Adobe

I want to write a little bit about Adobe. Yes we’re talking about Adobe the company, the creators of Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign and many more programs. One of the first things I have to admit is although I’ve been using Adobe Photoshop for many years, I only know a small portion of the program. For 20 years I have been using Photoshop to edit pictures that have been scanned or taken with a digital camera. That’s a long time and for those 20 years I have upgraded my copy of Adobe Photoshop from version 2.5 up to version CS5. I have to admit I did not upgrade every time Adobe brought out a brand-new version. Sometimes I would wait for a newer version than the step from 5.5 to 6, things like that. The reason I waited was because I could see very little need for my upgrading a program that already did what I wanted just to have the latest version on my machine. All in all, with no other costs included, I figure purchasing Photoshop has cost me in the vicinity of $3000 over twenty years. Having worked with Adobe Photoshop for this period of time, I’m kind of at a stopping point. Adobe has opted to no longer sell a license to operate Adobe Photoshop (or the other Creative Suite applications) as a stand- alone product. This means that if I want to keep my software I have to continually pay Adobe monthly for the privilege of doing so. I was fine paying for upgrades when I needed them and not being forced to upgrade other parts of my system if needed to operate this software. It looks like Adobe Photoshop CS5 will be the last Adobe Photoshop I personally purchase because there is no way I am going to pay them a monthly fee to use software that will allow them the ability to disable my software on my machine if I don’t pay. My feeling about this is the same way I feel about extortion. I find it very offensive that one of the largest companies in the software industry has opted to take away the ability for people to work independently of the web and being online.

Please note—at this time—the new policy does not affect Adobe Photoshop Elements or Adobe Lightroom.

For all those creative people out there that have to use Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Indesign—you have my sympathy.

I understand that a lot of you feel the same way I do. I feel the only

way that I can really express myself (that Adobe will understand) is to write this column and not enter into an agreement that allows them to charge me monthly for software that they control.