Adobe Ends Creative Suite, Goes Subscription-Only

Digital Production BUZZ

In a major shift for its business and its customers, Adobe Systems on Monday announced it no longer will sell its Creative Suite software as it moves instead to the $50-per-month Creative Cloud and other subscription plans.

When Adobe launched its Creative Cloud subscription last year, executives weren’t sure how long it would offer it alongside the traditional perpetual-license sales for its software. But customer enthusiasm for the Creative Cloud, combined with the awkwardness of maintaining it alongside the slower-moving CS products, led the company to move aggressively to the subscription plan.

It’s not just a big difference for customers. With the change, Adobe moves its business more to a recurring-revenue approach. Instead of revenue surging when upgrades such as CS6 arrive, the company gets a steady stream of money.

The company announced the change at its Adobe Max conference along with major updates to its software — the programs that would have borne the CS7 logo but that now will be rebranded just as CC. Adobe’s new CC software includes a version of Photoshop that can correct some camera shake in photos, of Illustrator that can let designers edit elements with multitouch devices, of InDesign that now supports high-resolution monitors like Apple’s Retina displays, and the new Refine Edge tool for selecting particular regions of video in After Effects.

What is Creative Cloud?

The Creative Cloud grants access to all the software in the full Creative Suite; newer products such as Muse and Edge Animation for Web developers and Lightroom for photo editing and cataloging; and services for activities including file sharing, collaborating, and Web publishing. read more...