Camera Labs

Don't mean to ruin anybody's Thanksgiving, but...

http://www.scottkelby.com/blog/2011/archives/22903

Mark

Hi Mark,

No need for you to apologise. But every need for Adobe to hang their collective heads in shame.

Quite apart from being mean spirited if they do go ahead with this it's the cynical attitude of making this policy change so late in the CS5 product cycle together with an attempt to sneak this announcement out by way of a poorly subscribed blog that galls me. For many years I've regularly updated PhotoShop on alternate releases simply because I couldn't justify the expense of upgrading every year. But perversely Adobe may have shot themselves in the foot over this as my workflow starts in Canon's DPP, where I use Canon's own knowledge of its lenses and sensor to produce the best possible RAW conversion. From DPP I batch export the desired images directly into Adobe Bridge as TIFF files from whence I do the initial post-processing in CameraRaw and then export to PhotoShop if any further tarting up is required.

Bottom line with that workflow is that I am not dependant on PhotoShop so far as RAW conversion is concerned which takes away one major reason to upgrade. The only other reason I might have to upgrade would be some new killer feature. There were some neat new tricks in CS5 but none that I could see myself using and I'll take my chances that the same will apply to CS6.

I actually believe that the suits at Adobe also realise that the well of new killer features has pretty much been exhausted for mainstream users. As a result they, like a number of other companies, would rather we moved on to a subscription basis, of which coerced annual upgrades are just another variant, so that they can keep the cash rolling in despite slowing the pace of innovation. I don't lease cars, preferring to own them, and cars wear out. But software doesn't wear out so I'm certainly not going to lease that. My x64 PhotoShop CS4 will keep on chugging along as good as new and the only reason it might ever stop is if Microsoft rips up the road and prevents "legacy" software running on some future release of Windows. But even then I could run PhotoShop in a virtual machine with a compatible version of Windows. By the time that needs to happen the hardware will be more than fast enough for such virtualisation to be invisible.

As for Adobe, forum policy forbids me to say what I really think...

Bob.

_________________
OM-D E-M5 + ED 12-50mm, H-PS14042E, H-F007014E, L-RS014150E, M.ZUIKO DIGITAL 45mm 1:1.8.
Gitzo GT1541T, Arca-Swiss Z1 DP ball-head.
Astrophotography: TEC 140 'scope, FLI ML16803 camera, ASA DDM60 Pro mount.

Hi folks,

It looks like Adobe has heard the anger and offered an upgrade path for CS3 and CS4 customers to the upcoming CS6 until the end of this year. I've seen one report which suggested that this only applied to Creative Suite owners rather than owners of individual products but I'm not sure that's right. From the FAQ page:

• What is Adobe's upgrade pricing policy?
  
  Adobe currently offers upgrade paths to CS5 and CS5.5 for customers who are coming from versions of Creative Suite going back to CS2.
  
  Adobe’s new Creative Suite upgrade policy, which goes into effect in the first half of 2012 when Adobe Creative Cloud™ and Creative Suite 6 are released, will require customers to be on the most current version of Creative Suite in order to qualify for upgrade pricing when new versions are released. This means that customers need to be on CS5 or CS5.5 in order to receive upgrade pricing when CS6 is released.
  
  To ensure customers have the opportunity to evaluate both Creative Cloud and CS6, Adobe will extend an introductory offer to CS3 and CS4 customers for special upgrade pricing on CS6 until December 31, 2012. This will give CS3 and CS4 customers an upgrade path to CS6 or the option of moving to Creative Cloud (which will include all of the CS6 products, creative services, Adobe Touch Apps, and more). Customers who remain on CS2 or earlier will not be eligible for upgrade pricing for CS6 but will be able to move to a Creative Cloud membership.
  
• What if my individual CS product or suite edition was purchased through a volume contract?
  
  This same upgrade policy applies to single and volume licenses of all individual CS products and suite editions.

That second FAQ does specifically reference volume contracts but the answer seems to indicate that owners of single products (PhotoShop CS4 in my case) will be able to take advantage of upgrade pricing to the CS6 version. Good news if true: I guess we'll know before too long...

Bob.

_________________
OM-D E-M5 + ED 12-50mm, H-PS14042E, H-F007014E, L-RS014150E, M.ZUIKO DIGITAL 45mm 1:1.8.
Gitzo GT1541T, Arca-Swiss Z1 DP ball-head.
Astrophotography: TEC 140 'scope, FLI ML16803 camera, ASA DDM60 Pro mount.