Change to Photoshop Upgrade Policy

[ianw]

I'm not sure how many have noticed this, or how many it might affect.  Adobe is changing their upgrade policy for Photoshop and some other applications in the CS suite.  See http://blogs.adobe.com/conversations/2011/11/adobe-creative-cloud-and-adobe-creative-suite-new-choices-for-customers.html

Previously you could move to a new version of the software via the cheaper "upgrade" option if you were currently running the same software within 3 versions.  Therefore when Photoshop CS5 came out you could "upgrade" if you were on CS2, CS3 or CS4.  If you were on CS1 you had to pay the full amount for the new software.

Now you will only be able to "upgrade" if you are on the previous version of the software.  This means that when CS6 comes out next year you must already be running CS5 or CS5.5.  When CS7 comes out in mid 2014 - and Adobe has confirmed that releases will be regularly scheduled from now on - you will only be able to upgrade if on CS6 or CS6.5.

Now I'm still running with CS3 so would need to upgrade to CS5 before upgrading to CS6.  Each of these upgrades might cost me almost £200 and if I don't do this then paying for the full CS6 might cost nearly £600.

There is an alternative, and this would probably be Adobe's preference - which is to subscribe to their Creative Cloud, at probably £50 per month.  Doing this would provide a more regular income for Adobe.  It would also take out the companies in between that sell their software - my last upgrade came from Amazon as it was cheaper than direct from Adobe.  Of course you would get a lot more software for your money as you get access to everything in their Master Collection.  However I'm sure I don't need Illustrator, InDesign, Flash, Fireworks or most of the rest of this package.

There is a special offer at the moment from Adobe where you can get 20% off the upgrade to CS5.  So it looks as if I have until the end of December to decide what I'm going to do.

Ian

[Valeria Lages]

   Hi, Ian,

   I'm still running with CS3 too because I use LR for the most of my work and I rarely feel the need to send any pic to PS. However, I'd like to upgrade my PS before this new Adobe policy comes out.  Could you please let us up to date when/if you find something new about that?

   Thanks,

   Valeria

[johnbeardy]

I've been advising people that if they are on CS3 or CS4, it is time to upgrade to CS5. Although the price of upgrading CS5 to CS6 won't be known until CS6 is announced sometime next year, I'm confident that upgrading to CS5 while Adobe are offering a 20% discount and then to CS6 will be better value for money than spending the full amount, and I'm not sure why anyone who already owns Photoshop would want to go down the rental route (though some occasional car users in big cities get rid of their cars and do rely on rental / sharing schemes, so you never know).

As well as the simple cost calculation, also factor in the benefit of new CS4/CS5 features. Photographers who use Lightroom still benefit from CS4/CS5 improvements to Adobe Camera Raw - they can use Edit as Smart Object which provides a more flexible workflow. There's also 64 bit support which gives you faster performance on 64 bit computers with more RAM. Then there are more specific features. Content Aware Fill is wonderful, Content Aware Scaling can be a huge timesaver, and Puppet Warp is grossly misnamed (it's far more useful), and these are just three tools that a Lightroom-using friend is already finding valuable in his pretty-conservative use of Photoshop.

John

[ianw]

John,

I've bitten the bullet and purchased the CS5 upgrade.  Thanks to a neighbour who accepted the delivery I now have it, although yet to install.

I had not upgraded so far for a couple of reasons.  First my desktop PC is an old and slow machine and even CS3 struggles a bit.  I probably won't apply the upgrade on this machine.  However my laptop is newer and much faster and I'm sure I'll see the 64-bit benefit on this.  The second reason is that I probably use less than 10% of the features in Photoshop regularly, at least if you consider them numerically.  I'm sure the things you describe do add value for some but they don't really justify the outlay I've just made.  As some of the posts on more Photoshop specific forums have stated most users don't have compelling reasons to upgrade each time a new version comes out - and therefore are upset with Adobe's new policy.

As for renting software I don't like the concept of this.  I'm someone who likes to have the physical item - I still buy CDs, even if I then rip them!  I also still like the feel of paper, so read real books.

I've seen Adobe quote $50 per month for the Creative Suite Master Collection.  I initially thought this was expensive - particularly as this will become £50 or €50 due to their unfair exchange rates - but when the whole package can cost £210 per month to subscribe to in the UK it does look to be of value.  It may be that $50 per month only gets you part of the suite - we'll have to wait and see.  Of course Adobe want to tie you in to their software and produce a regular and reliable flow of income and you can't blame them.  Maybe they'll make the pricing more attractive to hook you. The danger of this is that anyone who subscribes then has no exit strategy other than paying for a full one-off license or to stop using the software.  When the cost becomes $60 per month in a year what can anyone do about it?  My worry is that I use my laptop a lot now and always have the wireless connection turned off.  How will it validate your license?  Each time you use it or once a month?

The irony is that for brand new users it is more of bargain than for those of us who have paid for previous versions.  I got Photoshop CS as it was on offer as an "upsell" from Elements on a laptop I bought 8 years ago.  Even then it wasn't cheap!  I've paid for 2 upgrades since.  Anyone starting photography now doesn't have that initial outlay to think about, so maybe subscribing is better for them.

Ian

[johnbeardy]

A few details, Ian. The $50, sadly probably £50, does get you the full suite and is very likely to include Lightroom as well as these other tablet apps and cloud services. I'd bet on other suite packages being offered, but nothing has been said about that or about the cost of renting individual apps. As now, you are licenced for two computers, but there's no longer the silly limitation by brand - you can have a Mac laptop and PC desktop. Also as now, all the main apps are installed locally, and validation is only once every 30 days.

Even though these terms aren't too horrible, I do agree with you about being left with nothing when you stop renting. Maybe they'll offer a discount on buying the full product? But that's just speculation - and I doubt it would be like our old hire purchase where your rentals go towards the cost of buying. So unless future upgrade prices are hiked to excessive levels, I'm not attracted to renting. I just can't see why I would ever want to (unlike occasionally renting odd lenses or MF gear) but brand new users may find it more seductive.

John