[daft_pink]

I'm not sure that's true. I think that large software packages like photoshop have become way more available for people to pay for with subscriptions. I never paid for it and never would pay thousands of dollars for it, but now it is included in a $30 a month subscription from Adobe that I got mostly for Acrobat.

The only practical way for a high school student to get photoshop was to pirate it when I was a kid. My parents weren't going to shell out thousands of dollars for something like photoshop or autocad.

[gspencley]

Speaking for myself, I don't use Photoshop often enough for $30 / month to be worth it. I wouldn't have been able to justify thousands of dollars either, but if I could pay a couple of hundred for a perpetual license with an upgrade discount when new versions come out that would get my business.

[daft_pink]

Just sign up and pay the fee when you need it. Cancel it when you don't.