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Adobe Warns Customers of Potential Legal Action for Using Older Versions of Creative Cloud Apps

Really Adobe? You're going to sue someone for using an older version? That's so creative.

"Unfortunately, customers who continue to use or deploy older, unauthorized versions of Creative Cloud may face potential claims of infringement by third parties. We cannot comment on claims of third-party infringement, as it concerns ongoing litigation."

And this is why Linux along with GIMP, Inkwell & Kdenlive are becoming more and more popular every day.
 
arcobb said:
Really Adobe? You're going to sue someone for using an older version? That's so creative.

"Unfortunately, customers who continue to use or deploy older, unauthorized versions of Creative Cloud may face potential claims of infringement by third parties. We cannot comment on claims of third-party infringement, as it concerns ongoing litigation."

And this is why Linux along with GIMP, Inkwell & Kdenlive are becoming more and more popular every day.
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Did you even read what you quoted? Adobe isn't threatening to sue anyone, they are warning people that someone else could possibly. It's so bizarre the weird reactions people have to Adobe. I get why people don't like subscriptions and have moved on to other programs, but some of the hyperbole about them is just nuts.
 
cube said:
Do they give you a free upgrade, or this is a problem only for legacy?
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These are for certain older apps. Which until *very* recently were still available to download and use. Being fair: they ran poorly or not at all on modern hardware/software. However Adobe's significant library of legacy software is built into the workflows of many organisations. I even found myself downloading old versions from Adobe in order to access older documents for a client. Something that is completely unavailable with their latest version. (And due to Adobe's love of proprietary formats, there is no alternatives for these older files.)

I know of some companies which keep around old hardware to keep certain functions available to them. Additionally Adobe's replacement applications often lack certain useful features present in prior versions. When Adobe discontinues a piece of software there is rarely a way to hand over the files. Often Adobe discontinue software and provide no equivalent replacement whatsoever. For this reason it is EXTREMELY risky to engage Adobe's smaller titles as Adobe have a Google-like reputation for killing titles.

To say the least, Adobe has very poorly managed their suite of applications and acquisitions. In these circumstances Adobe must provide a file conversion service/app. Otherwise we are continually experiencing the destruction of digital archives.
 
Well this is great.
My Mac can’t update to an OS that supports CC2018 it later, so I am stuck on CC2015.

What am I to do?
Buy a brand new Mac to use a slightly updated version of a programme I already use perfectly fine day to day?

-AE
 
Great! So when Adobe totally ****s us and an "update" renders an app totally unusable, as happened with Illustrator 23, rather than rolling back versions, now we JUST WON'T BE ABLE TO WORK AT ALL. In Adobe's defense, they DID actually fix AI 23 after about 9 months of users of complaining, so I guess we'll just be on unemployment and the design world can grind to a halt until then. At last the promise of the cloud has been fulfilled.
 
Well if their latest versions weren't garbage... I guess it's safer to actually pirate the software and not pay a subscription.
 
Yep...subscription model. I'm looking to move away from Office 365 too. Just need to find an alternative solution.
 
Brewsta said:
You do realize you have probably never “owned” software, right? You purchase and own a license to use software; a license that is almost always revocable by the company that sold it to you.

Subscription licensing doesn’t change the legal authority of the company to revoke the license or not.
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In the days when software came on DVDs I damaged the DVD and could no longer use the software so I wrote to the company and asked them if they would supply me another one.
I pointed out that as I had paid to use the software, had a licence and could supply all the details, the should be able to supply with another copy for the price of the DVD alone- a few pence- rather than having to pay the full price again for a licence I already owned.
It's funny but they didn't see it that way when it didn't suit them.
 
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jdoyle said:
The CC versions haven't added any killer features.
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Weird... I'm a CC subscriber and I've noticed HUGE feature updates over the years. :)

Premiere Pro, for instance, has added major tent-pole features like Lumetri Color, the Essential Graphics panel, and motion graphics templates. These are all things that didn't exist in prior versions and that I use all the time.

And there are obviously other minor improvements as well.

Basically... the version of Premiere Pro that I use today is VASTLY improved over the version when I first started subscribing to Creative Cloud 5 years ago.

There's no way I could go back to the days of CS6... :p

I know the initial fear of subscriptions was "once you start paying... they won't have to update their software anymore since they already have your money..."

But that's not true at all. There is at least one major update every year and possibly a few smaller ones too.

So I don't know what "killer features" you, personally, were expecting... but you can't say Adobe has been sitting around doing nothing.

You can certainly criticize Adobe for sometimes buggy software... or the subscription model in general... but you can't criticize them for lack of feature updates. :D
 
I'm interested in the legal ramifications of this from a user perspective. Discontinued versions are one thing, but if they are stating that you are no longer licensed to use specific versions, wouldn't that allow for a user to opt out of their subscription or is that scenario covered in the user agreement?
 
Very interesting. I can see the folks at Affinity breaking out the bubbly and dancing round the office. As soon as they have some kind of scripting/automation support then I'll be considering switching. Anyone here using Affinity in a professional studio environment?
 
I dont mind the $10'ish Lightroom/PS CS - but the problem is all the "sh*te" they add. And that seems to be an issue with many subscription products.

When they run out of ideas and want more money they all seem to think "Lets add something that will slow down their computer - like online storage"

I do not want all the "online" storage - I don't need it. If I want it I will find the best of class and use that!

They screw up the computer with crappy links to 3rd party storage (Adobe, OneDrive, 1Password, Apple iCloud drive) - and most a almost impossible to remove. Each one thinks it should be the photo backup and asks - or document backup etc.

Give me a good clean PhotoShop/Lightroom without all the extra's and I'm happy. I have not moved to 1Password 7 for the same reason. I DO NOT WANT ALL THE CRAP.
 
cube said:
But would you lose nothing, like layers?
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Affinity does a pretty good job in opening Ai files but not perfect. Layers are preserved but not the functions that are missing in Ad such as gradient mesh. Affinity looks very promising but I feel they need some time to mature yet but speed wise Ai has nothing on Ad.
 
I don't see the issue. I always update my CC apps as soon as an update is available so I am always on the latest version. Who doesn't want new updates & features? That's the whole point of subscription software.
 
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SpeedyTheSnail said:
Adobe can go screw themselves, I will not renew my CC subscription.

Piracy on the other hand is a just vengeance on such companies.
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Depends on what you use, I'm going to sound like a broken record here, so be it, for Video and Audio, try Davinci resolve it has a very capable free version, and if you find yout sekf needing a feature only avalabel in the paide version (call Davinci resolve studio) it costs $299 for a a licemse that entitles you to upgrades even across major versions, nu subscriptions no forced upgrades (tho why you would want to stay on older versions is beod me as each major version has loads of improvements) and no nonsense. Ok if you are an AE master geting used to the Fusion page (oh yea i forgot Resolve also includes a vfx compositor) put once you have warped your head around nodes vs layers you have a rather powerful tool. Is resolve perfect, no it's support ofr ingest media is a bit limited (VFR footage is not supported) and multi GPU rendering os only supported in the Studio version, but at least Resolve is getting better evry year wile Adobe seems to be sliding backwards.
 
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I stopped being an adobe customer on the day where they started to push this subscription model. My main criticism is the lack of control it induces on the user side: loss of control on pricing (see recent "price increase test") and loss of control on upgrade flow (this). Also, loss of control on your work (e.g., time spent making Lightroom edits) that is inside the subscription box and subject to the above.

Current customers should think about it and if they do not feel comfortable with this model, jump ship sooner rather than later. (later is always more painful).
 
Why the drama? As far as I understood, Adobe is in trouble with Dolby, so tweaked their apps accordingly to comply. Do the existing Creative Cloud users need to pay more for their subscriptions or lose any crucial functionality as the result? Does not every Adobe subscriber want the “latest and greatest” of the bunch anyway? So why complain? Otherwise, there are plenty of other great products out there.
 
one more said:
Do the existing Creative Cloud users need to pay more for their subscriptions or lose any crucial functionality as the result?
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Two examples:

When adobe started to offer Lightroom as a subscription software, I remember that they said that, when you stop being on the subscription, you would keep the right to use some of the modules; for instance, I think Print was still supposed to work. So, someone may have quit the subscription and still live on the promise by adobe that they could still print their older processed files without having to pay again. This email breaks this promise.

Someone who is working on a large project (e.g., a pro photographer who would have process a huge number of pictures in a consistent way) before updating (update may cause some slight differences in the way pictures are processed for instance). Again, this email by adobe means that such users would have to bend their workflow to be adobe policy compliant.
 
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With regards an earlier post, I'm running a 12-core Mac Pro under macOS Mojave, and my CS6 Suite still works fine. (If anything, Photoshop has fewer UI glitches than it did under High Sierra.) I've tried After Effects – along with some ancient plugins – and InDsisgn, and they're both fine as far as I can tell; they're certainly not 'broken'. It's possible newer machines under Mojave don't work well with CS6, but I'm happier using these old and perfectly serviceable versions than giving Adobe any money whatsoever. I was gutted when EvilCorp. bought Allegorithmic, too.
 
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Perhaps Adobe hasn’t been paying their subscription fees to their third parties?
Not our problem.

I would never pay them rent for software. I stopped upgrading after CS6. There are more reasonable companies out there.
 
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