Adobe Will Only Offer Photoshop CS6 Upgrade Price to CS5 Owners

[Craig Ramsay]

Was pretty shocked to read this today, especially as I'm still using CS4 and wasn't going to upgrade until CS6 is released -

 

Quote:

 

"If you’ve been waiting to upgrade Photoshop CS3 or CS4 to CS6 when it’s released sometime next year, here’s some bad news: the upgrade price won’t apply to you. Starting with CS6, Adobe will be enforcing a new upgrade policy:

 

[...] we are changing our policy for perpetual license customers. In order to qualify for upgrade pricing when CS6 releases, customers will need to be on the latest version of our software (either CS5 or CS5.5 editions). If our customers are not yet on those versions, we’re offering a 20% discount through December 31, 2011 which will qualify them for upgrade pricing when we release CS6.

 

The existing policy is that customers with software from three versions back quality for upgrade pricing. For example, owners of CS2, CS3, and CS4 and upgrade to CS5. Buying the full version of Photoshop CS5 right now costs nearly $500, while the upgrade is only priced at ~$150."

 

http://bit.ly/rFx0Wu

[Justin Hunt]

I agree that they have announced this poorly, and alot of people a pissed with the new subscription scheme, but in the long run it works out to be a fairly fair price, around $600 a year and you are kept up to date.

 

I am still weary of the cloud based system they are trying to get every one on though.

 

jhv

[Craig Ramsay]

alot of people a pissed with the new subscription scheme, but in the long run it works out to be a fairly fair price, around $600 a year and you are kept up to date.

 

Not so sure it's as good a deal as that in the UK. I'm a one man band and use CS4 Production Premium at the moment. Looking at the subscription price it would cost me £1095.48 per year to keep up to date, that's $1,695.87 AUD and $1,711.82 USD. Sound like a fair price? That's over double what I pay each year for my 3DS Max subscription. A Photoshop subscription on it's own here would cost £565.08 per year ($874.983 AUD & $883.871 USD).

 

I wonder why Adobe products are so much more expensive in the UK than the rest of the world? I can't help feeling that companies like this are pricing out the little man. No wonder there's a massive problem with piracy!

 

Rant over!

[David Arbogast]

I just don't get the Adobe subscription plan at all; it appears to be completely different than Autodesk's subscription concept. With Autodesk you purchase a software license and, separately, a subscription. Adobe's subscription appears more like a month-to-month software rental plan. The new Adobe upgrade policy seems aimed toward forcing people on the subscription plan. Adobe's website explains who they have targeted for their subscription plan:

Who it's for:

Customers of an older version of Creative Suite

Customers no longer eligible for upgrade pricing

Freelancers or owners of small businesses

Anyone who needs the flexibility of software on an as-needed basis

It's alarming as the first two reasons are actually the same. They are punishing those that don't keep up with every new release by herding them into an expensive subscription plan. I don't recall a software company developing a more sinister scheme of enrichment than what Adobe seems to be pursuing. I realize they need to make a profit, but I estimate that as they pursue punitive-to-the-customer pricing, upgrade, and subscription plans, Adobe will end up with a whole lot less customers than they now have, and how will that profit them?

Edited December 9, 2011 by David Arbogast

[Janwalli]

pricing in europe has always been crazy, compared to the US, but thats somethig different.

I stopped upgrading after I got the CS2 bundle. I noticed that I really never use any of those tools, apart from Photoshop. So I wanted to go from CS2 bundle to CS3 Photoshop, but they did not let me. Same with CS2 bundle to CS4 Photoshop. So I decided to run CS2 Photoshop until I really feel the need to update (and then get a fresh Photoshop licencse, no bundle stuff more). Until now Photoshop CS2 still runs and I guess this could be the case for a while. If I need to do floatin point compositing, I do this in Bodypaint or Combustion.