Adobe kills retail suite, moves to Creative Cloud

The Professional versions of Adobe programs such as Photoshop have always been an expensive purchase. Not such a concern for a business, but for the individual they were often priced outside an ‘affordable' level.

The Adobe Creative Cloud lets you rent the software for a monthly fee, and it has been doing very well since it was introduced. The success is so significant that Adobe have decided to put an end to the retail Creative Suite applications. In the year that Adobe offered their Cloud ‘rental' system, over half a million paid users joined up to get access to their latest software.

CS6 is going to be the last of the Creative Suite series'. Adobe are going to continue to sell CS6 and there will still be bug fixes and patches released, but there will be no CS7 coming. The focus will be on the Cloud software. Photoshop Extended is also canned.

The Cloud based licensing system means the user will get a temporary license to use the software for as long as the payments are made. In the long run this can work out  to be more profitable for Adobe as well as letting the end user who couldn't afford thousands for the software ‘up front'. This may help to reduce the piracy levels, which have plagued Adobe software now for years.

New features coming in Photoshop are the much talked about ‘Camera Shake Reduction Tool'. It uses advanced code to remove image blur caused by unsteady hands and not enough lighting. Adobe are saying that another improved tool is coming – Smart Sharpen which will reduce noise and remove ugly halos, while sharpening pictures.

Current CC subscribers get all the new features in June. Owners of CS6 retail can apparently get some discounted deals on the subscriptions model. This is sure to annoy some businesses who won't want to be paying subscription costs for the software.

Kitguru says: A new subscription model, ideal for people who can't afford the software, but we don't think this will be a positive move for businesses who want a ‘one time fee'.

Source: Press releases.

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