Corel reaction:

As you've probably noticed, big changes are underway in the high-tech industry at large, and more specifically in the graphics software world. Earlier this week, Adobe announced that it will discontinue the boxed version of Creative Suite and move exclusively to a subscription-based model (AKA Creative Cloud). This means that going forward, the only way to keep up-to-date with the latest offering from Adobe will be by paying monthly fees. When you stop paying, your products will stop working. Looking at it from the outside, one could argue that it feels like forcing users down a specific path they might not be ready to go down.

At Corel, we strongly believe in giving users the choice to purchase your software the way you want. For many of you, we know that the preference is to purchase a box or download version of our products in what is called a "perpetual license", i.e. in a way that gives you the right to use the product forever without having to pay anything extra. You then have the choice, if the new features and benefits make sense to you, to purchase and upgrade to a new version.

Via: http://coreldraw.com/blogs/gerard/archive/2013/05/08/corel-is-all-about-giving-users-choice.aspx

Welcome back Corel!!! ;)They rocked back in the days! Lightworks could be newer alternative as well (whenever they get their shit together, its been a "minute" for them to get even a alpha version or anything for osx...are there two people working there?) As far as adobe Creative Crap, it is a gambling thing, they might as well be on a suicidal path since others will use the negative momentum to attract customers even if Adobe CS could have been addictive but not the point of brainless submission. Empires come and go all the time ; )

The digital world has opened many doors, let's hope things will get priced for what they are worth and to whoever uses them accordingly could pay the just price. A bigger studio/professionals and occasional user cannot pay the same price , this for sure is wrong in my( and I am sure many others) book. Of course not sure how they are going to differentiate the various users?

As far as protecting things, ha ha ha...its just a matter of time. Human made things get the right human reverse approach and solution. It has been like this ever since and it will not change anytime soon. I am not condoning this behavior, just saying. If there is a real change to happen it is to price things accordingly, cut the crap and get paid for what you do and everybody is happy.

Lightroom replacement: http://www.zoner.com/

Nice one but I think they got the word free all wrong."Zoner Photo Studio – free photo editor, manager and viewer" ...for 30 days that is ;) But they are fairly priced(70$) Worth checking.

@Vitaliy_Kiselev the new circle function of CC is so good! Finally! But the second video is even better in this sense.

@luxis it's not free, the trial is 10 days i think. I tried a couple of RAW editors/catalogs today including Corel AfterShot Pro (aka Bibble), Zoner so far is the best out of the bunch.

@Vitaliy_Kiselev I think Adobe is about to make an announcement like "We listened..." and change something. They pulled their video where they "dispel 7 myths" about the CC due to some "incorrect info" in it. I might be wrong though. Hope not. I like their products, but have no problem moving on if they continue with this subscription bullcrap.

You use to be able to buy Photoshop at many on-line, local, and school bookstores. Now Adobe keeps 100% of the sale price. No cost in printing manuals or DVDs or Fedex. They lost the incentive to create meaningful updates. If Adobe wanted CS6 users to buy CS7, they needed to add significant new features. Look at the new CC features. Camera Raw is now a plug-in, you can straighten buildings in a single bound. and a filter that sharpens shaky photos. These features are far cry from the intro of Content Aware fill. Adjustment layers, smart objects.

I hope it backfires on Adobe.

PS if the creative cloud was really as successful as Adobe suggests, why not wait and see everyone choose to go the cloud route.

This anti-CC hysteria is just silly.

@ssh ITT people who have never understood the EULAs they click "agree" to in a mad dash to install a new piece of software. You've always agreed to this it's just never been as up front as before.

You never owned anything. That's boilerplate EULA. Your right to use virtually any commercial software can be revoked at any time by the publisher. Whether there was a term limit or not doesn't change the fact that you owned nothing.

I've been using AE since the time when it cost nearly $1500 to get the full-on version that's only incrementally changed in the ten years since that day and spent hundreds of dollars in upgrades since. I forsee at least another ten plus years of using it in some capacity.

There's no lock on the images and no way for Adobe to lock them. No way for them to lock up the moving pictures either. I have scene files from more than ten years ago. I keep them, because...because I keep them. They're not useful for a variety of reasons. PSD files can and are read by a variety of other software packages.

So, yes, I see all of this as both hysterical and silly and I'm content to now enjoy thousands and thousands of dollars in industry standard tools that will always be up to date for a monthly fee that some people pay for their collection of game subscriptions. Call me kooky that way.

There's no lock on the images and no way for Adobe to lock them. No way for them to lock up the moving pictures either. I have scene files from more than ten years ago.

And this is just silly. Some file format changes and lack of money on your side and it is essentially lock. Your work no longer opens in CS6 or any other third party software.

So, yes, I see all of this as both hysterical and silly and I'm content to now enjoy thousands and thousands of dollars in industry standard tools that will always be up to date for a monthly fee that some people pay for their collection of game subscriptions. Call me kooky that way.

Exact values paid here are not important, as they can be changed any time and you can loose subscription to any product from package, check excepts from EULA.

Enforceability has more to do with lawyers (and men with guns) than it does the law.

Okay, point me at the white paper or proof that Adobe is installing some form of DRM in every .mov, .psd, .tiff or other files written. There are no 3rd party apps that open project files for the apps I use the most.

No one talks about some DRM you invented and why you reference here mov or tiff files.

I am just talk about format changes so third party software could not open them as well as previous versions. And I just told you about very common situation. Suppose that you were subscriber of full set. In the mid of your project and 2 days before renewal Adobe ceased such option and made tools available in separate sets, making it $250 a month to get all tools you used in the project and due to bad luck you don't have $250 now. None of your projects files could be opened in CS6 or third party software.

Here is my plan: I'll stick to the CS I have, it should work fine for a team of one. I just bought a camera, so I'll have RAW support. In two years Adobe's money grab should come to an end (enthusiastic idiots should realize what they gotten themselves into by then). Adobe will change the tone as soon as the revenue starts to fade. To be honest, I think it is a brilliant move to increase the revenue short term. Adobe can always turn around and say "we listened" if people see through their bullshit. I don't think it's going to happen though, people are dumber than you give them credit for.