So if the user does not renew his subscription after expiry? Does it mean his Adobe software will be crippled and useless?
Extracted from Scott blog.
Q. So what happens if I can’t pay my subscription one month?
A. The same thing that happens if you can’t make your car payment. Two big burly guys come to your house in the middle of the night and take back your copy of Photoshop.
Q. I also read you always have to be online because it checks every day to see if your subscription is current. What if I’m not online when they check each day?
A. It’s my understanding that if you’re an annual subscriber, it only checks once-a-month to confirm your registration — not every day, all day, and annual subscribers can actually be off-line for up to 99 days straight and it still keep their subscription active (but I can’t remember ever meeting anyone who was offline for 99 days. I did hear stories of a Grandmother in Wyoming once though). For monthly subscribers, I think you can be offline for around 37 days, but still — I don’t know where this whole “check every day” thing came from either, but my advice would be; when they come to check, quickly turn out the lights and hide behind the couch.
So if the user does not renew his subscription after expiry? Does it mean his Adobe software will be crippled and useless?
YES YES YES YES YES YES.
I think there are several issues at play here.
Adobe believes photoshop is so valuable that no pro can do without it. Subscription-based use is like free-hold property, only difference is that your image is now their property, each time you will be needing that psd file you will have to a paying subscriber! Just think about that - you no longer own the creative bits of your image and adjustment/manipulation bit until you pay your subscription. Especially true if you have gone CC (si si or die die) there is no return. If you have not and using CS3, 4, 5, 6 then hang on until the computers can no longer support it.
Adobe is leaving non-pro user in the dust. If you can't pay US$50 per month for subscription we don't want your business. US$600 per year for 3-4 years equal US$1800-$2400 ~ equal price of a good FX DSLR. Now our cost is doubled (if your upgrade cycle is every 3-4 years). Note: saw this figure in US posting... Seems there is different pricing for SG.
I am already pretty upset that my older Elements and CS versions can't support D800 and forced into getting a newer version. Granted there are new features, but I don't think many of us use the new features... It is like Adobe tax, each time you upgrade, you pay Nikon (or Canon, or ...) then you must stop by the Adobe booth and pay your tax. Shame shame shame.
And by the way, if you decides to take a year off work and track the Silk Route from China to Europe via Central Asia, buy a solar charging back-pack to charge your batteries for your laptop, phones, cameras, you better plan on a monthly stopover in some place where your laptop can hook onto the internet in the middle of Gobi Desert.
I am a professional working to feed my photography hobby, not a photography professional feeding my family using my camera. Seriously, it is time for me to rethink and scout for alternative software.
I was thinking about getting LR; one of my buddies kept touting how good it is. Re-thinking that...
Looks like it is time to review seriously how to use Nikon View NX or whatever they call it. At least it feeds Nikon (or Canon or ... whatever your camera brand is) and do that little bit to keep my camera brand alive!
