Hi There
I just wanted to add some news about Adobe and their issue on Bluesky (the new social network), the details are here :
Any comment ?
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I donāt think it has a single thing to do with Twitter aka X or Bluesky. I think it has everything to do with people being sick of Adobeās business practices.
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Hey Red, your point about this feeling like itās about Adobeās overall business practices really resonates. Thereās definitely a lot of frustration out there with the subscription model and how things have evolved.
You know, while I totally get that feeling of being nickel-and-dimed and the desire for more affordable options, I was also thinking about it from a slightly different angle. When you look at the full Adobe Creative Cloud suite, even though ā¬60 a month can feel like a chunk of change, it actually covers a massive range of incredibly powerful, industry-standard software. Itās almost like the āpetrolā or ongoing costs for a professional creative āvehicleā ā if that makes sense! Compared to other regular expenses, like car payments or even our TV and internet subscriptions, itās perhaps not completely out of line for what you get.
Itās not great for hobbyissts or aspiring designers who face what seems like a steep expense to get a player on the board - a poker chip buy-in at high stakes for little reward at the start - maybe people are just afraid to or canāt afford to play a hand, which hurts them, the global landscape for economics and reachability as soared since the age of the internet.
If adobe is going to position itself as the industry standard and go-to software - then accessiblity needs to be paramount and barriers to entry could be reduced, I know they have student models of pricing, but not everyone can even afford to or has the option to get to an acredited source. A lot rely on really bad youtube videos, and influencers who want to suck people in with niche things for likes and clicks - clickbatit if you will.
If itās going to be premium grade software that businesses and pros rely on, then itās going to price people out of the game. But then they should deliver top-tier quality comprhensive suite with updates that work out of the box. Thereās too many times, especially when Apple update their OS, and/or InDesign releases an update (and itās worse when these releases clash) the amount of people on the forums that cannot get the software to work is mind-blowing - at least to me.
So, while I agree there are definitely issues with Adobeās practices that people are rightly upset about, part of the strong reaction on Bluesky might also be down to the price point being a barrier for many, and the availability of alternative software that undercuts them. Itās a tricky balance between making professional tools accessible and maintaining a business model that supports ongoing development of such a complex suite.
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I havenāt paid for Adobeās subscription for a single day. Not so much because it would have doubled my licence costs, but mainly because it wanted to force me to participate forever.
The fact that I would no longer be able to open my own work, let alone edit it, if I decided to opt for a competitorās product instead of Adobe, was absolutely incompatible with my love of freedom as an entrepreneur.
Furthermore, I thought it was likely that a company that could escape the pressure of competition would make less of an effort.
Adobe could also have choosen to let its customers book parts of CreativeCloud completely free of choice, instead of just one or all of them. Adobe could also have let customers use software in the last paid version after the end of their subscription as long as it works.
But they didnāt want to.
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As a large format printer, I donāt care. Tools is tools and overhead is overhead.
Where Adobe/Apple consumers run into issues is when they allow Auto-Update. When your work depends on your machines working, you pick and choose the time for the updates, and always after the .1 update comes out. Never first day. I have to get one machine up and running on any new update and make sure it is compatible with everything in the shop before doing any other unit in the shop. I often skip every other Apple update just because of the hassle. Canāt skip on the Adobewares cuz - customers.
The thing that is a time suck is the Pantone subscription and how poorly it integrates with Adobewares. Every time I have to log in to just use a plug-in Pantone gets a nastygram at my first opportunity thereafter. Doesnāt matter to them in the slightest.
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I totally get Joeās point. I put it similar to buying a car, the moment you stop putting petrol in it youāre locked out of itās use. You might own the car (computer, you rent the right to access it as long as you keep fuelling their (subscription) system.
Adobeās model is that you only ever License the software, you never own it. Their main issue was that as the years rolled on, the version control was too difficult to maintain, with Some people still on CS1 when they were releaseing CC (after CS66) - some people ālicensedā once and never got another update again. So maintaining support going back 20 years is pretty difficult. Right now itās 2 versions back. I have 2022, 2023 + installed, and not removing them, because once I do I canāt get them again. So Iām keeping them installed.
And the idea that software keeps working 20 years in the future is not realistic, youād need to upgrade at some point anyway.
The idea that you canāt open your own work once you stop paying feels wrong. Not just inconvenient ā> wrong. I get itās not about being cheap or wanting everything for free. Itās about basic ownership and access.
Meanwhile, alternatives like Affinity are saying: āHereās the car, pay once and itās yours. No surprise fuel charges.ā And Canva? Theyāre handing out e-scooters on every corner not as powerful, but dead simple, fast and (for many) good enough.
And as PrintDriver said, yeah, when youāre in a production-heavy workflow and the clients expect PSDs, INDDs or vector files in Illustrator, you have to stay in the Adobe lane. The whole industryās still built around it.
But that just reinforce Joeās point. That weāre not sticking with Adobe purely by choice, but because we canāt leave without consequences?
Thatās not loyalty, thatās dependency.
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My take, for what itās worth
I donāt mind the subscription model and donāt really see it as a barrier to entry.
When I first went freelance, back in to 90s, I needed to buy a Mac. It cost me Ā£1500 back then, which was a lot of money. On top of that, I needed, I seem to remember, around Ā£600+ for quark, then, I think it was about Ā£300 for photoshop. Then illustrator, etc. A few years later creative suite came out, as it was that industry transition from quark to indesign, so I had to have both. Back then it was a lot of money for someone starting out. A Mac and a subscription for every bit of software you need, always upgraded, it a bargain, Iād say. The only difference, back then, there were loads of dodgy ways to get pirate copies, which many did, so you cannot blame Adobe for wanting to find a way to stamp that out. Itās their intellectual property after all.
Done the old way, every 18 months you needed to upgrade your software for a few hundred pounds, so it probably all worked out much of a muchness in relative costsā¦
As for being locked out of your work, I have every single job I ever did archived. There are tons of old quark files I canāt touch now. Goes with the territory.
For what you get, Ā£50-60 a month is not much, especially when it allows you to make your annual income with it.
A friend of mine works in vfx and I remember back in the day the company he was working for in New York paid thousands a year per seat for flame software and harry edit suites. It was eye-watering amounts and that was 30 years ago.
We are all getting amazing powerful software for the cost of a couple of tv subscriptions. Sure there are niggles and Adobe are not the ethical giant killers they were when they were fighting quark for position, but discounting all the other software, indesign alone more than justifies its monthly cost for me ā and Iāll bet Iām not alone in that.
Your phone probably cost you more per month.
Mine doesnāt, because I donāt have one!
I started my small business in the fall of 1997. I have archived every single job since then. I keep a virtualization of Snow Leopard to run old software and open old files. Iām not so sure about the first three years or so of Quark files, but for the rest, like Freehand and of course old Adobe files, I can still open and export and even edit them. Not that I need it much. I just donāt want to be held to ransom 
.
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I do get it. it does feel like being held to ransom, because this is not just about obsolete formats, like cupboards full of VHS videos you bought 20 years ago., Youād be locked out of all current work too.
Eventually, someone will do to them what they did to quark, because young, hungry and being the underdog has far more drive and urgency than rich, established and a little bit conceited. In the end having the monopoly and wealth becomes complacent and blinkered.
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In my opinion, I truly think Adobe should go back to the paid version model over the subscription.
To be locked out of your work just doesnāt sit well with me.
I canāt wait for the day I get ālocked outā of my work.
Retirement seems to be just another pipe dream thoughā¦ 
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To me, the recent concerns about Adobe on Bluesky seem typical for those who are dissatisfied with the company. However, what I find awkward are the YouTube creators who enthusiastically proclaim, āI FOUND THE BEST Replacement for ADOBE!!! YAAAAAAY!!!ā (LOL). They talk in detail about alternative software, like Affinity Software, and other options. While itās true that there are programs that can serve as substitutes for Adobe software, they often lack the same functionalities or user experience. Ironically, many of these same people who claim to have found an alternative end up going back to using the new Adobe software anyway.
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Yes, the complaints about Adobe are old, but theyāre still festering.
Iāve been using Adobe software since the 1980s, but I anticipate cancelling my Creative Cloud subscription during the next year as I ease into retirement. Iāve primarily relied on InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop, and Acrobat. I can easily get by using the Affinity Suite for future needs (Iāve been using Affinity off and on for about five years). The exception to my planned switch to Affinity is Acrobat, which Iāll subscribe to separately.
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Being in-house I donāt pay for it, my company does. But I did buy the Affinity Suite more just to familiarize myself with it and to see what it could and couldnāt do. I will say for most hobbyists, I would think that Affinity can do pretty much anything they would generally be doing.
I will say that as someone mentioned earlier, the biggest benefit of the subscription model is general version control. No more worrying (for the most part) about what version you have, versus what a vendor has, versus what some contractor might have.
And while not just Adobe, I think my biggest issue is everything seems to be a subscription now. Death by a million subscriptions.
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This is my issue. I am completely burned out on the subscription model.
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The cheaper it is to run a graphic design business, the more people will flood into it. If the Adobe subscription keeps people out, I say hooray.
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Unfortunately, Adobe recently discontinued the ability to purchase a perpetual license of Acrobat Pro, leaving you with the subscription or Callas PDF Toolbox Desktop. I also still use Acrobat with Affinity, but I will have a look at Video: Output Preview and Color Separation ā PDF Studio Knowledge Base
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Fortunately for me Iāve found a work-around for all my design softwares.
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