Ok, so we've covered why you should love the Creative Cloud: it gives you access to everything Adobe everywhere you go. It gives you all the outstanding programs at your fingertips. It is taking connectivity to a whole new level for creative collaboration. Updates are instantaneous. But all that aside, it's a stifling, expensive system that might be forcing you into something you don't want.
1) You're only renting the software.
Adobe applications have become what many of us hate about other situations like internet service or rental housing: monthly payments. Worst yet, you no long can say you own the products. What happens if you can no longer afford the pricing, or what if Adobe arbitrarily increases pricing in the future? You can't combat it. You're trapped.
2) It's all or nothing Sorry, my mistake. The real issue is dropping the ability to invest.
There are thousands, hundreds of thousands even, of Adobe customers who only use one program. Lightroom, Photoshop, whatever, they don't need access to Illustrator. They have no idea how to use nor any intention of learning how to use After Effects. What the heck is Speed Grade? Ok, if you want photoshop you CAN buy it by itself, but it's $20 a month. There are CC full subs that are that price, and even at full price that's nearly half the cost of just getting everything. Not really all that appetizing. Plus, there are those of us who really like to buy software and keep it for 8 or 10 years. Can't do that here. No more investing in software, and that has a lot of people miffed.
3) After paying for the subscription for years, in the end you have nothing to show for that investment.
Let's say you buy the software subscription today and continue for the next three years. That's a large investment, and in the end you'll have spent a couple grand and have nothing to show for it. That's an uncomfortable thought.
4) You won't have access to your own files if you end your subscription.
We create thousands of gigabytes of data yearly, much of this data saved as Adobe proprietary file types. You stop paying a monthly fee, you can't access those files. In the past, at least you could open them without fear, even if the software was outdated. Now? Not the case. You pay, or you lose your process. What that comes down to is there is no way to really exit from Adobe. You're, again, trapped.
UPDATE: For those of you who misunderstand point 4, it has nothing to do with the end files you make, but everything to do with the proprietary formats like .psd or .ai. You can't open those files without Adobe programs. That's the issue.
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I think the biggest mistake Adobe has made thus far is ignoring that group that only wants one piece of the software and not the whole suite. There are a lot of creatives who buy software and keep it forever. For them, the CC is exorbitantly more expensive. It's a really tough situation and one where, amongst the folks I've talked about this with, we think Adobe is really missing the mark. There are a lot of angry people out there because people hate feeling forced into things they don't want. They can't invest. That's the real issue.
What other reasons can you think of to dislike the new Adobe Creative Cloud? Will any of you defend it?
i see a rush to buy copies of lr4 and cs6
I wonder those workstations without internet connection how are they going to authenticate the subscription. There are studios who do not let the designers / editors connect their workstation to internet due to privacy / propitiatory issues, wonder how this is gonna work for them.
They should have offreed PS& LR5 for £20, then PS, LR5, Illustrator, Acrobat Pro, Indesign DW & Flash for £35.00, then full suite for £50.00, at least that would be a little similar to the previous packages,
I went legal and purchased CS5 and then updated twice, so I have paid the full amount for a CS6 suite that is NOW not updatable, so when OS X get updated to 10.9, then 11, my £3000 software will not work
Why is there no PS & LR bundle,
Good article. However, we've got to develop and support a company that will give us CMYK/Lab editing ability. This is a crucial point for many designers and retouchers that work in print and online. Also, CMYK mode has some great editing methods to make your RGB's better. None of the alternatives out here have viable CMYK support.
I own a video production company. My company has been in business since 2000 and I have been in the industry since the late 1980s. I have been involved with computers since I was building them from kits in the 1970s. In other words, I’m not new to the party.
I also don’t (ever) work with pirated software. I have owned a license every single bit of software I have EVER possessed. This is not about wanting something for nothing.
So here’s the problem. The relationship between software company and customer exists in a balance. Each party has an amount of power in that relationship, as well as competing motivations and needs. As a publicly held company, the software company wants to minimize expenses and maximize revenue, because these things are necessary to hold its share price up (otherwise stockholders bail and the company goes bust). There’s NOTHING WRONG WITH THIS as long as the other side of the equation also works. To wit: customers want cool new features that make their work easier or more lucrative or enhance their creativity, and they want them for the lowest possible price.
When (in the traditional model) the software company comes out with an upgrade, customers will pay for it IF the features are attractive to them and IF the price is acceptable to them. If the features are uninteresting or the price is too high, they won’t buy. This motivates the company to continue innovating and keep control over prices.
What forced migration to the cloud does is to transfer most of the customers’ power to the company. This is at least true in my industry; maybe it’s not in yours. You be the judge. In video production, a “project” consists of an Adobe Premiere project file, often with one or more imported Adobe AfterEffects projects and Adobe Audition projects as well as layered Photoshop and/or Illustrator files whose layers can be independently animated. These file formats are all proprietary to Adobe as is the relationship between the files. A project created a year from now is likely to contain attributes unrecognizable to CS6 applications and therefore is unlikely to be backward-compatible.
This means that the pain of subsequent migration to another platform is much greater in a CC model than a CS model (where the user always has a perpetual license to the software that was used to create any existing projects). Under CC, if one stops paying, one loses access to the applications and therefore to all the projects that depend upon them.
This increased migration pain means customers are likely to endure more abuse under CC than they would under CS before they finally migrate. Merely failing to have attractive innovations in future upgrades will probably not provide sufficient incentive. Slowly increasing the subscription fee will also not move people who are already trapped into a CC-only relationship, at least not right away.
So how high could those fees go? Well, I can tell you that my company was surveyed by Adobe about making this move nearly two years ago, and at the time the fee they were floating was not $50/month. It was $150/month. I believe the $50 monthly fee announced this year is a lowball fee intended to get the majority of customers to switch over quietly. I believe if this happens without incident the rate will go to $150 pretty quickly. No doubt Adobe intends to tune the amount to maximize revenue, where increased fees from people who remain exceed what is lost from customers who leave.
So my prediction for Adobe if they succeed in this move: innovation will stagnate since they make the same money whether they innovate or not (one of the primary risks of the subscription model), rates rapidly increase over the next two years or so and then increase more slowly (but never remain the same), and no user will ever have access to their software again without paying an unending monthly fee.
Also, if this works for Adobe, other software companies will follow suit. Expect to pay a monthly fee for Windows or Mac OS, for every plugins package you own and for all other productivity software from Office suites to Quickbooks or whatever you happen to use to manage your business. And each of those fees will be tuned upward as companies explore what the market will bear.
Those of you who are fine with this move by Adobe may want to consider whether you are also fine with where this leads.
Will any of us defend it? I will! These rants make no sense at all to me. I'll speak to each one individually.
1) You don't own ANY of your software. You own a license to whatever software you're using, it can be revoked at any time for any reason by the owner of the software. Don't kid yourself to think a monthly fee gives you less rights to that software than a one-time fee. This goes for CS, or Microsoft Paint, or Minesweeper, whatever. Plain & simple, you don't own software. You never have and you never will. Unless you're the one who wrote it yourself of course, then you can license it to people for a monthly subscription if you so choose...or give them a license for a 1 time fee and hope more people keep buying it to put food on your table. And if you're ever in that situation, tell me how much you care what the squeaky wheel user who hasn't paid you a dime in 8 years wants to gripe about a business model that gives your latest breakthroughs to active customers.
On a side note, when I had CS3 & clients started sending me flash files built in CS4 I was hosed...had to spend 2400 bucks. When I was in CS4 & my photo retouching was eating up my productivity because I didn't have content-aware fill I started losing business...had to spend 2400 bucks. When CS6 dropped the artboard size limitations in Illustrator, you guessed it. $2400 bucks. (ok I'm estimating the dollars, can't remember what I actually spent, but you get the idea). So...basically, at 50 bucks a month, the only way I'll get screwed by a subscription is if there are less than 3 industry molding innovations between today and May 15, 2025. Somehow...I don't see that as a likely risk.
2) A new CS has been coming out practically every year, for another 2400 bucks, and if you're in the industry you can't just say "nah I'll stick with CS2, I'm fine." because you'll be left behind FAST & your clients will go elsewhere. If all you need is your 8 year old software to print banners for your church bakesale, the move to the cloud doesn't affect you anyway so what's the big deal? Keep puttering away on CS2 & live with it. And if all you need is the most current version of Photoshop, look at what 20 bucks really costs you...you're spending $240/yr for it instead of $2400 every time a new CS comes out. And again, if you buy one piece of software and keep it forever, you've already bought it...your transaction is complete...you're no longer a customer...and you're about as relevant in the industry as Quark. Adobe doesn't make a dime off of you, so who cares if you like how they distribute the software you're not buying?
3) I'm really trying to figure out how to approach this. You don't have anything to show for it? What about the happy clients? The portfolio pieces? The awards? The thousands of projects you create? You're buying software to say you have software? Imagine you're a painter. Would you rather have the tubes of paint you've bought over the years, or the art you've created with them? The art doesn't disappear because you stopped buying new paint.
#4) If you don't save down local backups of your creative cloud files before dropping your cloud membership, I don't know what to tell ya...that's on you. Just like dropbox, google drive, or any other cloud-based storage service. If you want to stop using the service you need to put your stuff elsewhere. It's no different than the storage locker your old roller blades are rotting away in downtown. Go get your skates, cancel your locker subscription, and put the skates in the basement. How is this a problem?
And the update to #4...you're telling me you can't open a PSD file without the Creative Cloud? What happened to your copy of CS6...or the copy of CS2 you've been holding on to for the past 8 years while the rest of the creative industry points & laughs at your bevels & gradients. If you want to drop the cloud & don't still have your old CS software anymore, Look me up & I'll sell ya mine...for 2400 bucks. :)
unless ALL the reports are wrong, you will not be able to open files from CC in CS6.
Think about it: Can you open a CS5 AE file in CS4 AE? NO
True, from my experience the files I create in cs6 (mostly AI, ID, PS, and FLA) do open in cs5.5 but have some errors & compatibility tweaks, usually very minor, but yes I admit it would be kind of annoying. So that's a valid point sort of...if I chose to use obsolete software. Still not the fire & brimstone Schneider writes about in the article though...this is a minor annoyance at best...and the equivalent of complaining about HD programming looking bad on your television built in 1997.
I guess the main thing to keep in mind here is that software doesn't last forever, it becomes obsolete & outdated. It's a perishable item. You're not buying diamonds here, you're buying lettuce. If you want to spend 2400 bucks on CS6 and keep it for 4 years nobody is stopping you. You were also allowed to spend 2400 bucks on CS5 and keep it for 10 years if you want. With the cloud, you spend 50 bucks for this months newest freshest lettuce. If you keep doing that for the next 48 months you've spent the same money & had fresh lettuce for 4 years. If you bought CS6, you've got 4 year old lettuce. Enjoy your sandwich.
I don't like this change of Adobe... I guess Adobe only means his benefit, but through my desires. Cause I only use Ps, I'm not interested in all the suite. I dont mind the cloud, I work at work, I rest at home. By the moment, my place isn't the cloud. I have my own cloud at work in my computer. CS6 will stay more more long in my computer, at least meanwhile I change for another software. Maybe is the moment for that. Bye Bye Adobe!!!!
Most professional-grade software use the "maintenance model", under which while you pay an annual "maintenance" fee, you get technical support and all upgrades. If you stop paying, all that happens is that you stop getting those two benefits, but you get to continue using what you have until that moment. Why in the World has Adobe chosen to instead use the "subscription" model instead of what most other professional-grade software companies do? Bad. Very bad.
I'm not getting bullied into renting my own laptop.
I can't think of a reason why a Photographer would consider Photoshop CC good for anything. Adobe's main man said that they expected hobbyists to be hurt by this move and they didn't care (in his own words). Is that how they return the favor? That alone is underestimating the great contributions of hobbyists and amateurs to the software's popularity. Why does this matter?
1. For 1st timers, Photoshop and all its power takes a long time to learn. You'll be renting the tool just to learn it before you can even use it.
2. Many editing techniques have been contributions of people who don't get paid by Adobe. These are people who just love the art and aren't earning a cent from sharing knowledge.
3. Amateurs and hobbyists have made the software popular and spread Adobe's income despite piracy.
If anything, I think Adobe Camera RAW updates and new tools should have been given as part of CS6 to help the photographic community. Even the whole "archival security" of the DNG file is becoming a fuzzy cloud (I'm glad I didn't buy into it). NO NO, DNG is open source for anyone to work with (Whatever). Bottom line is CS6 is my last bus stop with Adobe, anything they give me from there, I'll take until another alternative comes my way. As far as Lightroom, who knows how long it will stay out of the CC. Adobe Camera RAW is dead — a zombie software. Adobe drew a line on the sand, and now it's up to us to decide. I'm not buying it no matter how good it gets. It's a dead end street.
Subscription seems to be at least double cost (for Photoshop alone, by my reckoning) and effectively handcuffed for that privilege. Suddenly, the relationship between Adobe and its customers passes from mutual, to subservient with the customer disadvantaged.
Doesn't Adobe understand its customers and their needs?
Business cannot be about squeezing your customers for the maximum profit using a dominant market position, because dominant isn't cast in stone, and markets punish those who make that assumption.
I just hate Adobe. Life is much easier this way.
And here is the new overwhelming great solution from MS: Winidoofs following creative cloud.
Nothing changed, but you´ll get 1 gb of online store and a few other useless gimmicks (....and we can name it "cloud" that way).
And all that for a little monthly fee of $50!!!
No longer great barrier to use winidoofs and your PC!
Always get automatic updates like Pissta or winidoofs 8 (without the possibility to aware!)
It´s so absolutely great. So sugar glossy (BS)!
The small print:
Winidoofs will connect to your bank account and when there is enough money it will start up. Else not.
Yes, we have access to all your cloud files and can do what we like with them. Even we can cut the access. But we will not do... may be... trust us...
You will never lose full editable access to your files (as long as you pay)
No, there are not so many Apps (in most cases none) that can read and FULLY edit your creations. We tried to not tell you this. Xuse, that we don´t pointed out better.
No, we are not longer motivated to do updates (we never were a lot), as you will have to pay anyway.
And yes, we will not longer sell other packaged OS, as we indirectly promised a few month ago when we said, that our latest OS will be the last upgradeable.
Yes, you will always have to upgrade your hardware if we decide, it´s necessary. Elswise you can use our provided old version (we will not give our non subscribing long time users) but you have to pay for the latest. Sorry for that.
Ehm, and, yes, you are a kind of Beta-Tester in future. Ehm, and we don´t give any warranty for anything. Ehm, good luck (May be our new updates - if they ever come to table - will not break any workflow like in the past. And if: Now you can be sure it hurts all users not only that, who installed first).
No, YOU don´t have to decide if it´s good for you or not. So it´s not an option any longer. It´s a must you must like.
Yes, it´s right, we bought also the competitor with the hooked fruit and all the others, so we are a monopolist right now. But you have enough choices to go to. So take it or not.
No, we are not listening to any concerns.
And we even don´t care about you.
Totally agree with you. We are not going cloud and will be actively demoting them in any way we can until they change.
In my case, the CC tempest comes downs to CC, CS, or switching to other software.
For CC, I don’t want to buy in this business model. CC isn’t wrong, but it’s not what I’m looking for.
For CS, just like we don’t want to purchase CS5 now although it deserves the price; it feels like paying full price for an old version. That’s what happens to CS6 ever after the announcement of CC. Even though their licenses are different, the psychological feeling is very similar.
About the CC tempest, the most frustration doesn’t come from piracy users, but from someone who has invested so much time, money, energy and passion in CS, that switching to them isn’t just that “cheap”. Or from someone who just purchased CS not long ago, hoping to restore but cannot.
In fact switching to other software isn’t as impossible as it seems. There are many powerful
replacements, and for photoshop, many of them support psd files. I can edit my old psd documents with them. When my clients want psd, I can give them psd. Also give them a jpg demo to make sure the psd file is opened correctly.
The two good things about using other software are: first, I am no longer affected by Adobe’s business decisions. No matter how high they soar, I prefer create on the ground instead of the cloud. This helps me to concentrate on my skills. Second, I can save much money on software
as well as hardware since some other software require less CPU and RAM. On the other hand it's good bargain.
I list some PS alternatives because maybe you haven’t come across them yet, and perhaps you would like to tell me what other cool software that I haven’t heard before. You might question are they as powerful as PS? Probably in some way PS still exceeds the best of them a little
bit, but they are far beyond adequate to most users.
For Painting:
Coral Painter, Sai, Clip Studio, Pixelmator, Artrage, Gimp, CG Illust, Open Canvas, Acorn, Pixia, Paint.NET, Artweaver, MyPaint, Sumo Paint, WizardBrush
For Photo Editing:
Gimp, Darktable, Pixelmator, Acorn, Artweaver, ACDSee, Paint.NET, XnView, PhotoImpact
(I don’t use all the above and don’t know if I get them all right. So make sure to check the trial version, and also note that not all the above support psd files.)
Freeware - support the open source community and other companies. I am not giving Adobe a single cent. I'm looking closely at Capture One Pro 7 to replace Lightroom, which I love, but am certain Adobe will make sub-only in a year or two. CC subscriptions are part of Adobe's war on piracy and it is also them leaving the poorer of us behind - oh well, just stick with CS3 or CS5 or CS6 for as long as it is viable.
I have 40 years of creative productivity ahead of me - barring inflation, that is US$24,000+ dollars to rent Adobe's software. Me, plus three more of you = US$100,000 to do some adjustments in Photoshop and edit videos in Premiere.
I could not agree more with this article. It is purely and exercise in securing future revenue to the detriment of a substantial customer group and in the long run all customers who can never leave due to the issues identified above.
If Adobe really wanted to sever all their customers well they would offer both routes to their products - CC and perpetual licence. There are people who like the cloud. Clearly there are many who do not. Why not satisfy all your customers by offering both routes.
A Company that does not listen to its customers does so at its peril.
36,000 folks have signed.They don't like Adobe CC licensing.Show @Adobe how you feel. https://www.change.org/petitions/adobe-systems-incorporated-eliminate-th...
Another more fiscal way to show @Adobe you dont like the CC licensing scheme.http://adobe2014.tumblr.com #adobe2014 .,
adobe is the devil
I feel used and betrayed.
I've been making things professionally with Adobe software for almost 30 years and now I have to stop. I will invest in my business and BUY software to make money and do good work. But if the work isn't there I have to keep paying to RENT the apps and ransom my files from the company store? Adobe has taken the money I/we paid them over those 3 years to A) make great software, and B) kill all their competitors. Now they are angling toward C) Indentured Design. Next they will demand a royalty on any money I make using their software. Or maybe we'll only be allowed to set up shop through a portal on the Creative Cloud and be paid in Adobe Scrip.
Any one know of any open source PhotoShop/InDesign/Illustrator competitors? Anyone with the skills to Kichstart one?
First off just adding online storage and social features is not cloud computing, what we have here is cloud licensing. One major issue here is the longer CC goes on it will be more difficult for people using the CS products, because will keep evolving. Adobe says your files are not being held hostage because you can use CS6 to open them, but as time goes it will be harder to open your files as cc continues to evolve and there lies another problem. It will be harder to to exchange files between non CC users and CC users.
I am not against CC development I am against the all or nothing attitude. If it was a real choice then the Adobes victims, oops I mean customers could choose the option. To be blunt Adobe knew how the customers would like CC extortion, oops, I mean licensing plan which is why it mandatory.
Adobe may not be an monopoly in legal terms but in practical terms they are. They are industry standard with only a handful of companies a few competitive products.
"We are Adobe. Surrender your independence. We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our cloud. Your culture will adapt to service us. Resistance is futile."
The main problem is that the software doesn't work. You cannot use it unless you like a 1985-level of slowness.
~Words and Images, Rio Rancho, NM
Point 4 isn't entirely true. I got the trial version of PS, and after it expired I can still open files that I made in CC in CS5. No problem at all. As long as you keep an older version of the CC program that you're using, you don't have to worry about it. A psd. will always open, no matter what version of PS that you're using.
this is what i think about creative cloud
Illustrator CC=Cynical Con. I insist on owning the software I use. I've been hearing this bad idea of Adobe's knocking around for years; heralded as a major advance when it is nothing but a way for them to control the product and the user. There is NO WAY I will ever subscribe to this mess. Note that they are going to "Subscription Only." That's because if they offered both options, the subscription would fail miserably. Someone will step in to fill this gap in the market. Adobe is doomed. They should be.
I just ended my trial version of Indesign CC and it opened any documents I used during the trial in that program and now I cannot access my docs without it! Is there a way around this or must I now purchase this from the NPO I work for? I already had to subscribe in my home business.
You covered it all buddy. It's infuriating that Adobe is "offering" what is essentially a con job. What they are doing is extremely shortsighted by arrogantly taking their customer base for granted, and doing what they think will up their cash flow. And you will note that they are not offering a choice in the matter because they know that Creative Cloud would lose out in a competition with traditional packaging.
And of course they are selling this confidence game by telling us it's the "Latest thing" and it's "Cutting edge." It's a familiar Big Lie that any change represents progress, that if it's new, it's the greatest. CC represents regression. It represents a sharp degradation in customer service.
I'll never, never, never buy it. I WILL find alternatives. There WILL be many new alternatives to fill the sudden vacuum that will be caused by this insolent attempt to put a Happy Face on a total rip off.
I will never, ever buy this Cynical Creative Con Job. For over a decade I have been using Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign on a daily basis. For most of that time I happily used Flash until its recent demise. I WAS extremely interested in Edge.
But now I will find alternatives. I have abandoned Edge for Hype. I still use Illustrator and Photoshop, but that will only last as long as the current versions, THAT I OWN, will remain useful. Where I work, we are already investigating alternatives.
Note that the reason Adobe isn't offering an alternative to CC is because they KNOW that it can't compete. In their arrogance, Adobe is simply trying to FORCE people to accept an inferior solution.
I really hope that people aren't tempted to buy into the CC ripoff. The sooner it fails, the better.
I will never buy this ripoff; this arrogant con job. Adobe is attempting to both sell its product and still own it. I'm done with Adobe completely. If I can't own it. I won't use it. I have been and I am currently using daily, Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign and Flash (before its recent demise). Those days are over. I will be moving to other alternatives entirely.
Even those technoFascists at MicroSoft have declared that this new Adobe "strategy" is "premature." Microsoft thinks people will be stupid enough in the future to fall for this crap. Apparently, Adobe thinks they are already that stupid.
The very idea that Adobe would market a lesser version of its software, in terms of customer service, and eliminate any choice at all is a classic case of grasping, selfish contempt for its customers. I reject it utterly.
It’s
infuriating that Adobe is “offering” what is essentially a con job.
What they are doing is extremely shortsighted by arrogantly taking their
customer base for granted, and doing what they think will up their cash
flow. And you will note that they are not offering a choice in the
matter because they know that Creative Cloud would lose out in a
competition with traditional packaging.
And of course they are selling this confidence game by telling us
it’s the “Latest thing” and it’s “Cutting edge.” It’s a familiar Big Lie
that any change represents progress, that if it’s new, it’s the
greatest. CC represents regression. It represents a sharp degradation in
customer service.
I’ll never, never, never buy it. I WILL find alternatives. There WILL
be many new alternatives to fill the sudden vacuum that will be caused
by this insolent attempt to put a Happy Face on a total rip off.
I agree - I'm backing away from Adobe products for everything I can. It will be hard to lose some things but in the long run if everyone does it, replacement products will flourish. http://blog.flickharrison.com/2014/02/back-from-adobe/
I lost $450 in billable time while waiting for Adobe Tech Support to answer my chat - Adobe offered me $0.33 cents in compensation and $1.65 cents after some arguing - note the problem of the error was on their end.
On the evening 6/1/15 I contacted Adobe Tech Support because I tried to launch Photoshop CC and was prompted that my trial membership had expired. The problem is for the last month I've had a pre-paid one year membership purchased direct through Adobe. So why was the program locking me out and saying that my trial membership had ended.
My first attempt to contact tech support through their chat system ended with a scroll 5 miles long worth of messages saying all representatives are assisting other customers and that they would get to me shortly. Finally the Internet browser closed on me having never successfully contacted anybody. This is not the first time I've waited a very long time to speak with somebody, on average I've waited 45 minutes for a live person to come on the chat however by this point I had already waited at least two hours almost 3. At a retoucher is billable rate of $150 an hour this equated to $450 in time that I could not bill for because I could not launch my tools needed.
So since my chat window had closed I decided to open a new window and try again since the matter had to be resolved regardless. This time I decided to type in the chat my billable wages and lost revenue, surprisingly this time I was connected within eight minutes (never have I gotten someone so quickly through the Adobe chat system #cheat-tip).
I had explained to the tech in my message all the steps that I had taken on my own while waiting to try and solve the problem. This included uninstalling the creative cloud manager app, signing in and out of creative manager, uninstalling and reinstalling Photoshop. None of these solutions work. The tech did not even bother to read my message and proceeded to walk me through some of the basic steps again. However I played along and followed them, after all he is the tech and if I had the solution the program would have been working already. So he had me copy my host file text and send it to him, he had to make some edits to the text sent it back to me and I had to replace his copy with my copy. Obviously this was more complex than one could do on their own and involved his tech hand. This was the solution and it worked.
I asked what could be done about compensating me for the lost time being locked out of the program, he said unfortunately he had resolved the issue and therefore there would be no kind of compensation. At this point I asked to speak with a supervisor. You see when I had the month-to-month subscription I had contacted support and was ready to cancel my membership since I did not feel that Photoshop CC gave me much more benefit than Adobe CS6. When I did this I was given a month's free extension to the last month of my membership. And I felt like some kind of similar compensation was due.
I was connected to Bobby the supervisor. I had explained what had happened and how I was upset and I asked what kind of compensation could be offered. At first I was offered nothing stating that the issue had been resolved. I explained the complexity of the issue and the fact that the issue was not on my end and that the issue had to do with something on their end and that it required a tech to fix and that I had waited for three hours unable to use the program. I also pointed out the fact that I had paid for a year-long membership and the program I was using was still apparently using a trial membership.
Bobby's a supervisor after researching the matter for a few minutes came back with the offer to extend my creative cloud membership for one day.
My response: "1 Day credit? is that correct? 33 cents is worth my 3 hours of waiting and being locked out? I am reading this correct? "
Bobby: "Sean, I truly understand your concern, since you are facing this issue for 3 hours, I will go ahead and credit one day to your subscription."
Me: "I can't believe to tell you how upset I am about this matter. I will be sure to voice my opinion on as many online outlets I belong to, to all my professional colleagues and to my credit card company. on the matter. I think the offer to compensate my account a credit value of 33 cents for $450 in lost time is deplorable. I just signed up a few days in that time frame apparently not evening using my paid cloud membership but still on my trial membership. "
Bobby: "In this case I will credit 5 days to your subscription which is the best I can do"
Me: "Alright, I can't begin to tell you how unacceptable that is. I'm not asking for any type of full compensation or anything monetarily. But to credit my account 5 days when I had called in to cancel my monthly subscription back earlier this year I was given a month without evening asking and now that I've put faith in your program and committed to a year prepaid and was completely locked out in a error not of my doing and given a 5 day credit. I'll be sure to write a letter to the president of Adobe and to voice my opinion to all that I know. I do appreciate your looking into the matter however. "
Bobby: 'Shall I go ahead and credit 5 days to your subscription?" (Value $1.65)
I did not accept the offer.
I have been in Adobe customer since 2003 and have purchased every upgrade released.