Quark and Corel make a comeback

Question

Having purchased and used Adobe products in our creative agencies for almost 20 years, I cannot emphasize how incensed the CC only model makes me. Yes, I know that CS6 is still available, but I guarantee that once the storm over CC has settled that too will go the way of the dinosaur - call me cynical but I have a feeling it has only been retained temporarily to provide the forum staff something to quote in an attempt to appease the rightly infuriated masses.
The creative cloud software and delivery system is buggy and glitchy - just check the other Adobe forums - we cannot have 'downtime' where our software does not or will not function due to logins / incessant updates / accessibility.
The cost for 'leasing' access to the Adobe software is considerably higher in the long run - $X per month forever and never own anything, rather than $X as a one time cost of ownership and a reduced cost upgrade path.
You can guarantee that the price will increase once 'box' versions are no longer available / updated / supported and the masses have been forced to convert. Especially as the longest 'pre-pay' term is currently only 12 months.
Many people do not need all access to all of Adobe's software applications, which is why they offered various versions of the Creative Suite in the first place.
We do not need cloud services, we work with massive files, have multiple backups - and have remote file access where necessary - the last thing we need is CC monopolizing our available bandwidth.
In other words, we will not go the way of the cloud.
Adobe have always made great software, but the CC business model may yet bite back.  At one point in time QuarkXpress was No.1 and all but unassailable - and then due to reknowned poor service and an overwhelmingly arrogant attitude to its customers they suffered huge market share losses to InDesign.
History repeating?

Answer 1

Ive been using adobe for 10 years. Im a few months from my BFA in graphic design. I have never owned adobe but always used at the school. With their student licensing I was going to get all I need in a few months which you can use for commercial use but...then when I came back to school a few months ago they had CC (crazy cloud) on some computers. I was thinking wait, didnt they just make cs 6 like, counting my fingers less than a year ago... YEP. CC at best should be cs 6.5! In the chaos ive been asking every professional and teacher I know about what they think of cc. The news is not good. Turns out students dont want to pay per month even when at student prices.
The last few weeks ive been looking for any alternatives to adobe. The first few things I heard of cc sounded nice, but that was a sugar coating. When I blew that off I went from worried, to horrified to wanting to start a strike. I had such high hopes for adobe but as my economics classes tought me they have become a lazy monopolist. They start charring more, producing less, being less efficient and charging more to convince the public with add its just fine. So I looked long and hard for an adobe replacement. As you all know there is no one replacement to adobe, they are top in 2d, 3d, video, audio and web development. I took hard looks at 2 companies that offer solutions to some of adobes programs.
Did i mention you can buy them as cds with perpetual licencing. I looked at several top 10 alterantives to graphic design programs. I saw 2 componies come up again and again and again. Serif and Corel. Many of adobe competators are doing massive discounts and pushing their products own faster since cc.
Serif is a Euro company. It has versions of illustrator, photo shop, muse, indesign, and a few other but those are what im interested in. They have several things going for them besides cds and licencing. Unlike most you can free download with out a credit card a lite version of their previous versions. I downloaded and tested vs adobe cs 6 and cs 2. They were very similar to cs2 but its free with no trial time, you keep it for ever. The full version is probably closer to cs 3 or 4. Not bad considering most their programs are 70-100$. So for the price of just dreamweaver I can get programs that fill the bare needs. Overall decent but id consider them high end hobby or low end profesional.
Corel is canadian and doing well. They are like the borg but on a smaller budget than microsoft. They absorb many small->medium good companies like winzip. I was blown away when i saw that. Im not a corel user but studied enough about them I have a good idea. They have an awsome business model now. You have the 3 options you need. Buy cd + license for a flat fee and free cloud, or same + premium cloud for 100/year, or just subscription cloud based for 200/year. Yes I said 200$/year and that is for the whole corel draw suite! Ok let me break that down more. Their standard buisiness model still exists and they say they are not changing that in the forseeable future but you get a small free cloud for a few more free features, no big deal. The standard + premium cloud is 100/year and you automatically get the newest edition update by update and when it comes out and have more fonts and a few other things. The thing is they generally put out new versions every 2 years so thats 100x2=200$ which is the exact same cost as upgradeing version to version. So inessence you pay exactly the same but have "cc" benefits and no down sides. The last option of just cloud subsctiption is much like adobe cc. You pay 200/year and get the upgrades and bonus stuff but no large single payment but no licensing. I think they are testing the waters to see what customers really want. So here is an examples, say you are with corel for 4 years right after their newest version. I will break down the different ways to pay.
Say you just want the newest version ever 2 editions like with adobe. Pay 500 for drawsuite x6 and then 500 again for drawsuite x8 =1000
Say you want to get every edition. Pay 500 for x6 then 200 (40%) for x7 and 200 (40%) for x8 =900
Say you want to get every edition and premium cloud. Pay 500 for x6 and 100/year X 6 =600 so 500+600=1100
Say you want just subscription. Pay 200/year X 6= 1200
So which you do depends on will you stay with corel for 3 editions or not. If less do the subsciption and if more do the standard + premium cloud. They gave you options and flexability, corel wins. The only thing they dont have is rent to own.
Coreldraw vs illustrator. For the most part they both get the same things done. They both have some nice unique features but as some stated adobe got more into flashy than making you work faster. Overal the few things corel does not do are not needed. Corel is simpler, more intuitive, user friendly and more customizable.
Photoshop vs paint-shop. Photoshop has no equivilent in photo editing. Corels is inbetween photoshop and photoshop elements. May just have to live with a 70% photoshop with corel.
Web creator vs muse. They do just about the same thing but I have more trust in corel.
Overall the more I read about corel the more im likeing it. Im giving adobe 6 months to change from forcing CC and if not my new home will be corel. Sorry adobe you did the same thing as xbox one or forcing us online and not letting us have cd and corel is doing samething as playstation and picking up the pieces of that catastrophe.