Adobe shifts Creative software to the cloud, monthly subscription

Adobe is altering the way it does business, announcing this week that it will no longer make and sell a boxed version of its Creative Suite software and will instead charge users a monthly subscription to use its cloud-based version.

Although it will continue to sell boxed Creative Suite 6 products, Adobe said that going forward, it will focus on its Creative Cloud service. That means new versions of its software will be available only to users who pay for the monthly subscription service.

“Focusing development on Creative Cloud will not only accelerate the rate at which Adobe can innovate but also broaden the type of innovation the company can offer the creative community,” the company said in a statement issued Monday.

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The Creative Cloud service has been available since last year and includes most versions of the company’s software, including Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator, Dreamweaver and Premiere Pro. It comes with 20 gigabytes of cloud storage include.

“By focusing our energy -- and our talented engineers -- on Creative Cloud, we’re able to put innovation in our members’ hands at a much faster pace,” David Wadhwani, senior vice president and general manager of Adobe Digital Media, said in a statement.

Users who purchase Creative Cloud will be able to download it onto up to two computers, regardless of whether they are PCs or Macs. The programs, however, cannot run at the same time. Previously, the boxed versions of the software let users install the program on two computers with the same operating system and have them run at the same time.

For users accustomed to buying their software at a store and installing it using a CD, the switch will take some getting used to, but it could save some customers money.

Previously, paying for a boxed version of an Adobe application typically cost hundreds of dollars. Adobe Photoshop CS6, for example, costs $699, according to Adobe’s website. With Creative Cloud, users can get access to the program for $19.99 a month, or about $240 a year.

Collections, or bundles that include multiple programs, also cost more than $1,000 in a box, but Creative Cloud customers can access all of Adobe’s program for $49.99 a month, or about $600 a year, if they commit to a year of service.

In order to ease the switch, Adobe said it would offer existing customers who own Creative Suite 6 a year of the cloud subscription service for $19.99 a month. Users who own any of Adobe’s versions ranging from Creative Suite 3 to Creative Suite 5.5 can get their first year of the cloud subscription for $29.99 a month. That’s also the price Adobe will charge students and teachers.

The company said it was also offering groups and companies special pricing to use the cloud-based software.

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