My Adobe Creative Cloud Experiment

We’ve written about how Adobe has introduced the Creative Cloud which basically for a nominal monthly fee lets you download and use just about every Adobe creative application as long as your subscription is active.  There’s both pros and cons to this, but being that I can get the first year for just $30/month, I decided to try it out and see if going the way of the cloud is reasonable. 

I’ll be posting on experiences throughout the year.

7-5-2012 12-15-42 PM

10,466 views 12 replies
Reply #1 Top

Well from my view point, which is very narrow, $30 a month over a year turns into what some folks would say is real money. 

Reply #2 Top

I think that unless one owns the Master Collection, this might be worthwhile... especially for a graphic artist working on his own. The problem I see would be being able to line up projects to make enough to make this worthwhile.

Still, there must be folks trying it and/or using it, or Adobe would scrap it. Maybe even companies, depending on group/commercial licensing negotiations. 

Reply #3 Top

The big ad-agencies in Sweden charge up to 3 - 400 dollars per hour so if if ad-agencies around the world charge similar..... Absolutely a good investment.

 

Reply #4 Top

I'll talk about pricing in another post, but lets look at the basics.

Full version, first-time customer (Creative Cloud)

$50/month = $600 year.

Full version CS6 Master edition.

$2500

Reply #5 Top

cost me around $850 to upgrade when a new version comes out ... as I will be migrating to OSX, I did look at the cloud version.

They charge $62/month down here in OZ <_<

Still I will be trying it out at the start of the new year. I will keep an eye out to see how you go with it.

Reply #6 Top

Quoting Island, reply 4
I'll talk about pricing in another post, but lets look at the basics.

Full version, first-time customer (Creative Cloud)

$50/month = $600 year.

Full version CS6 Master edition.

$2500
End of Island's quote

Makes good business sense... too bad it doesn't give any 'credit' toward eventual purchase, but that isn't really as necessary as I once felt.  I do see how it could make sense for folks... 

One thing... you'd need a really great graphics education to really take advantage of all the apps there. Having a photographic memory wouldn't hurt [honestly, no pun intended].

Reply #7 Top

Not only do you pay $600 a year instead of the initial $2500 but you have to factor in upgrade costs.  With the cloud version you're always up-to-date without having to plunk down another $1000+ every year or so.  If you have a small business, a fixed monthly charge is easier to manage than large purchase charges to keep the programs updated.  If you have a graphics business that can't afford $50 a month you're not going to afford $1000+ in one chunk either.

Reply #8 Top

Better yet, find another graphics program. Adobe is WAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY overpriced! :S

Reply #9 Top

I like the whole premise, but $30.00 a month? 

We still argue over the 14.99 for WoW and whether it's played that much compared to PS3 or XBox in our house.

Do they offer a 'lifetime' membership, like WoW or STOL? (Not trying to compare gaming to Adobe)

Reply #10 Top

Photoshop may be "overpriced", but not much can compare to it.  

Reply #11 Top

Quoting Island, reply 10
Photoshop may be "overpriced", but not much can compare to it.  
End of Island's quote

I agree. I don't know if it's because I am used to PS, but I have tried some other programs and just can't seem to either get the feel for it or like the results. 

Reply #12 Top

On a related note, sounds like MS will offer a cloud version of its full Office 2013 for $2 to $6 a month.