Think before you upgrade to CS3
So Adobe is doing it again.
First they had me throw away all my other licences, because my only option to bundle-upgrade to CS2 was from Photoshop.
Now I want to upgrade to CS3. So I look at my options. To me, the best option is Web Premium. Then all I need is an extra InDesign. I figured, since I already own InDesign in the CS2 bundle, I just need to buy the InDesign upgrade, right?
But knowing Adobe's track record, I thought maybe just to double check with Adobe.
So I call them. And what do you know. I cannot upgrade the individual package. Because I have the thing in a bunde. So now they expect me to pay for a full version of a product I already own.
No way I will pay € 2000+ for the Master Collection, if with some puzzling I can have all I need for a little over € 1500.
Luckily, I still have After Effects as a standalone.
Damned Adobe. They just seem to enjoy being unfriendly to people who have done nothing but paying for licenses. I hate it sooo much.
Being a design professional, I cannot live without Adobe. Clearly, this position suits them just fine.
Mark
First they had me throw away all my other licences, because my only option to bundle-upgrade to CS2 was from Photoshop.
Now I want to upgrade to CS3. So I look at my options. To me, the best option is Web Premium. Then all I need is an extra InDesign. I figured, since I already own InDesign in the CS2 bundle, I just need to buy the InDesign upgrade, right?
But knowing Adobe's track record, I thought maybe just to double check with Adobe.
So I call them. And what do you know. I cannot upgrade the individual package. Because I have the thing in a bunde. So now they expect me to pay for a full version of a product I already own.
No way I will pay € 2000+ for the Master Collection, if with some puzzling I can have all I need for a little over € 1500.
Luckily, I still have After Effects as a standalone.
Damned Adobe. They just seem to enjoy being unfriendly to people who have done nothing but paying for licenses. I hate it sooo much.
Being a design professional, I cannot live without Adobe. Clearly, this position suits them just fine.
Mark
Comments
It's on BitTorrent, along with a crack.
I've never understood Adobe. Instead of pricing their products "reasonably", even on the upper end of a bell curve, say $497... they price their products with a 1 or 2 in front of that ($1497 or $2497)... other than a graphics company, who can afford that?!
So people crack it.
Instead of 9 people purchasing it and 1 stealing it they price it so that 1 person purchases it and 9 steal it. Where's the logic in that?
I've never understood Adobe. Instead of pricing their products "reasonably", even on the upper end of a bell curve, say $497... they price their products with a 1 or 2 in front of that ($1497 or $2497)... other than a graphics company, who can afford that?!
So people crack it.
Instead of 9 people purchasing it and 1 stealing it they price it so that 1 person purchases it and 9 steal it. Where's the logic in that?
Edu has extremely reasonable pricing, and that's where they get their sales.
Edu has extremely reasonable pricing, and that's where they get their sales.
Is there a site for this? Someone posted an educational link a few days ago but that was for Windows software.
Instead of 9 people purchasing it and 1 stealing it they price it so that 1 person purchases it and 9 steal it. Where's the logic in that?
I agree with that entirely. They are targeting professionals but as the tools have progressed, more and more consumers are buying into the higher end products. Another example is Final Cut Studio. Final Cut Express is fine but what if people who use it want DVD Studio Pro? They have to buy a $1000+ Pro editing suite.
Now, some might say that it encourages people to buy the full suite. Well it doesn't because if people can't afford that then they have no choice but to steal it so the companies get no money. Needing to use it and not being able to afford it only has that outcome.
Edu has extremely reasonable pricing, and that's where they get their sales.
But surely that shows quite clearly that reasonable pricing can increase sales dramatically. Why not give everyone edu pricing or at least narrow the huge gap?
I've never understood Adobe. Instead of pricing their products "reasonably", even on the upper end of a bell curve, say $497... they price their products with a 1 or 2 in front of that ($1497 or $2497)... other than a graphics company, who can afford that?!
So people crack it.
Instead of 9 people purchasing it and 1 stealing it they price it so that 1 person purchases it and 9 steal it. Where's the logic in that?
Their pricing is reasonable, especially since those crackers ensure high prices for everyone else.
If I was a student, those prices would be a total godsend. I currently pay a fortune for legal, tax-included copies for my business!
Don't be a fool, stay in school.
I am a professional, and well willing to pay for what I use.
What bothers me is that I own a licence to a product, and I now have to buy that product again.
See my options:
I could buy the Design Premium, which leaves me short of a couple of web apps that I use. Or I can buy the Web Premium, which leaves me short of InDesign, which I use. Again, I have paid for these apps. So why is my only option to upgrade all of them to the Master Collection? A bundle with, apart from the stuff I use, nothing that I want. And that costs me well over ? 500 extra!!
It's just unfair.
Mark
What bothers me is that I own a licence to a product, and I now have to buy that product again.
What is the compelling reason to upgrade? Is a saving few seconds with optimized code worth a thousand bucks to you?
And are you suggesting that it would be best to buy individual software licenses instead of a bundled pack?
And I am not saying bundles are bad. I just think that there should be some more options than that. Why can't I buy Web Premium upgrade, and InDesign upgrade. This would give me all I need.
But Adobe says I don't own InDesign as a product, so I cannot upgrade. I own it as part of CS2.
Look, I have MX and CS2, and there is just no option to bring these in to upgrade. Apart from going Master Collection. And that I refuse.
Mark
Again, I have paid for these apps. So why is my only option to upgrade all of them to the Master Collection? A bundle with, apart from the stuff I use, nothing that I want. And that costs me well over ? 500 extra!!
It's just unfair.
I actually think this is partly the reason cracking has become popular. I know some businesses who will buy some stuff outright and just get cracks for what they feel is unreasonable. It's not great that it's the only option you have but that's the way it is. You can complain to Adobe and I'm sure many people do but they have teams of marketing people who for some reasons or other must feel this is the best way to make the most amount of money. As far as they are concerned, that's all that matters, not the end user experience. It's a similar issue with DRM. People want to pay for downloaded music and movies legally but why would you pay for music with DRM at lower quality than you can get for free off some peer to peer network? Big companies like Adobe don't seem to realise that moves like this make the decision very easy about which way to go. Obviously professionals have to be very careful about this sort of thing and realistically have little choice but to pay up and I'm sure Adobe know this too.
What I would do is buy the suite that matches closest - probably Web premium - and then get the one app or so that you use less frequently by other means. That's what we may or may not do (depending on who's listening
Is there a site for this? Someone posted an educational link a few days ago but that was for Windows software.
Apple sells it via their EDU store at a quite reduced price, but if you're at a univeristy, 9 out of 10 times you will pay between 100-400 dollars less on Adobe software through the university than through Apple's EDU store.