I for one think Apple needs to turn aperture into a photoshop competitor.
For me, that's already the case. I use Aperture for 99% of my image cataloging, image editing, and image printing.
Photoshop gets used once in a blue moon, which is exactly why it's easy for me to tell Adobe to go screw themselves. This recent special sale only proves that Adobe is realizing it screwed up. Adobe won't get a another chance from me.
I liked it when the subscription was on option, but now that it's required I'm not so sure. When Adobe bought out macromedia, their biggest competition, I thought ther innovation would slow. And I think it did. Now that they have a monopoly, they're requiring that we pay monthly, so that if they decide to upgrade less often, they still get the same amount from us. Everything they're doing is pointing to less innovation, and more fees. I for one think Apple needs to turn aperture into a photoshop competitor.
This seems like a sensible middle path. I like that they push out updates as they develop them but I don't like the fact that my files become unusable if I stop subscribing. Going to a system where you can subscribe and get the latest and greatest as it becomes available or buy the suite outright at any time (most would wait 18 months to 2 years I am guessing) then it is a win-win. The old way of 18 month updates made me feel like some software teams just put out a few minimal updates to meet an arbitrary deadline set by the CEO needing to impress shareholders but the new rental model does not work either.
For me, that's already the case. I use Aperture for 99% of my image cataloging, image editing, and image printing.
Photoshop gets used once in a blue moon, which is exactly why it's easy for me to tell Adobe to go screw themselves. This recent special sale only proves that Adobe is realizing it screwed up. Adobe won't get a another chance from me.
Mark
Lightroom is really an amazing piece of software. Maybe I'm not using it right but I just can't get Aperture to do what it does. Will take another look though once the release Aperture X or whatever it's called.
Why is Adobe keen on making simple things more complicated?
Do clients really care if a designer is using the latest version of Adobe Suites? If one is slave to the tool they're using in order to create fantastic work, then I'm afraid something is lacking in one's skill as a designer.
Lightroom is really an amazing piece of software. Maybe I'm not using it right but I just can't get Aperture to do what it does. Will take another look though once the release Aperture X or whatever it's called.
Aperture is incredibly powerful. So many features. You really need to spend some time watching videos at Apple's site, as well as searching for instructional videos on YouTube, to help learn the power of Aperture.
I'm far from being an "expert" at Aperture but I think I probably know it better than your average amateur photographer. Taking some time to learn its secrets really helped a lot. The seminars/tours that Apple hosted (in conjunction with Epson) a few years back were helpful too. I attended 2 or 3 of them. I hope Apple renews this sort of tour when the next version of Aperture is released!
I'll happily give Apple another $79 for the next version of Aperture! No brainer!
No, really, Skil is right on this one, Adobe *is* doomed…
The fact they are heavily discounting Photoshop CC means that it's probably not being received all too well by their target market. What Adobe fails to acknowledge is exactly why; no, it's not because of price alone (though it is an important factor and, while on that subject, the $10/month still won't be as good a deal as occasionally skipping versions was), but mostly because of control and power, both over your tools and the seller/buyer relationship. Previously, you could access your work perpetually after a one-time payment, whereas now you must *pay* perpetually in order to do so (an insanely idiotic and disrespectful proposition if you ask me), and with the older model Adobe had to compete (both for new and returning customers) on merit, while now, as it has been mentioned, they behave akin to drug dealers.
I predict they will abandon their subscription-only model (whether by introducing CS7 or/and by offering a credible lease buy-out exit strategy to their clients) and maybe even fire Shantanu Narayen shortly after their next QR conference. You heard it here first!
Aperture is incredibly powerful. So many features. You really need to spend some time watching videos at Apple's site, as well as searching for instructional videos on YouTube, to help learn the power of Aperture.
I'm far from being an "expert" at Aperture but I think I probably know it better than your average amateur photographer. Taking some time to learn its secrets really helped a lot. The seminars/tours that Apple hosted (in conjunction with Epson) a few years back were helpful too. I attended 2 or 3 of them. I hope Apple renews this sort of tour when the next version of Aperture is released!
I'll happily give Apple another $79 for the next version of Aperture! No brainer!
I've given Adobe over $2,000 over the years. No more. I'm at Photoshop CS6 and I'll never give Adobe another dime. Ever. Even if Photoshop CS6 becomes incompatible with a future Mac OS, I'll simply stop using the software rather than giving Adobe more money.
Adobe can stick its new subscription model where the sun doesn't shine!
Mark
Wow. $2000 whole dollars? Amazing.
That is less than 2% of my billings this year. If each version can increase my productivity by more than that i'll consider the cloud well worth the expense. Not to mention, illustrator, InDesign & typekit, though I realize this article is about photoshop.
Either way, the whiners do not impress me. If you can't make money with CC, get out of the way.
All I ever need is layers and channels, so CS6 is already way overkill. I'd be happy with ps 4 functionality.
I like the ZBrush model, I bought ZB 1.13 about 13 years ago for about $300, haven't had to spend a penny more as all upgrades have been free up to the current ZB4r6
if you cant justify $600 a year for professional grade tools your not billing enough. The longer you wait the further you fall behind. Personally I can't wait like that and risk not being in the game.
Oh like the new upgrades are game changers!I don't think anyone will be falling behind somehow (except Adobe of course).
This recent special sale only proves that Adobe is realizing it screwed up.
Wrong. Adobe's sales are through the roof and piracy has probably been greatly reduced. Think of it as a promotion for Lightroom not so much a sale on Photoshop. Adobe is trying to attract more photographers who typically would not need the other applications in the suite, especially those using Aperture who might be interested in switching to Lightroom. The new Photoshop does have some features aimed at photographers though, such as the new camera shake correction.
I like the ZBrush model, I bought ZB 1.13 about 13 years ago for about $300, haven't had to spend a penny more as all upgrades have been free up to the current ZB4r6
According to this profile, Pixologic has 8 employees:
ZBrush can get 1,000 new customers per year at $795 per copy and sustain 8 employees working on a single specialised application pretty easily. Adobe can't do that and sustain the size of company they have.
Apple can sell Aperture at $80, FCPX at $200 and OS X upgrades for $20 because they make their money from hardware. If their entire company was built on software, they'd charge more for software like how Avid charges $10k for Avid DS or how Microsoft charges as much as $300 for an OS.
Avid has actually dropped their high-end suite now:
"Avid officials said during the call that sales of the DS had slowed to a point where it no longer made business sense to keep the product alive. Users often complained that Avid didn't properly market the DS, or support it with enough new features, but it's probably true that the $10,000 software was losing some of its appeal as competing NLEs"
Lots of companies face this problem, where competitors use a different business model to undercut their pricing. Apple's hardware pays the bills so they can buy Final Touch and ship it with FCS and undercut Da Vinci. Google's advertising model pays their bills so they can undercut Apple's hardware by selling hardware at break-even.
Adobe is a company like Avid and Microsoft with lots of employees that survive on software alone. Microsoft has a lifeline in that hardware keeps getting upgraded so new Windows licenses come with it (it's their equivalent of an ongoing commission). Adobe and Avid have nothing like that. If people hold onto software and don't upgrade, they will forced to downsize and may eventually go out of business. No company would volunteer to do that and they'll use whatever business model customers will adopt to meet that goal. So far customers are adopting the Creative Cloud more quickly than Adobe expected.
Adobe's profits are down considerably just now (about 1/3) but their revenue is steady and it will most likely get back to the same profits in the next 2-3 years.
It's a marvelous move by Adobe. As a one-Mac publisher, I'd love to see them extend it into my field. Charge perhaps $19.95 for the apps needed to create documents and books. InDesign and Photoshop would be on my must-have list. Add Muse and Illustrator, and $29.95 might be justifiable.
Adobe needs to keep in mind a problem employees face when they try to convince their boss that they must sign up for CC. The boss is likely to see that long list of apps and say, "Why are we paying for these? We don't need them." Then they get stuck using purchased apps that get older and older.
Selling smaller bundles would get over bureaucratic hurdles like that at many organizations.
Yeah, still a big fat NO, Adobe. I'm living on disability income at the moment. There's no way I'm starting up a photography/art selling business with monthly expenses to rent the effing software tools. This model is exploitative. Period. They can expect the hobbiest and small business users to pirate more than ever before with this crack pipe plan.
As if activation and deactivation wasn't already a pain in the ass and a waste of computer resources. Same thing goes for the dongle-using audio tools. I never got into Cubase because of that dongle always needing to eat a socket. All the gear I have plugged in at one time... then on a laptop trying to work portably?... No thanks.
The computer industry continues to slowly erode itself by being more and more offensive to its customers. Yes, there will always be people that take what they're given and eat it quietly. Because they can afford to.
All these "if you're not making enough to pay for it, you're not a professional/you're not charging enough" are the antipathetic republicans of Adobe's customers. You don't have any say in what makes a person's expenses, sales, or work legitimate.
As for Adobe being "forced to charge more to maintain their huge corporation", that's a self-inflicted injury. They've made a monstrous complex and interwoven monolith out of their product lineup. Mostly just to try to get customers of one product to feel compelled to buy the others. All the added bits and pieces most people don't use... It's really a bloated pile these days. Even photoshop performs badly, and that used to be an untouchable beauty of stability and speed.
Adobe will do as most big corporations do: drive themselves into extinction. It will take a long time, and they have a lot of opportunity to course correct, but the public ownership and greed will eventually lead to some future where the company sells off its product to various other companies because some idiot figures that they can further reduce expenses to increase profits ... And before you know it, MetaCreations happens all over again.
Aperture is incredibly powerful. So many features. You really need to spend some time watching videos at Apple's site, as well as searching for instructional videos on YouTube, to help learn the power of Aperture.
I'm far from being an "expert" at Aperture but I think I probably know it better than your average amateur photographer. Taking some time to learn its secrets really helped a lot. The seminars/tours that Apple hosted (in conjunction with Epson) a few years back were helpful too. I attended 2 or 3 of them. I hope Apple renews this sort of tour when the next version of Aperture is released!
I'll happily give Apple another $79 for the next version of Aperture! No brainer!
Mark
Your comment actually highlights my problems with Aperture. Lightroom is intuitive that you can open it and go. No need for all the courses, tours and seminars to learn it.
All these "if you're not making enough to pay for it, you're not a professional/you're not charging enough" are the antipathetic republicans of Adobe's customers. You don't have any say in what makes a person's expenses, sales, or work legitimate.
You know there is always Photoshop Elements as a low cost alternative. It does 90% of what most solo entrepreneurs and consumers need from a photo editing application.
Adobe has positioned the CC Suite as a collection professional applications and the monthly subscription model does provide an opportunity for the up and coming young digital artist to enter the market and be competitive with the more well financed agencies. If someone is trying to start a business they need the the best tools available which often requires financing, so this is Adobe's financing model just like Apple will finance an iMac for young people entering the creative design industry. The subscription model with cloud services also offers advantages for professionals who don't need financing.
People complain that if they stop paying they won't have access to their files. Adobe CC is for professionals who are in it for the long haul. Professional are not planning to quit business any time soon so it is a non-issue.
Comments
I for one think Apple needs to turn aperture into a photoshop competitor.
For me, that's already the case. I use Aperture for 99% of my image cataloging, image editing, and image printing.
Photoshop gets used once in a blue moon, which is exactly why it's easy for me to tell Adobe to go screw themselves. This recent special sale only proves that Adobe is realizing it screwed up. Adobe won't get a another chance from me.
Mark
Lightroom is really an amazing piece of software. Maybe I'm not using it right but I just can't get Aperture to do what it does. Will take another look though once the release Aperture X or whatever it's called.
yeah. nice for a year. then they raise it to $50 or probably higher. awesome!
Do clients really care if a designer is using the latest version of Adobe Suites? If one is slave to the tool they're using in order to create fantastic work, then I'm afraid something is lacking in one's skill as a designer.
Lightroom is really an amazing piece of software. Maybe I'm not using it right but I just can't get Aperture to do what it does. Will take another look though once the release Aperture X or whatever it's called.
Aperture is incredibly powerful. So many features. You really need to spend some time watching videos at Apple's site, as well as searching for instructional videos on YouTube, to help learn the power of Aperture.
I'm far from being an "expert" at Aperture but I think I probably know it better than your average amateur photographer. Taking some time to learn its secrets really helped a lot. The seminars/tours that Apple hosted (in conjunction with Epson) a few years back were helpful too. I attended 2 or 3 of them. I hope Apple renews this sort of tour when the next version of Aperture is released!
I'll happily give Apple another $79 for the next version of Aperture! No brainer!
Mark
Hear hear! Excellent post.
Lynda.com is your friend.
Wow. $2000 whole dollars? Amazing.
That is less than 2% of my billings this year. If each version can increase my productivity by more than that i'll consider the cloud well worth the expense. Not to mention, illustrator, InDesign & typekit, though I realize this article is about photoshop.
Either way, the whiners do not impress me. If you can't make money with CC, get out of the way.
I hate all the stuff you mention..
If you hate the business model, at least support the alternatives. Do not steal IP.
How would you like it if your customers said that they wish someone one would rip off your ideas and make them available on the Internet for free?
Actually, I imagine you don't have customers. Which kind of explains your attitude.
I like the ZBrush model, I bought ZB 1.13 about 13 years ago for about $300, haven't had to spend a penny more as all upgrades have been free up to the current ZB4r6
if you cant justify $600 a year for professional grade tools your not billing enough. The longer you wait the further you fall behind. Personally I can't wait like that and risk not being in the game.
Oh like the new upgrades are game changers!I don't think anyone will be falling behind somehow (except Adobe of course).
No, really, Skil is right on this one, Adobe *is* doomed…
Definitely Doomed!
Wrong. Adobe's sales are through the roof and piracy has probably been greatly reduced. Think of it as a promotion for Lightroom not so much a sale on Photoshop. Adobe is trying to attract more photographers who typically would not need the other applications in the suite, especially those using Aperture who might be interested in switching to Lightroom. The new Photoshop does have some features aimed at photographers though, such as the new camera shake correction.
According to this profile, Pixologic has 8 employees:
http://companies.findthecompany.com/l/9712765/Pixologic-Inc-in-Los-Angeles-CA
Adobe has over 10,000 employees. The estimated revenue for Pixologic is $740,000. Adobe makes $4,000,000,000:
http://techcrunch.com/2013/06/18/adobe-q2-2013-earnings/
ZBrush can get 1,000 new customers per year at $795 per copy and sustain 8 employees working on a single specialised application pretty easily. Adobe can't do that and sustain the size of company they have.
Apple can sell Aperture at $80, FCPX at $200 and OS X upgrades for $20 because they make their money from hardware. If their entire company was built on software, they'd charge more for software like how Avid charges $10k for Avid DS or how Microsoft charges as much as $300 for an OS.
Avid has actually dropped their high-end suite now:
http://www.studiodaily.com/2013/08/avid-pulls-the-plug-on-the-ds/
because:
"Avid officials said during the call that sales of the DS had slowed to a point where it no longer made business sense to keep the product alive. Users often complained that Avid didn't properly market the DS, or support it with enough new features, but it's probably true that the $10,000 software was losing some of its appeal as competing NLEs"
Lots of companies face this problem, where competitors use a different business model to undercut their pricing. Apple's hardware pays the bills so they can buy Final Touch and ship it with FCS and undercut Da Vinci. Google's advertising model pays their bills so they can undercut Apple's hardware by selling hardware at break-even.
Adobe is a company like Avid and Microsoft with lots of employees that survive on software alone. Microsoft has a lifeline in that hardware keeps getting upgraded so new Windows licenses come with it (it's their equivalent of an ongoing commission). Adobe and Avid have nothing like that. If people hold onto software and don't upgrade, they will forced to downsize and may eventually go out of business. No company would volunteer to do that and they'll use whatever business model customers will adopt to meet that goal. So far customers are adopting the Creative Cloud more quickly than Adobe expected.
Adobe's profits are down considerably just now (about 1/3) but their revenue is steady and it will most likely get back to the same profits in the next 2-3 years.
Adobe needs to keep in mind a problem employees face when they try to convince their boss that they must sign up for CC. The boss is likely to see that long list of apps and say, "Why are we paying for these? We don't need them." Then they get stuck using purchased apps that get older and older.
Selling smaller bundles would get over bureaucratic hurdles like that at many organizations.
As if activation and deactivation wasn't already a pain in the ass and a waste of computer resources. Same thing goes for the dongle-using audio tools. I never got into Cubase because of that dongle always needing to eat a socket. All the gear I have plugged in at one time... then on a laptop trying to work portably?... No thanks.
The computer industry continues to slowly erode itself by being more and more offensive to its customers. Yes, there will always be people that take what they're given and eat it quietly. Because they can afford to.
All these "if you're not making enough to pay for it, you're not a professional/you're not charging enough" are the antipathetic republicans of Adobe's customers. You don't have any say in what makes a person's expenses, sales, or work legitimate.
Adobe will do as most big corporations do: drive themselves into extinction. It will take a long time, and they have a lot of opportunity to course correct, but the public ownership and greed will eventually lead to some future where the company sells off its product to various other companies because some idiot figures that they can further reduce expenses to increase profits ... And before you know it, MetaCreations happens all over again.
All these "if you're not making enough to pay for it, you're not a professional/you're not charging enough" are the antipathetic republicans of Adobe's customers. You don't have any say in what makes a person's expenses, sales, or work legitimate.
You know there is always Photoshop Elements as a low cost alternative. It does 90% of what most solo entrepreneurs and consumers need from a photo editing application.
Adobe has positioned the CC Suite as a collection professional applications and the monthly subscription model does provide an opportunity for the up and coming young digital artist to enter the market and be competitive with the more well financed agencies. If someone is trying to start a business they need the the best tools available which often requires financing, so this is Adobe's financing model just like Apple will finance an iMac for young people entering the creative design industry. The subscription model with cloud services also offers advantages for professionals who don't need financing.
People complain that if they stop paying they won't have access to their files. Adobe CC is for professionals who are in it for the long haul. Professional are not planning to quit business any time soon so it is a non-issue.