Macworld:
Mix looks to be yet another example of Adobe pushing to expand the technologies it developed for Photoshop into non-desktop areas like the cloud and, by extension, mobile devices like the iPad. I suspect that artists, designers, and hobbyists who like creating compositions or who want an image editor that ties directly into some of Photoshop’s editing tools and Creative Cloud are going to like Mix. A lot.
I like that Mix doesn’t require a paid Creative Cloud subscription (although it does require an Adobe ID). Makes it more likely I’ll try it out.
Agreed. The sooner Creative Cloud dies, the sooner I return to Adobe. I don’t want to rent software (or pay ransom for continued access to my own PSDs).
Creative Cloud is NOT going to die. It’s Adobe’s future and they’ve made that pretty clear.
Shame there aren’t any alternatives. Oh, wait…
I once shared your view, but managing IT for a 30 person creative agency made me rethink. The biggest frustration I had with Adobe is that they almost never came out with point upgrades, even to fix bugs. So we buy 30 licenses and have to live with a minor but annoying bug for a year and a half. I was concerned about buy SaaS for the same deal. However, Adobe has been amazing at not only providing frequent updates, but also adding software and services. The new apps like Mix announced today is the next step to that.
And Shawn is right, CC is not going away. If you listened to the announcement today and do the math, they are generating about $150 million a month from CC. That kind of steady cash flow is golden for a software company and Adobe is clearing re-investing a bunch of that in software development. And when you are in the “business” it is hard to use old software because of file compatibility, so yes we are spending a little more for CC annually, but we are getting a lot more in return.
I have not been a fan of Adobe for some time, but I think they are doing cloud services right, so I am becoming an advocate again.
My view stems from their inflexibility around actual real-world app usage. Take my example: I use Photoshop and Illustrator. Those are the only two Adobe apps I’ll ever use, and Adobe providing access to their entire app library provides no additional value to me. So, I’m no math wizard, but paying for Creative Cloud to access just those two apps — assuming I wasn’t morally opposed to renting software — doesn’t make economic sense. In addition, I don’t want to pay for a service that locks me out of my own media should I ever decide to stop paying for it.
You can argue all you want for how well CC is doing for Adobe — what do I care? I’m speaking as a user.