Creating something better than Photoshop CC ?

Question

The basic CC concept  just doesn't work for many people, including myself. Bottom line: there must be a  perpetual license option for a basic photo image editing program. For many photographers, Photoshop Elements just isn't robust enough. My guess is that other companies will jump into this huge new market, but that's going to take time.
It looks like Adobe is the only company in the position to produce a solution in the short term. So let's start there.
Over at the Kelby Blog and NAPP (the "Photoshop Guys," NAPP memebers and Blog contributors) they are actually working on a product concept to present to Adobe in response to CC. It's initially being called "LightShop" and its basic premise is to be a stripped-down Photoshop CC that integrates with Lightroom.  It will have minimal Type, no 3D, no video, and less special effects and other bloat -- just a clear Lightroom-like interface that is smooth and fast. Most important, it sells as a perpetual license like Lightroom, for under $200. This concept sounds interesting -- if you're into Lightroom. I'm not.
Another idea is for Adobe to offer something like a Photoshop Elements "Extended Edition." Now that they have killed the Standard Edition of Photoshop, a product like that would not encroach upon the now professional market focus of Photoshop CC. It would be relatively easy to produce because most of the code is already in Photoshop Elements for more advanced features  -- it's just turned off. ACR already comes with Elements, and Bridge could be included as before.  If some of the deficiencies of standard Elements could be addressed, and some of the consumer oriented bling thrown out, then it could be ideal for amateur to semi-pro photographers. Photoshop plug-ins would work as they do now. Sell a perpetual license for under $200, and I think a lot of non-CC customers would be happy. An upgrade from CS3 onwards would be great too, for maybe $100.
But exactly what features would be best for a Photoshop CC alternative product? Is 16-bit necessary if you are global-editing RAW in ACR or Lightroom? Can you really tell the difference in a print or on the Web? What about Blend Modes -- do we need that many? How about just one sharpening filter -- the upcoming version of Smart Sharpen?

Answer 1

You bring up a great point. Lets say when we eventually die and lets say our family or even clients want to see what we have done. Adobe with cc in a way has cut off your legacy by not having a perpetual program that can automatically open your files. Which is different from saving as older file type.
If cc had more price options i would be very temped to join it. Ither a 30-40$/month plan for say a suite as they have done for years or pick your favorite 3 programs and 1-2 minior ones like bridge or acrobat. I would also like to see a 10-15/month plan for just 1 program but that is not a special offer but long standing price. Im sure the cc price will change within the next 12 months which is for good or bad why you can only lock in a 1 year plan. It would be nice if like a phone you could lock in your plan price for 2 years. At least you would know what to expect. Adobe should look at phone subscriptions and see how we get people to pay 90/month for a phone which for many is a toy and they cant get people to pay 50/month for tools. With phones when you renew your contract gennerally every 2 years you get a massive discount on some new phones and some will actaully be free or upto 70% off. Adobe shoudl consider this. The more adobe products you have the bigger your renew discount should be. They could do it as 2 year contract or have several durations besides monthly and yearly. Have a 6 month, 18 and 24 month. Say you pay 50/month for your contract duration of 1 year, when it comes time to renew you should have a discount lets say 10-20% off which would be 40-45$ which is handy. If you upgrade to cc and have a suite you should have a biggerest discount than just 1 program say instead of 40/month like 30/month for that contract duration and if you have master collection maybe 20/month for the duration. Then with those 2 suites when its time to renew still give a discount but maybe less. Maybe a suite becomes 40/month and master 30/month but give more discount than those who just renewed. Give us what feels like incentives not punishments.
Ya having 3 almost 4 photoshops was getting a big crazy. Photoshop extended, photohop, photoshop elements and light room. I guess its good for adobe to consolidate but they could have done it with out the cloud. Just make elements and lightroom merged and bump up the price maybe 40%. I think thats fair. Similarly with photoshop and extended, merge the 2 and increase price to 1/2 way between both. Starts getting weird when you have many overlapping things. Like web design has dream weaver and muse. I would love to get that as 1 program or a package deal since they do the same thing but go about it differently. Merge them as 1 and increase price 40%. Same with indesign and incopy, merge them together and increase price 40%. This will make each program stronger and a better buy. Just good house keeping to simplify. Adobe offers so many things I honestly dont know what some of their new things like fusion do. Many have only been around 1-2 years and its becoming complicated to know about all their stuff especially when they start overlapping.
Good luck adobe. I do love you but you are breaking my heart. I want to stay but you need to make some changes to help me want to.