I Think Everyone Is Missing the Bigger Picture Here!!!

Question

Is CC a ripoff?  Yes and No.  If you are new to the platform, than no.  Where else can you get all this software for 600 a year, but that is not the issue I am having.  I do not like being told that I have to rent the software for 50/month, because that is only the start.  I am an avid CS user, Premiere, AE, PS, Illustrator, DW and now I am at a crossroads as to whether or not join the CC.  600 per year may not be that bad, but if this becomes your main workflow, what happens when Adobe and all their corporate greed, and yes it is greed decides it needs to be 75/month, or 100/month.  I currently have 3 computers that I work off of, and the CC will only let you use two so now you have to buy another license for another 50/month.  So now I am 100/month for the same setup of using CS6.  So now if I am a new user, where is the savings?  I get the discount for the first year for upgrading...then what?  How high does the Adobe price go?  Adobe itself stated that they will never sell a perpetual license again and let people use the software for as long as they want.  That my friends is corporate greed.  My much loved Adobe has now joined the ranks of Apple.  Those of us who love the Apple OS and have been using their computers for years are now caught in inflated price gouging for sub-par machines when compared to the new PC rolling out at half the price and twice the power, and you all know a good PC will last just as long as a Mac.  This is forcing many, and myself to change our workflow and begin moving to a PC route simply because of Apples greed to sell a 15" mac book for 2700.00.  No thanks Apple.  Now Adobe has stepped up to bat and basically doing the same thing.  They are forcing our hands, removing the option and telling us what we can and can't do, forcing us loyal Adobe users to change our workflow to accomodate them.
The problem here is the same as our problem with our government.  We let them do it and get away with it.  Gas prices will never come down because we the consumer have shown that the market will bare that price and we will continue to pay it and take it.  Until enough of us step up to Apple and say no more of your record earnings and way over inflated prices, they will continue down their path and we will continue to get robbed by them.  Well, the same thing goes here for Adobe.  We at the end of the day have the say so as to the fact if they succeed or fail.  There are other options out there....good ones also, and if we provide the exodus, Adobe will have no choice but to respond, but the sad thing is that we have become a world of sheep and followers and we will contine to take it in the rear from companies like Adobe and Apple and let them get away with murder.
Adobe will raise thier price and by then it will be all too late.  We the consumer ultimately has the power.  I say no more.  Let Adobe rot until they learn that giving us no choice to choose, only leaves us the choice to say no.

Answer 1

I have seen considerable negative feedback from the forums and our clients mostly around the endless rental of the software. The issue that seems to be the crux is the requirement to continue the CC to open the editors own media/work down the road. That argument I can definitely understand here and there is a simple fix to that if management at Adobe would stop and think about this. However for the sake of argument and to explain the warning I have been telling folks for a couple years now, I will give Adobe's perspective. Cloud based Delivery for all software especially OS's is coming. Whether you want it or not it's coming and when Microsoft and Apple make the move, get ready for 10 to 15 dollars a month to launch Windows or OSX. Linux is the last line of defense and until the Linux open software forum gets some standardized API's out there to lower development cost and time, it doesn't look good.
Adobe as a company looks at the Cloud Distribution as the golden goose for software companies. For years Software companies have bemoaned the cost of software piracy, R&D design time frames shrinking with tremendous industry changes annually, and support costs related to hardware manufacturers/system OEM's or version differences in software. Add to this the ability to plan R&D asset requirements, development costs of several projects over a period of time, and synchronizing releases with other software that company may develop as well. The publicly traded software companies have to further report cost analysis and earnings expectations months/years ahead of time. Those variables along with increasing sales interest through product evolution are all essentially solved with the Cloud Distribution model. With the cloud, piracy is minimized or even relatively eliminated depending on the verification or cloud model. The expected profits/earning long term are far easier to plan and forecast. This allows Adobe to plan R&D assets accordingly to the relative earning index and ensure the Public reporting's are good for company and investors. Adobe will be able to release software upgrades and improvements on demand rather than with a en mass planned release every year or 2. This keeps clients continued interest in the products and allows Adobe to shift R&D resources/personnel versus running teams for each product. This last part is really the crux of the partner relationship Adobe is creating with their clients. It is in the best interest of the clients for Adobe to succeed as it is in Adobe's interest that the clients succeed. So a equal partnership is formed with this model. It's also why the cloud delivery is a good evolution of software distribution.
The Downside to the cloud distribution is the ability to open content created during the subscription after a client lets that expire. This really brought up the argument of who owns the content created to the table whether intentional or not. This really was not a good idea to have that argument tied to this right from the beginning of the transition. The simple fix to this is set a period of time such as 2 to 3 years as a cycle. When that period of time is reached, the Cloud version changes from V1 to CC V2 and all clients who have subscribed to the Cloud for 18 to 24 months depending on whether 2 or 3 years have the option to purchase a perpetual cloud account status for that version that just rolled over. This should be a simple low cost development project that just updates the signature of the application. Then the cloud server just verifies whether you are licensed for current V2 or a perpetual V1. All features released after V2 is rolled over to will not be available for V1 perpetual licenses. That will also end the support for V1 other than support plans. This will allow clients to own the rights to their media and the ability to continue working with it and give Adobe a bump in revenue every 3 years to justify such a plan. Whether a new feature is added right when it rolls over wont matter since it's simply for the clients to have the ability to own their media created. That I believe would really end the majority of the negative concern right now from loyal Adobe Clients and still be in the best interest of both parties.
Let this though be a warning to everyone about what is coming. There are way to many advantages and very few if any draw backs for software companies with the cloud delivery model. The piracy and consistent revenue alone is enough to make this industry wide. This started with the Google Laptop and really is just now starting to come to the market. The clock is ticking and the time is coming where it will cost $10 a month just to login to your OS. I really highly suggest people who dont like this start really pushing those in the Linux Arena to get their acts together and start standardizing for development instead of pushing for complete open source. That dream was squashed long ago. Companies have a right to make a profit on their development work  and complete open source is way to much of a risk to that.
Eric
ADK