I signed up for Creative Cloud before (actually, _just_ before, by a month) it became the only way to get the software. I use a significant portion of the full software package everyday for work (After Effects, Photoshop, and Illustrator are always open; Premiere, Flash, and InDesign are sometimes open as well), and Premiere and After Effects (especially Premiere) have had some significant and beneficial upgrades over the past two years. Even Photoshop has added some worthwhile features over the last two updates (the initial CC version is hideously buggy, however; CC 2014 is much better). Cost-wise, the subscription payments are a tax write-off, because it's a necessary business expense.
I understand being pragmatic and having strongly-held beliefs about subscription-service software, but there's no need to try and convince yourself and others that there's no benefit to _anyone_ in paying for CC. If you're the type of person that only opens up Photoshop a few times a month, then maybe you don't need CC and can do fine with CS6 or Pixelmator. That doesn't apply to all of us, however.
It's the same sort of religious zealotry I see with people _still_ mad about the existence of Final Cut Pro X, another application I make significant use of (Premiere works better for me for collaborative projects). Unless you require compatibility with hardware or software that forces you to stick with FCP 7, folks who haven't moved on to Premiere, FCPX, a newer version of Avid, or _something_ else modern are, at this point, doing themselves a injustice, especially when it comes time to render.
