They split Photoshop into two versions - the extended version was more expensive. It sounded great in their press
releases but it made my workflow more complicated. Instead of working for me the software
started working against me. Since couldn't move to the extended version as an upgrade, Photoshop CS was a watered down version of Photoshop.
About the time of Photoshop CS2, things got worse. Adobe announced a new file format - DNG. They said that the time would come when they
would no longer support older versions of file formats. They provided a DNG converter free of
charge. Once we had modified our files
to their format, we would always be able to work with them. They were doing this as a favor. Adobe also provided Camera Raw and soon you
had to buy the most recent version of Photoshop if you wanted to be able to use
the latest camera models. They
effectively cut out the past and future for those who didn't upgrade.
I did like one of the new modules that Adobe developed -
Lightroom. I started using it with
Lightroom 2. I found that I needed to
use Photoshop less as I started using Lightroom more. I liked Lightroom so much that I decided not to purchase
Photoshop CS5. Adobe had only made minor
changes and I didn't have a new camera.
This strategy worked for almost a year.
About the time I was expecting Photoshop CS6 to be released, Adobe
announced that only users of CS5 would be able to upgrade. They offered a small discount for Photoshop CS5. I purchased the Photoshop CS5 upgrade before
their deadline. The extortion had worked
for Adobe and their profits went up.
Photoshop CS6 didn't have any new features that I was
excited about, but I had learned my lesson.
I went to Amazon to purchase it and found out that it wasn't there. Adobe now was only selling it through their
own site. They didn't even want to
provide a CD with the purchase.
Photoshop CC was announced in June. I had learned that when Adobe changes the
name, bad things happened but I wasn't prepared for this one. Adobe had another new rule. They wanted me to pay a monthly fee to use
photoshop whether they had improved it or not.
They were also now selling space on the "cloud" so that I
could start paying a monthly charge for my files as well. This was the breaking point for me. I decided to continue to use Lightroom and my
Photoshop CS6 would have to do until I absolutely needed to move to something
new.
Apparently many others felt the same way, and Adobe offered
a "deal". I could subscribe for
10 dollars a month and would receive Photoshop CC as well as Lightroom if I was
a current user of CS6 and met a deadline date.
This deal is good as long as I maintain my subscription although the
fine print doesn't say exactly the same
thing that Adobe is promising. I need to
trust them.
I swallowed my pride and signed up. Adobe promptly allowed hackers to download all
of their credit card subscribers information.
Apparently Adobe isn't telling its stockholders the same thing that its
telling its users.
Today I read:
"The quicker
transition to subscriptions has a shorter-term downside: because customers pay smaller fees steadily over a long period
of time instead of a large sum at the beginning
of a purchase, revenues drop when the subscriptions begin. That's true of Adobe, and it's complicated by the fact
that it offered promotions to encourage people to make the change.
For example, earlier
Creative Suite customers can spend $30 a month instead of $50 for their first year for the full CC subscription
to all Adobe's software, and the company also has
a limited-term $10-per-month
Photoshop Photography Program option that gives access to Photoshop, Lightroom, cloud storage, and access to the
Behance professional network. "
Adobe is telling its stockholders that everyone loves the new
model and to expect massive increases in profit in future years.
Adobe should tell its stockholders that it is out of ideas and
now needs to rely on extortion and vague promises to maintain its user
base. It has become a commodity - a
monthly bill like a leased car. Nearly
everyone who wants Photoshop has it. The
only way to increase prices is to charge more or to offer something better. Adobe is looking at strike 3 with many of its
most loyal users - including myself. If
someone else starts to market a similar product, I'm ready to leave. If you
own Adobe stock, I wouldn't count on Photoshop to increase future profits. The band may be playing but the ship is going
down.
