[estel]

> there is no easy way to subscribe to CC for just a few months

Isn't that what the monthly plan does [0]? $75 / month rather than $50, but with the option to only pay for individual months. I think they said they were originally thinking of freelancers who might only take on work that involved using CC a few times a year.

[0] http://www.adobe.com/products/creativecloud/buying-guide.htm...

[slowdown]

$75 a month is pretty expensive for many freelancers and the only reason I considered CC in the first place was I got a 40$ discount of $30/mo, but again the penalty applied, so I didn't buy it. Sorry for not mentioning this in the parent post.

[unreal37]

I challenge this. How much does a creative designer make as a freelancer? My company hires designers for $60 an hour minimum and often more. So in 75 minutes you make back a months worth of software fees? $75 is not a lot of money to a professional who has to create graphics.

For a teen who wants to edit their iPhone photos before uploading to Facebook, $75 per month would be a lot. But that's not Adobe's target market.

[slowdown]

You maybe right that I can make up this $60 somehow. But the question isn't about the cost (sorry if my post was misleading). The question was about the ownership.

For example, assume, depending on where you live, your favorite manufacturer, who is also a monopoly, Volkswagen if you're in Europe, Ford/Chevy if you're in the States sells you cars for a fixed price and you're very happy.

So let's say the price of each car they sell you is $25,000. You pay once and forget and you own the car. Forever. Assume this car is very solid and you plan to own it for a good 5-7 years. For a span of 5 years, that translates to $5000 a year.

Now, suddenly, Volkswagen/Ford/Chevy decide that one time payments suck and you need to pay monthly, say $1000.

Their argument is that for $1000/mo for 2 years you spend $24,000 in total and that is less than what you would pay one time. Well, if you were the kind of person who would upgrade once in every two years, that is fine. It is really a $1000 cheaper. But for the average dude who upgrades his car once in 4-5 years, it's a disaster.

His current car's value reduces drastically because of this monthly scheme. And to access any sort of updates to his car, he needs to pay monthly, and this monthly payment includes a penalty as well, if you decide to cancel sometime in between.

That sucks right? I know people who are still on CS3, CS4, CS5 because it just works for them and fits their needs.Now these manufacturers tell you that you can still buy an older model from their store and make it extremely difficult and dodgy to buy one. That's cheated right? Especially considering the fact that there are a lot of car robbers who rob cars from their factory (but by cloning the car and leaving the original copy behind) and get away without paying anything. Now, how bad would you feel for paying for such a nasty corporation?

That's exactly how I feel right now.

[estel]

> Now, suddenly, Volkswagen/Ford/Chevy decide that one time payments suck and you need to pay monthly, say $1000.

Adobe would say that it might be more comparable to your car manufacturer upgrading your car every time they released a new model.

> His current car's value reduces drastically because of this monthly scheme.

The value of what his current car has reduced because they released a new model, not because of the new scheme (and CS6 hasn't depreciated in price that much!)

> And to access any sort of updates to his car, he needs to pay monthly, and this monthly payment includes a penalty as well, if you decide to cancel sometime in between.

Just like every other 12 month contract ever? It's pretty clearly labelled that it's an annual contract, and that there are recurring monthly contracts available for a higher cost.

> Now these manufacturers tell you that you can still buy an older model from their store and make it extremely difficult and dodgy to buy one.

As MarkMc said, it's not especially hard to buy CS6. All the top search results for "buy cs6" allow me to buy it pretty immediately.

Sure, they definitely upsell CC, but they also see that as their new and better product: is it really dishonest or nasty of them to do so?

[corobo]

If you're not earning at least the $75 a month doing the things Adobe's software suite is aimed at (graphical work, video work, etc) you probably need to up your rates. Bearing in mind there's only a cost in this scenario during months you're working with the software, if you've got just the 1 job for (for example) $50 in a month don't accept the job or charge more for it.