The current version of Adobe’s Creative Suite is CS6. I’ve been squatting on CS5.5 for a while, not wanting to update because I’m a cheapskate. However, I keep hearing that the new Photoshop is actually considerably refined to suck less, and is in fact rather amazing. The cost to upgrade from Creative Suite 5.5 Design Premium to 6.0 is US$375.00.
On the other hand, Adobe is also offering something called the Creative Cloud, which I see largely as a way to suck more money out of me on a subscription basis. Existing Creative Suite users get a 40% discount off the $49/month cost, so for a year it will be $29/month. The total cost is then US$348.00 for the first year, and then it rises to US$588.00 at full price.
I want to upgrade, but I’m not sure which path to take. So I thought I’d make a Rory Gilmore Pro-Con list. Rory was a character on the show Gilmore Girls, one of my guilty pleasures, and she would often make Pro-Con lists to help her make decisions when her gut didn’t give her a clear option. Or maybe she just liked making lists, which is a neurotic trait I share with her.
| PRO CREATIVE CLOUD | CON CREATIVE CLOUD |
|---|---|
| You get every app! | It costs $600/year, forever! |
| You get new app Betas! | It’s like Master Collection, for more money, but cross platform |
| You get Mac and Windows | Upgrade cost to Master Collection is $1049 |
| You don’t have to drop a lot of money all at once | But you pay more money over time |
| Includes TypeKit | Do I really trust Adobe’s non-App software engineering? No. It has historically sucked. |
| Includes AfterFX | ADOBE OWNS ME |
| Includes Premiere | Product stops working without Internet access in 30 days |
| PRO STANDARD UPGRADE | CON STANDARD UPGRADE |
|---|---|
| One fixed cost upgrade, forever activated | Still stuck just on Windows |
| Costs $375 right now | Could spread the cost out monthly, covered by an hour or so of billable work |
| Normal point upgrades are around $600 | Still on Design Premium, which doesn’t include media tools |
| Physical Media FTW | … |
I’m actually coming down on the side of Creative Cloud. The big wins:
- Run on Mac and Windows, which would help me transition to Mac OS. I’ll probably keep running both platforms, but having the option to run on both platforms would be convenient when dealing with clients or teaching people. Currently, you have to buy a separate license for each platform.
- Creative Suite Design Premium, the current level of CS I have, does not include the video production tools. I have an older license of Premiere Pro, but not AfterFX. I don’t really have need for Adobe’s so-so audio tools since I have other software, but having access to AfterFX might be nice. It’s not a huge need, though, since I’m not doing a lot of video.
- Creative Cloud includes Pro TypeKit membership
- I can move this software from one tax expense category (from hardware/software, under section 179 to Maintenance or Office Expense). I don’t think there’s a benefit to me, but it’s fun to think about.
My suspicious nature, however, has me wondering about the following:
- Is the implementation of Creative Cloud horrible, as has been my experience with most 1.0 Adobe products? It takes them 4 or 5 versions to get it to the point where it’s not bloated, slow, or just plain awful. The two products I’m thinking of specifically are Bridge and Photoshop Elements, and the extension manager. Do I want that crap on my computer? On the other hand, a lot of this stuff is already on my current Windows 7 box, and it hasn’t been too bad recently. So I’m willing to give it a try.
- Do I like the idea of being tied to a subscription, instead of “owning” a license in perpetuity? NO. On the other hand, I have never found myself going back to an older version of CS. I don’t really see a time when I won’t have a relatively-current version of the best professional graphics software I can afford.
Above all, though, do I need this?
| Need It | Or Not? |
|---|---|
| I use these tools to create my work for sale | I don’t offer a lot of design services anymore |
| I can scrape by with CS 5.5 | Some clients I have already are using CS6, creating a version mismatch |
| Being up to date is important to me, because I’m just like that about my tools | I can get by on other tools or older versions, but you know…I hate using crappy tools |
| It’s sort of a necessary luxury | … |
So I think I’ve convinced myself to do the upgrade. The cost of $29/month for the first year, and even at $49/month, is not a lot of money in terms of the cost of running my creative business. And, I might actually be encouraged to use some of those additional tools (particularly Adobe Edge) to do some new work. It’s cheaper than upgrading Premiere Pro CS4.
I do hate the idea of paying $49/month for access to the software, though. But this might encourage me to just try to sell more graphic services or whatever to pay for it. That additional stress might be good for me, business-wise. I’ve been running a very low overhead operation for a long time.
In Summary
I think it’s worth doing this for a year at $29/month, and then considering the upgrade path then to CS7 or whatever when that time comes. So let’s do it!
3 Comments
Very interesting way of approaching this dilemma. Regarding your final point, however, if I understand things correctly, I don’t think you will actually have an upgrade path from CS5.5 to CS7, so it will be Creative Cloud all the way.
I just found out that Adobe will not alow me to upgrade my CS4 suite that I have 2500 tied into and is only two versions back, my thoughts are that anything good does not need. To forced upon the costomer. In the past you could upgrade anytime. Adobe has become a bully it has grown to behemoth status and as more get on the cloud it will raise its price 70 80 or more per month. My upgrade would have been 400 bucks but the cloud would cost me 600 a year and after a year I don’t own anything so then your stuck paying another overpriced monthly fee. I also ask how much of that software on the list do you know how to use? Not much I bet. I am ok with five titles and would call myself a power user. If creative cloud was a good thing we would just want to do it but truth be told anytime you have to force people into a deal/ agreement/ or contract it’s not a good option for them .. I for one refuse to do the cloud and have voiced my beliefs to Adobe. What I think will be the unfolding of this for Adobe Is that they are telling wall stret that they make 80 mil a month in the cloud . And expect huge growth. Once the 30 dollar first year is up watch people jump off and go another route. Adobe is lying to its share holders and wall street hates. That . It will be interesting to see what happens but adobe made .13 a share q1 2013 down from .39 Q1 12 the explain that loss due to the cloud but I think people will see it as a rip off and as it is there are always glitches.i hope too many don’t get Hurt by Adobes overly aggressive plan
You sound really mad, Andrew, but I think you might have to take a step back and consider whether you’re making any money using these tools. For me, it came down to that I’m making more than $50/month by using the Adobe suite. And I do use the majority of the products within the suite: Illustrator, InDesign, Premiere, AfterFX, Dreamweaver, and Photoshop, in addition to the fonts their provide. I used to use Flash a lot, but these days no. For me it’s a no-brainer now, and it is nice to have up-to-date versions of the software instead of agonizing whether I wanted to drop another nut of $600 on an upgrade. It doesn’t feel good to be locked into a program, but then again I’m NOT locked. I can dump it the moment that I no longer want to keep using these tools.
I’ve been using Adobe’s tools since around Photoshop 2.5, and have sunk probably the same amount of money into upgrades. As an occasional software author, though, I like to see developers get paid. If Adobe is saying they’re taking in 80 million a month for Creative Cloud, good for them: that helps them pay their 9000 employees plus benefits every month, so the company can stop worrying about shoving out questionable upgrades every year just to create demand. That was terrible, and resulted in low-quality products for years.
Anyway, if you can make more than, say, $200 a month using Creative Cloud as a graphics professional, it’s worth it. It’s a cost of doing business.