What Photoshop's Move to the Cloud Actually Means for You

I've been wanting to get the Suite, but the pricetag has been too much to choke down. However, this doesn't seem a better option for someone like me who makes very few graphics/month. Erg.

I feel for the people who have spent a ton on purchasing the software because as operating systems keep upgrading, at some point their Suite will not function anymore and they will be forced to switch to this.

What Photoshop's Move to the Cloud Actually Means for You
Adam Dachis
May 7, 2013

Adobe Photoshop, along with all other Creative Suite applications, just made a move to the cloud. Adobe decided to discontinue software you can actually buy so they can force you to rent the applications for a monthly fee. This change comes with a number of problems but also some advantages. Here's what the change means to you.

You Own Nothing, and Creative Cloud May Not Save You Money
You

Can't Pay As You Go
Creative Cloud Provides Actual Desktop Applications, Not Webapps
Adobe Creative Cloud's Copy Protection Didn't Get Worse
Updates Come Sooner (But You Can Skip Them)
When You Should Sign Up Depends on Your Situation[/ul]

All in all, we do not like Adobe's decision to completely discard software you can purchase. While renting Creative Cloud provides a more affordable path for some people, and we're glad it exists, we find the lack of choice and annual commitment extremely frustrating and not in the interest of the consumer. While we doubt Adobe will return to selling software, we hope to see them at least treat their customers with a little more respect and remove the year-long requirement without an adding cost.

After seeing pictures of where some houses ended up during this last flood, I'm not confident that having a backup here at home is good enough. If a flash flood can wash away a pickup truck, it sure as hell can wash away a home safe. Just sayin'...

We have our photos backed up on CD copies that we have both here at home and in our Safe Deposit Box at the bank. It would be a pain to regularly take a back-up drive of my entire laptop and put it in the bank safe, but it's more water-proof and less likely to wash away than my house. Of course, if we know something like that is coming, we're grabbing the shared drive and tossing it in the car with the laptops as we evacuate.

I don't mind using the cloud for non-critical stuff, but I'm leery of putting pictures or sensitive documents out there on it.