AppleInsider:
Users of older versions of Creative Cloud apps, including Photoshop, Premiere Pro and Lightroom Classic, have been told by Adobe that they are no longer licensed to use them, and anyone who continues to use these versions could face “infringement claims” from other companies.
Users of older versions of Adobe Creative Cloud apps including Photoshop have been told to stop using them or face potential “infringement claims” from third-party companies who are unnamed but suspected to be Dolby. Adobe cites only “ongoing litigation” as the reason for the abrupt announcement.
I got my “cease and desist” letter. Adobe continues to make decisions that hurt average customers. It’s unlikely individuals would “face potential “infringement claims” from Dolby and Adobe is just using the wording as a scare tactic.
My last version of Photoshop was CS8. I doubt it would run now even if I could find my codes. I’m curious, though, what version are you using? Presumably you bought a license, since otherwise you’d be using subscription. Wasn’t that license kind of perpetual? What’s their argument?
This is specific to subscription software from Creative Cloud (CC).
Previously, your CC license meant you could continue to download and run any version that was ever available through CC (and many users were indeed still using older versions for, e.g., plugin compatibility, which Adobe’s been breaking frequently).
The problem that’s cropped up now is that CC versions 2017 and earlier contained libraries licensed from Dolby on an active-install basis, and Adobe allegedly failed to accurately report, pay for, and submit to an audit of those sublicenses. Some of the affected apps have previously seen “updates” that only removed the Dolby features; the scare letter is likely Adobe’s Hail Mary trying to further minimize the damages they’ll owe.
Perpetual CS licenses had a perpetual Dolby sublicense which is still valid, unless this all unravels a lot farther in court.
I swore off Adobe when they de-activated all my installation codes, preventing me from installing my legally owned Adobe software on a legally owned Snow Leopard Mac. Ultimately, those bastards turned out to be more evil than Quark was decades ago.
Adobe’s pathetic strategy to ensure 20% YoY growth for shareholders.
Sheesh, adobe….
Again, unless one needs, for professional reasons, absolute compatibility with Adobe file formats, there are better and cheaper alternatives for the vast majority of us. Affinity Designer and Photo for Illustrator and Photoshop, Pixelmator for photoshop, Affinity Publisher for Indesign, etc.
Yes, most of these have some compromises compared to their Adobe counterparts and yes, there’s certainly some re-education… but they’re well worth a look.
So those of us who have complained long and hard about their subscription model, in spite of having to use it, now feel a tad bit justified in our reasons. And so happy I have rid my personal life of Adobe completely while still being saddled with it at work.
Also quite happy to find out Capture One Pro 12’s raw conversion clearly superior to Adobe Camera Raw. And also better than Lightroom by a long shot in most aspects.
I don’t think I have to defend Adobe. They know what they’re doing: probably analogous to Apple knowing what it’s doing with its business model.
I’ve been a happy Adobe professional customer for 32 years as of this April, and a happy CC subscriber since they adopted that model.
Being a Foundry Modo artist, as well, I’m optimistic that Adobe, with its recent acquisition of Allegorithmic, will release its own versions of Substance apps and add them to the apps we subscribers have access to.
It’s unlikely individuals would “face potential “infringement claims”
from Dolby and Adobe is just using the wording as a scare tactic.
It is unlikely that randos would ever face such a claim, no.
Someone doing “real commercial work” with Dolby sound features might, in principle.
I read this as more “Legal said we had to inform people the license had lapsed and they were exposed” than a “scare tactic” as such.
But you are defending Adobe, by ignoring the issue.
This being the case, it seems like Adobe isn’t actually being all that unreasonable.
I’m using the latest Mohave 10.14.5 and have CS6 open right now.
Whether or not it affects individual users or not, and I am dubious about Adobe dropping any kind of magic “kill switch” if you don’t constantly update… But ya know, they have been SUCH d**ks, I would not be surprised for a microsecond.
While I, like so many Creative Pros, am Adobe’s BITCH, due to our professional relationships with clients, vendors and colleagues—I can certainly see when I retire, I’ll dive happily into the third party application scene. Given that the cost of a Creative Cloud subscription is only justifiable for working pros – making money. Too bad students, hobbyists, small businesses and NPOs, and struggling new designers. Adobe’s just not into you.
Bending over and taking it from Adobe got old a few years back. And don’t get me started on performance and stability, worse with every iteration. Adds new increasingly esoteric, edge use features, adds bugs, and reduces performance. Bridge CC 2019 chronically crashes in the background during Mac Pro sleep.