albotas:

Adobe Makes It Rain: Creative Suite Is Dead

Being a freelance designer / editor / media person just got a little more expensive. Today, Adobe announced that they are discontinuing their Creative Suite series. There will be no CS6.5 and no CS7. Instead, their programs will only be available on Creative Cloud, which costs $50 per month for most people.

I love Creative Cloud. It gives me all of Adobe’s pro apps and keeps them up to date. But my work pays for it. I have a personal, physical copy of CS5.5 for freelance, but hypothetically, if I didn’t, I don’t know if I could swing the $50 a month.

I paid under a grand for Production Premium, which I get to keep forever. But Creative Cloud will cost $600 a year for most people. And once you’re done paying, you get locked out of Adobe’s apps. Add in the offline headaches and this doesn’t seem like a great deal for the people who both pay for and use the service. If you have a job that provides your Adobe stuff to you, this is great. If you’re on your own, you’re probably going to be paying more.

Not cool, Adobe.

Buy: Wacom Bamboo Create Pen and Touch Tablet