Especially in the current economic environment,' complained Paul Wright. 'Plenty of businesses will upgrade software/equipment/cars/cameras every second or third cycle. Several people pointed to Netflix and Bank of America pricing changes that generated a loud customer backlash. Kelby's post generated plenty of ill will toward Adobe in more than 300 comments. Otherwise, we have to pay the full price as if we were never Adobe customers at all. You didn't tell us until nearly the end of the product's life cycle, and now you're making us buy CS5.5 for just a few months on the chance that we might want to buy CS6 at a discount when it's released. While I understand that Adobe needs to make business decisions based on how it sees market conditions, I feel the timing of this new pricing structure is patently unfair to your customers (and our members).

Kelby asked Adobe to reconsider its position that only those who already owned Photoshop CS5 would be able to pay a lower upgrade fee when Photoshop CS6 is released, saying it was the wrong thing to do: Some customers, though, aren't happy about the change.Īdobe announced the new upgrade and subscription pricing earlier this month-but the issue started ringing alarm bells for many only yesterday when one authority-Scott Kelby, president of the National Association for Photoshop Professionals-objected in an open letter to Adobe. Red Hat has made it work with Linux and related server software, but Microsoft's enthusiasm for subscription pricing seems to be emerging mostly through online services such as Office 365.Īdobe-a software powerhouse going through a rough patch with layoffs and with Web standards hurting its Flash business-is making a big bet on subscriptions for its Creative Suite (CS) products.

Subscription pricing, in which a person gets rights to use software for period payments, has been a mixed success in recent years. It's time for Photoshop customers to think carefully about how to pay for the software, because Adobe Systems is curtailing upgrade deals to steer people toward a new $600-per-year subscription for a wide range of its products.

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