In my computer vision research at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, I regularly spend time at sea hundreds of miles from shore on various research vessels. Though some have limited internet access, most do not, as the cost of a satellite uplink is very expensive. I therefore can only use software that does not require any cloud contact. Adobe's new strategy does not work for me whatsoever.

Peter

Techdiver,

Not that I want to defend Creative Cloud, but...their FAQ says that the software will run for 180 days after validation. So, although it tries to validate every 30 days, you get about 6 months of use out of it and don't necessarily need to have internet access every 30 days.

They also appear to have arrangements for institutions with high security requirements so I suspect if you really needed a suite that could work without ever phoning home you could get it. The problem would be in finding people at your institution who'd be willing to jump through the hoops for you. So I can easily imagine you moving to other applications just to avoid any hassle.

Rob

For those of us who are also photographers, you can always batch convert your camera RAW files to DNG format:

Perhaps you should get into Capture One instead. I've used it in preference to Camera RAW for over 10 years. It is particularly strong in producing pleasing skin tones straight out of the box rather than having to cook your own profiles Adobe style. Chances are you won't want to touch Camera RAW / Lightroom with a bargepole once you work with C1.

There is a limited version but I'm not sure how it compares to the Pro version as I've always used the latter.

Phase One - the C1 producers - have special offers from time to time. Worth keeping an eye open for these if you have the limited version.

C1 used to be slow to support new cameras but they are much quicker off the mark now.

I use Photoshop mainly for batch processing - stuff like preparing hundreds of images for print in one go. There are workarounds to get Elements to do that apparently, with limitations.

I also use Photoshop extensively for album design making a lot of use of smart objects smart filters etc. Since albums don't involve pages of text, and since proxy files are not needed nowadays with powerful desktop PCs, there really isn't any great advantage in using InDesign and such like. I do all my designs completely freehand so all those geewiz album design programs that promise to get you done in 10 minutes are no use to me.

Hoping here that the open source community will come up trumps. This is probably just the sort of motivation that is needed to produce a viable alternative to Photoshop. Then goodbye Adobe.

Pete

Rob,

Thanks for the clarification. If the use of Adobe software was institution-wide (as it is with such tools as Matlab), then I'm sure someone would jump through hoops. However, my use of video production tools puts me in a minority and will therefore "freeze" my software version at CS6 for as long as possible.

Peter

Just some 'WHAT IF' thoughts…

I do videos for Church and put them online. Note: I now zip them up for download only. That is because I include the entire service which can be a bit long for online viewing.

Anyway, IF I were just starting I would look at the Adobe monthly price, I would think, now that looks like a great deal considering they are including everything. Now if I look at Vegas, it would cost me up front from $44.95 all the way up to $899.95. And whatever it is for the Vegas Pro 12 Premium version.

I would then wonder if I would get what I really need from the lowest price version or would I need a more advanced version.

The lowest price version does not do DVD’s so that one is out. The next up level will and the one above it includes a light version of Sound Forge so that would be nice. Looking at the pro versions I would see some features that should be most helpful such as the ability to use scripts and having a software version of a vector scope and waveform monitor. Note: By the way, these were some of my thoughts when I was first looking at Vegas even though there were not so many choices then and the lower versions did not have enough tracks then either. I started with version 6c.

Looking at the pro versions I see one does not do DVD’s so that is out so the next version does and it costs $599.95. OOPS! I simply cannot afford that much all at once! The version that includes pretty much everything is $899.95. I simply cannot afford that either.

So what should I do? I realize that the monthly amount for Adobe will add up to the price of Vegas and soon enough exceed it but what do I use in the meantime?

So as if a person just starting out and because of a limited budget and because I can get everything I would have no choice but to go with Adobe.


Start Comments:


I’m afraid that sooner or later SCS will have no choice but to also go with the cloud only just to remain competitive.

If one considers the yearly upgrade price of $139.95 (That is what I paid for the Vegas 12 upgrade) and divide that by 12 which is $11.66 and then up that a little bit to say $19.95 then that could possibly be a price that SCS would charge each month for the cloud version with the ‘everything’ level of Vegas.

Now that would be quite competitive compared to Adobe and if I was just starting out I would definitely consider it! Otherwise, I would go with Adobe.

As for all of us who have already paid the full price SCS could give us ‘x’ amount of credit towards a cloud subscription.

I think the writing is on the wall with this. The cloud with all of its thunders, lightning’s, hail, tornados and whatever’s is where the software companies are eventually going. I think it is best for SCS not to sit on the fence and watch what happens with Adobe. I personally do not like the cloud idea but competition is competition and business is business. Also include the profit margin.

So that is my 'WHAT IF' thoughts on this.

I'm testing the waters using an educational license for a year, then will probably go Premiere-only as i don't need my CS5 Photoshop or AE updating. Most of my work is still in Vegas... I use Adobe to wrangle around corners Vegas doesn't go.

But for those who need to tell Adobe their opinion of Creative Cloud:

http://www.adobe.com/go/wish

...dunno what % of Adobe bosses read them, but it'll be more than here.

And here is the primary Adobe thread of users complaining.

http://forums.adobe.com/thread/1206294?start=0

"And here is the primary Adobe thread of users complaining.

forums.adobe.com/thread/1206294?start=0 "


Read reply number 26 by Daryl Barnes.

The guy makes a lot of sense.

Looks like the complainers do not understand how this works.

[I]"Read reply number 26 by Daryl Barnes.

The guy makes a lot of sense.

Looks like the complainers do not understand how this works."[/I]

I think we've read those arguments before.
Personally I don't consider this some dirty grab for money by Adobe, the rental fee is actually quite reasonable especially considering what you get for the money.
I'd also point out that I just got some more updates to CS5.5 despite it not being the latest release and that included updates to camera RAW.

Some of the objections though are valid.
No way to opt out and freeze your license. Many could need to do this e.g. retiring, business having a very bad patch etc.

The risk of a pushed update hosing vital functionality. As the poster says software is getting more complex, true, that also means it takes more time to test and all of us here have had enough experience of those problems over the past few years,

In fact the whole faster update argument is false, Adobe have been doing on the fly updates for years, JR did make one valid point on this, sometimes to fix a problem a design change is required and that means waiting for a new release but it doesn't have to. If a company has to give away a new feature to fix a bug in an existing release then so they should.

Bob.

Is there a primary Adobe thread over there where users are not complaining?

Anyway, time will tell what the results will be...

Is there a primary Adobe thread over there where users are not complaining? -VidMus

why would they post if there wasn't a complaint?