Adobe Creative Suite 6 Now Available, Creative Cloud to Follow on May 11

[dfelix]

I live in Ireland and was able to pre-order.

Must be nice.

From the FAQ:

In what countries can I buy a membership to Creative Cloud?

Memberships are available in the following countries:

Australia
Austria
Belgium
Brazil
Bulgaria
Canada
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Denmark
Estonia
Finland
France
Germany
Greece
Hungary
Ireland
Italy
Japan
Latvia
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Malta
Mexico
Netherlands
New Zealand
Norway
Poland
Portugal
Romania
Slovakia
Slovenia
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
United Kingdom
United States



#fuadobe

 

[leethecam]

Upgrade costs...

mmm... Lovely software - seen it in action...

But is anyone aware of the upgrade policy from Adobe in the very near future?

I was invited to one of their hosted demonstrations just before release and their official Adobe senior staff informed me that beginning of next year it will only be possible to upgrade from a previous version. So forget going from 6 to 8, that won't be permitted.

So that will be an upgrade every time a new version is out and they are releasing an upgrade every year as part of their roadmap.

And have you seen the cost of upgrading previous full suites...! Ouch... There's a reason people don't always upgrade. (Apart from the fact that a new version may not justify the cost to an individual).

There will be a signed-up membership that allows you to upgrade every year for a little less - but I was told this would be about 1/3 of the cost of a full version anyway. A hefty forced upgrade cost.

And of course even if you have Photoshop 4 and want to upgrade to the full CS6 suite... oops... Last time I looked, it wasn't an option anymore...

So, although I was strongly considering moving from FCP7 to CS6 I'm now having a real rethink. I can't believe that FCPX is actually back on the table for me... grrr.

The upgrade path that Adobe are forcing on existing and new customers is going to be a painful one. Either pay up EVERY year or consider the cost of a full version next time around.

I believe there's until the end of this year to do upgrades from older version and then its all change.

Bad move Adobe. You're going to lose a lot of potential converts...

 

[dysamoria]

This is what a dominated & controlled market looks like. There's little development, little benefit to customers, massive social engineering & price fixing & policy to lock customers in (or out, as the case had become for a semi-pro like myself that cannot afford to maintain the hamster wheel of constant upgrades). The entire industry is at a critical breaking point & it'll get worse before it gets better. Adobe is just an example of the more egregious cases. Eventually they will have a critical financial failure of their own doing or government will be forced to step in (likely when some agency makes a statement about their own costs spiraling incessantly on keeping their software modern, which they rarely do). Or, if lucky, ACTUAL competition will get some traction. But that's unlikely because of the existing market owner. At best, the smaller apps eat away at hobby markets & slowly acquire pro-like features, while most of the design departments in all places except design industry will choose to lose quality rather than pay up (just as they've been doing for years now on the professionalism & skill of the people they'll even consider hiring).

You're looking at an extremely unhealthy economy.

 

[fat phil]

mmm... Lovely software - seen it in action...

But is anyone aware of the upgrade policy from Adobe in the very near future?

I was invited to one of their hosted demonstrations just before release and their official Adobe senior staff informed me that beginning of next year it will only be possible to upgrade from a previous version. So forget going from 6 to 8, that won't be permitted.

So that will be an upgrade every time a new version is out and they are releasing an upgrade every year as part of their roadmap.

And have you seen the cost of upgrading previous full suites...! Ouch... There's a reason people don't always upgrade. (Apart from the fact that a new version may not justify the cost to an individual).

There will be a signed-up membership that allows you to upgrade every year for a little less - but I was told this would be about 1/3 of the cost of a full version anyway. A hefty forced upgrade cost.

And of course even if you have Photoshop 4 and want to upgrade to the full CS6 suite... oops... Last time I looked, it wasn't an option anymore...

So, although I was strongly considering moving from FCP7 to CS6 I'm now having a real rethink. I can't believe that FCPX is actually back on the table for me... grrr.

The upgrade path that Adobe are forcing on existing and new customers is going to be a painful one. Either pay up EVERY year or consider the cost of a full version next time around.

I believe there's until the end of this year to do upgrades from older version and then its all change.

Bad move Adobe. You're going to lose a lot of potential converts...

IIRC the upgrade path news originally broke when they released 5.5, at the same time they announced they were implementing the annual (0.5) release plan.

It is a joke, it really bites if you're a Suite owner - consider I use the Production Premium Suite, but I don't use all of the applications at the same time (because I only have one pair of hands), and they can't be used by anyone else but me. And yet if I want to keep them up to date, I have to shell out £375 every 12 months - over £700 today if I want to go from CS5 to CS6, and if I don't do it then I lose access to 6.5 and up. They're forcing my hand.

Crafty business model is what I'd call it.

That said, the subscriptions are at times a godsend. We're hiring artists at the moment and new hires have a 3 month probation period - I really don't fancy buying ten seats of Photoshop, nevermind suites, any number of which may end up becoming redundant while we find staff that stick.

So yesterday I was grumpy, but today I'm happy. Just goes to show, one man's pain is another's relief.

 

[Digital Skunk]

I WISH I could spend over $100 a month on going out alone (since you're insinuating it's $39 a few times). That's over $800 a year aside from food costs, general living costs, school, ect.

$40 per student per month is very costly.

No it's not . . . . college students need to realize that not everything is FREE! Take it from a former one, and one that teaches at one now. You spend $2000+ on the Macbook Pro and more on books and so forth and so on. You have to make a choice and budget correctly . . . . you know . . . grow up.

Seriously not trying to be a smart-butt. I used to pirate software myself, but then I grew up and realized how pathetic it really is.

Can't wait for someone come in and take all the business away from Adobe. Please anyone.

Adobe's improvements are small, the updated prices are stupid high. Time from us to stop using their upgrades.

Adobe has been putting out some serious updates lately. I am on CS4 and have been using CS5.5 at my job and notice a good deal of improvements on the video apps end. CS6 adds a good deal more under the hood improvements, especially some that allow users of lower powered systems (MBPs and iMacs) to get things done faster.

Basically, they see the trend. How everyone is moving from big iron systems like the MacPro down to iMacs and 17" MBPs.

A friend of mine just forked out $1000+ for InDesign, Photoshop and Illustrator. Decided it was time to 'get on the upgrade path' with Adobe: spend now to get upgrade pricing later. He bought late enough he'll be getting CS6 upgrades for free, so he's happy.

I asked him why he didn't go for Creative Cloud, and he said he wanted to 'own' his software and update when it suited him. I get it. In work I use CS5 but at home I have my own, fully legal, copy of CS3. There is nothing new in CS5 I need so I stick with CS3 at home, and most likely will do until a version of OS X comes along that breaks CS3. However, I'm on that upgrade path.

(Let me be clear here and say I'm referring to Design Premium in this post. I don't have any knowledge on the video side of things)
...
Me? I'll keep using FW CS3 till Sketch can replace it, and boot up PS CS3 as I need it, maybe even buy Pixelmator since I don't do CMYK. InDesign CS3 will be fine for the odd page layout I do these days. For a second, the low price of Creative Cloud looked really enticing, then I remembered exactly how much of the Creative Suite actually use these days

Very good post and it brings to light that not everyone needs the hammer that is CS. I had a boss that bought the Master Collection and couldn't touch over 3/4 of the apps. He was genius, but not a creative one. He wasted his cash.

The question is will the new C6 products allow users to actually select what gets installed? I recall with Photoshop CS5 that if you selected only the Photoshop core component that it would still install Adobe Air, Bridge and some other items. The icing on the cake was that it would then also install Growl.

This led me to trashing Adobe products completely from my OS X install and instead using it in a VM dedicated for Photoshop/Illustrator related work.

I've never had to do this, and certain apps like Bridge and Air are essential and built heavily into PS. Bridge at one point was just a feature of PS before it became a stand alone application. Air is probably for reading the instructions or for the "tip of the day." I've never had to install Growl. Not at all and I've been putting CS on systems since the first CS came to market.

.... and I sill wouldn't pay that much.

Then I seriously doubt you need it. I would NEVER pay $4000 for AutoCad . . . the great part is that I don't have to because I don't need it. People that pirate software because they are too cheap or too immature to pay for it are an enigma to me.

People will pay for everything else, including whatever vice they have, but wouldn't even shell out a penny for a piece of high end software. Would rather steal something they don't need. As for the Cloud, I seem to recall people paying more for their cell phones.

It's like people don't want to pay for Adobe software because it's the standard, they think they need it, and it should be given out for free, or should be $399 for the Master Collection. Cloud makes it easy to get all of the apps without having to shell out $800-$2599 and now it's ludicrous . . . even though an iPhone on AT&T is $129 per month base.

The only people that have a real complaint are people in the UK . . . $4000 for the master collection is robbery.

 

[sweetie81]

Just ordered mine alongside Lightroom4. Can't wait for it to arrive.

 

[arkmannj]

InDesign

I tried InDesign CS6 (trial) and just from a short 10 minute spin didn't see much difference other than the new loading screen. Is there anything compellingly different about CS6 that makes it worth $525.00 for the upgrade? (Master Collection) maybe something I missed in InDesign, or signifigant changes in the other apps? InDesign, Illustrator, and Encore are my primary concerns.

 

[Digital Skunk]

I tried InDesign CS6 (trial) and just from a short 10 minute spin didn't see much difference other than the new loading screen. Is there anything compellingly different about CS6 that makes it worth $525.00 for the upgrade? (Master Collection) maybe something I missed in InDesign, or signifigant changes in the other apps? InDesign, Illustrator, and Encore are my primary concerns.

It really depends on what you are upgrading from. If you are coming from CS3 or CS4 then there are a good deal of enhancements. If you're coming from CS5.5 then not so much.

It's kind of like computers. Going from an early 2011 iMac to an early 2012 won't yield much of a speed increase.

 

[klymr]

I'll tell you what is annoying...trying to work with a customer that has CS5.5 when you are still running CS4 (especially in InDesign). That's the issue I'm having here at work. The company didn't want to fork over all the cash to upgrade 10+ computers to the newest CS version, so they upgraded one computer. Sadly, that's not the computer I'm using.

On my personal computer, I am running CS4 Design Premium (student edition). I was a student once—a few years ago—and forked over the cash to buy my own copy of CS3, and then CS4 when it was released. Saying that students can't afford $30/month for software is ludicrous! Guess I shouldn't have spent that $50 in diesel fuel for my car this month, or paid that $90 cell phone bill (both things I did while in school). I have friends that are still in school, and I've seen how often they eat out. Save that extra trip to McDonald's and you're that much closer to being able to afford the software to further your career.

As for upgrading vs. switching to the Creative Cloud, it was almost a no-brainer for me. $650 to upgrade from CS4 Design Premium to CS5.5 Design Premium (with CS6 included free upon release) or upgrade from CS4 to CS6 Design and Web Premium at $900. Upgrading to the Master Collection would have been $1400. Or, join the Creative Cloud for $360 (first year) and have access to ALL the apps. After 3 years with this new model, I'd have paid slightly less to own the CS6 Master Collection, but I wouldn't get all the other added features (new software releases, Muse, Edge Preview, Typekit, etc). Plus, I don't need to come up with $1400 up front. $30/month (or even $50/month) is a MUCH easier pill to swallow!

 

[AlanShutko]

Is there anything compellingly different about CS6 that makes it worth $525.00 for the upgrade? (Master Collection) maybe something I missed in InDesign, or signifigant changes in the other apps?

Adobe TV has videos about all the changes, so you can see if they'll make a difference for you:

http://tv.adobe.com/channel/whats-new-in-cs6-creative-cloud/

 

[gwelmarten]

Changes look good - enough to make me upgrade

 

[SpinThis!]

I asked him why he didn't go for Creative Cloud, and he said he wanted to 'own' his software and update when it suited him.

With the industry moving so quickly, the days of really "owning" software are over. I have a bunch of stuff from OS 9 lurking around the house... pretty much coasters now. Either evolve or die... it's just a matter of how fast your system makes the leap. You either leap in baby steps as the software evolves or you leap less often but you might be forced with more of a learning curve later.

Technology keeps evolving. Lately Adobe has been working on some worthwhile updates; for awhile there certainly were some lackluster ones but with the latest versions they seem genuinely interested in hearing from users and giving some users useful tools—the video side especially.

 

[netnothing]

With the industry moving so quickly, the days of really "owning" software are over. I have a bunch of stuff from OS 9 lurking around the house... pretty much coasters now. Either evolve or die... it's just a matter of how fast your system makes the leap. You either leap in baby steps as the software evolves or you leap less often but you might be forced with more of a learning curve later.

Technology keeps evolving. Lately Adobe has been working on some worthwhile updates; for awhile there certainly were some lackluster ones but with the latest versions they seem genuinely interested in hearing from users and giving some users useful tools—the video side especially.

And here's hoping that Adobe recognizes this, and adds new updates for cloud subscribers quickly.

With a subscription model, it gives them the ability to work on a feature....and get it out to users, instead of having to bundle that with 5 other features and wait 18 months for a new release.

-Kevin

 

[Fandongo]

Great! Now I'm only waiting on the Ivy Bridge MacBook Pros to come out.

Seriously...
Waiting till June (if then) is stupid.
I assume they'll release a full new lineup.
Some have mentioned a new thunderbolt chip due soon i guess.

If they aren't releasing a new Mac Pro, they need to trick out the 17".
At LEAST offer 2x RAIDable slots (like the current 13").

That's something I'd wait in line with Woz for.

Waiting is silly in this world.
Something new is always around the corner.
Ivy is the perfect personal opportunity for a laptop upgrade,
It'll tide me over till a Haswell 12+ core desktop.
Sure as hell slaughter my current 2009 MBP.

Quicksync is the game changer I've been hoping for.

 

[jav6454]

Then I seriously doubt you need it. I would NEVER pay $4000 for AutoCad . . . the great part is that I don't have to because I don't need it. People that pirate software because they are too cheap or too immature to pay for it are an enigma to me.

People will pay for everything else, including whatever vice they have, but wouldn't even shell out a penny for a piece of high end software. Would rather steal something they don't need. As for the Cloud, I seem to recall people paying more for their cell phones.

It's like people don't want to pay for Adobe software because it's the standard, they think they need it, and it should be given out for free, or should be $399 for the Master Collection. Cloud makes it easy to get all of the apps without having to shell out $800-$2599 and now it's ludicrous . . . even though an iPhone on AT&T is $129 per month base.

The only people that have a real complaint are people in the UK . . . $4000 for the master collection is robbery.

Oh but I do. I just can't justify that price. Microsoft sells just Word for $139. That I can justify. Photoshop should be around this price point. But no over $800.

BTW, I bought National Instrument's MultiSim. However, guess what, its a scientific electrical engineering application with much more advance math than Photoshop. Guess what, it isn't as high way robbery as Photoshop.

 

[Fandongo]

Oh but I do. I just can't justify that price. Microsoft sells just Word for $139. That I can justify. Photoshop should be around this price point. But no over $800.

BTW, I bought National Instrument's MultiSim. However, guess what, its a scientific electrical engineering application with much more advance math than Photoshop. Guess what, it isn't as high way robbery as Photoshop.

There's always GIMP...
Which is more like highway slobbery.
I'm just glad Adobe continues to be revolutionary without any real competition.

I see your point, no idea why they don't release a light, mass consumer friendly photoshop @ $150.

 

[GaryMumford]

Is it me, or has Adobe just killed the UI? On CS5.5 I get the nice 'Lion' style scroll bars, neat and tidy dialog boxes and preference panes and the whole UI suits the Mac perfectly. But with CS6 The scroll bars and dialog boxes look like something from Windows 98! it's like it's taken a leap back in time. Yes the new features are good and the speed improvements are really noticeable and welcome, but the UI... Adobe, really?

 

[Fandongo]

Is it me, or has Adobe just killed the UI? On CS5.5 I get the nice 'Lion' style scroll bars, neat and tidy dialog boxes and preference panes and the whole UI suits the Mac perfectly. But with CS6 The scroll bars and dialog boxes look like something from Windows 98! it's like it's taken a leap back in time. Yes the new features are good and the speed improvements are really noticeable and welcome, but the UI... Adobe, really?

Scroll bars are stupid and certainly shouldn't be constantly eating up valuable screen space.

Still, lucky. Some of us are stuck in 2009 because Apple won't update their crap.

If I even try to install CS6 i'll get a message:
"LoL, you running an iPad or somethin? Better luck next year."

 

[Digital Skunk]

Oh but I do. I just can't justify that price. Microsoft sells just Word for $139. That I can justify. Photoshop should be around this price point. But no over $800.

BTW, I bought National Instrument's MultiSim. However, guess what, its a scientific electrical engineering application with much more advance math than Photoshop. Guess what, it isn't as high way robbery as Photoshop.

I do as well, and I would drop that kinda cash for an app that I needed in a heartbeat. Photoshop alone, or one of the CSuites? Photoshop by itself is $699, and only becomes a major issue if you need to purchase one other CS app with it.

Word shouldn't even be compared to anything in the CS suite. Pages does a better job with margins, pagination, bleeds, alpha channels, and hyphenation hands down that Word ever could and it's only $79 with two other apps.

The math behind an engineering application had better be far superior to any creative app. My final edit doesn't have any merit on someone's life. The engineer designing the circuits for the jet engine that's on a 777 that I am about to get on had better have the best app money can buy. And Multisim Base starts at $1600 for just one app.

After spending the $1600+ for the engineering app, $3000-$4000 on a machine fast enough to crunch those numbers, and a few $1000 on displays and such; dropping another $700 shouldn't be much of a concern.

There's always GIMP...
Which is more like highway slobbery.
I'm just glad Adobe continues to be revolutionary without any real competition.

I see your point, no idea why they don't release a light, mass consumer friendly photoshop @ $150.

They do, it's called Photoshop Elements. The last version I used heavily was 8 and it was basically PS with just the image adjustments and some basic layering.

 

[Kwill]

Its very enticing. Consider $30 a month x 24 months (two years is the usual upgrade pace between major CS versions) = $720. Then, you get the next version, CS7, and you continue the subscription (hopefully at the same $30 rate).

Considering the retail cost of CS6 to own outright is $2600, you have only paid $720 over two years to own all of Adobe's apps, 75 percent off...

Stop the math right there. The $30 monthly only lasts one year. Then it goes up to $50. Knowing Adobe, it will continue a gradual upward creep. I believe their goal is to average about the same as they would if we purchased a full upgrade every 2 years. Though they make all Adobe titles available, most people will only use a few.

If the subscriptin fee is controlled, Creative Cloud can benefit Adobe as much as the customers. It has the added benefit (from Adobe's perspective) of keeping the software out of App Store with its 30% premium.

 

[Comeagain?]

Oh but I do. I just can't justify that price. Microsoft sells just Word for $139. That I can justify. Photoshop should be around this price point. But no over $800.

BTW, I bought National Instrument's MultiSim. However, guess what, its a scientific electrical engineering application with much more advance math than Photoshop. Guess what, it isn't as high way robbery as Photoshop.

But there is the opposite side of that. I know several people who needed to buy Nemetschek Vectorworks and Lightwright. Some bought WYSIWYG as well. Almost $6,000.

I don't, not at those prices. But some people do, and they pay, just like many people pay, like me, for Adobes products.

 

[jav6454]

I do as well, and I would drop that kinda cash for an app that I needed in a heartbeat. Photoshop alone, or one of the CSuites? Photoshop by itself is $699, and only becomes a major issue if you need to purchase one other CS app with it.

Word shouldn't even be compared to anything in the CS suite. Pages does a better job with margins, pagination, bleeds, alpha channels, and hyphenation hands down that Word ever could and it's only $79 with two other apps.

The math behind an engineering application had better be far superior to any creative app. My final edit doesn't have any merit on someone's life. The engineer designing the circuits for the jet engine that's on a 777 that I am about to get on had better have the best app money can buy. And Multisim Base starts at $1600 for just one app.

After spending the $1600+ for the engineering app, $3000-$4000 on a machine fast enough to crunch those numbers, and a few $1000 on displays and such; dropping another $700 shouldn't be much of a concern.

Not the Student Edition. Which is merely a fraction and is almost the entire full blown application.

 

[Digital Skunk]

Not the Student Edition. Which is merely a fraction and is almost the entire full blown application.

True, I was just using the commercial prices since not everyone has the ability to nab that 80% off.

$800 for the master collection $450 or so for the others and $250 for many single apps are some great prices, sadly even college students whine about paying that little.

 

[OliverBooth]

This stuff is fantastic!

Downloaded the new CS6 at the studio! Loving all the new features, the pattern creation is really easy!

 

[balamw]

MOD NOTE: This is not the thread for general discussion of copyright violation. If you wish to discuss that, please do it in an appropriate thread.

B