Run in Circles, Wave Your Hands and Scream!
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Recently there has been a flood of information pertaining to Adobe removing their $10 USD per month Photography Plan from sale. As was pointed out in a recent email from Dave Cross, a superb independent Photoshop instructor, it’s an exciting story that just isn’t true. Not right now at least.
Software is moving, or in many cases moved a long time ago, from the idea of a purchased license to use a version in perpetuity to a subscription model. You either buy in to the idea or you don’t but we will have to suck it up that subscriptions and subscription nausea are the future.
Adobe did this with their Creative Cloud, and for users of the Photography Plan, the general acceptance has been very positive. Many users don’t even leverage what they get for $10 a month. Adobe has been “testing” a plan at $20 USD per month which is the old $10 plan but with more online storage in some markets.
Suffice to say that this testing has engendered a rush on tar and pitchforks. It’s a test. The original photography plan is still available. I live in Canada and we are not one of the test markets, but folks elsewhere have seen the “new” plan and Adobe, to their discredit, has made it harder to find the original plan in some marketplaces.
There is a potential argument for more storage for more money as many users are already paying for cloud storage from companies like Apple, Google, Dropbox and others. Adobe wants to see if they can lock up this money themselves because it’s well documented that people suck at throwing away stuff or cleaning up their storage use.
Whether you go that route or not is a personal choice, although it is my opinion that Adobe’s pricing for cloud storage only looks good if one is under the influence of strong opiates.
There has been a lot of screaming and teeth-gnashing about how Adobe is not behaving in the best interests of its customers. To quote the philosopher Homer Simpson, well “doh”. Adobe has shareholders and will act in a manner that serves its own best interests first and always. If their model does not work for you, fair enough, there are myriad other offerings to choose from and in this space particularly, some truly superb alternatives that will cost you quite a bit less. Personal choice again.
I do not like that Adobe has made it harder for buyers in some markets to find the still available $10 a month plan. That makes their test invalid by placing unwarranted filters on the outcome, but Adobe doesn’t give a shit about what you or I think on this matter. If they cared about customers, they would never have dumped the Lightroom naming fiasco upon us all like an ongoing bout of diarrhea. People in small rooms form committees and committees are nearly perfect in proving that a group of people talking in circles without data precipitously drops the mean IQ points to those of a dead raccoon.
Adobe may not be particularly customer focused, but they are not inherently evil. They exist because buyers accept what they offer. If buyers don’t accept the offerings, the business starts to tank and shareholders fire up their guns and chainsaws. Forget social justice bullshit, just don’t buy if you are pissed off.
In the meantime, there is no real need for panic. Should Adobe at some point kill off the $10 a month plan, vote with your wallets and your feet. There are alternatives, Adobe just doesn’t want you to think that there are.
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I'm Ross Chevalier, thanks for reading, watching and listening and until next time, peace.
